saquetim announces a new visual index editor for the Doc Categories plugin, allowing admins to build sidebar indexes directly in the UI instead of maintaining a separate index topic. The feature is available via the Doc index tab in category settings, offering three modes: Editor (manual building), Index topic (legacy behavior), and Disabled.
In Editor mode, users create sections containing links to topics or external URLs, with optional icons. The interface warns about duplicate links or section titles. A key feature is the Auto-index section, which can automatically list unindexed topics, allowing admins to curate the most important pages manually while the rest are collected automatically. The editor supports drag-and-drop reordering, full keyboard navigation via tab stops, and batch actions for multi-select deletion or moving.
The feature is currently experimental and can be enabled at /admin/config/upcoming-changes under Doc categories index editor. It only affects how admins view and edit doc categories.
saquetim invites feedback on usability and completeness. martin notes that the initial PR has been merged behind the experimental flag, with refinements expected before an Alpha release. hugh reports a smooth migration where existing index topics populate the new UI correctly, praising the update.
Doc categories can now build their sidebar index directly in the admin UI. The index editor is an upcoming change for the Doc Categories plugin, and it removes the need to maintain a separate index topic.
Two ways to source an index
Editing a category now has a Doc index tab with a mode selector:
Editor builds the index in place, as sections holding links.
Index topic is the existing behaviour, where a topic’s headings and lists become the index.
Disabled turns the sidebar index off for that category.
Categories already pointing at an index topic keep working exactly as they do today.
A section holds links, and a link points either at a topic or at any URL you type. Each link can carry its own icon, and the editor warns you when two links resolve to the same place or two sections share a title.
An Auto-index section fills itself from the category’s topics, so you can list the pages you care about by hand and let everything else collect in one place. It can resync on each save.
Sections and links reorder by dragging. Every drag handle is also an ordinary tab stop that opens a move menu, so the whole index can be rearranged from the keyboard. A batch mode handles multi-select, for deleting several rows at once or dragging a whole selection together.
The index editor is an experimental upcoming change. Enable Doc categories index editor at /admin/config/upcoming-changes. It affects doc categories only, and only what admins see while editing one.
Tell us how it holds up against a real index: whether building one here beats maintaining a topic, what is missing before you would move a category over, and anything that feels rough.
This is great! Migration is simple - the existing index topic populates the new UI and it all works smoothly. Love this update and very happy with the new UI here
