Organize and Customize Book Pages

Site builders can use these advanced features to customize their books and book pages.

Customize book pages with widgets

Like regular Content Pages, Book Pages can be customized with widgets or changed to a different layout.

The Book feature provides two new widgets, which are available in the “Book” section of the Add Content screen. They are only available on pages that have been added to Books.

  1. The Book menu tree widget is a subset of the book's full table of contents. It displays the section of the book structure that includes the current page.
  2. The Book Table of Contents widget displays the full structure of the chosen book in outline form. We recommend placing the Table of Contents widget into wider regions instead of sidebars or other narrow regions. It will look best in a region that is two-thirds of the page width or wider.

Book Menu Tree Widget:

Screenshot of Book Menu Tree Widget

Book Table of Contents:

Screenshot of Book Table of Contents

By default, all Book Pages have a book menu tree widget in the left sidebar. This widget can be moved or removed, but we recommend leaving it in place on all pages except top-level Book pages. See our recommended settings for top-level Book pages.

In the main content region, all Book Pages have the body text, notes field, and a navigation pager. These widgets can be moved, but not deleted.

Organizing pages within a book

You can use book outlines to drag, drop, reorder, and restructure books and their pages. In the admin menu, select Dashboard -> Books, or go to your main Dashboard page and click the Books tab. Click the "edit and order titles" link for the book you want to organize.

On the outline page, you can use the handles to drag book pages. By dragging you can reorder them, move them to a different level, or choose a different parent page.

There is a limit of 9 levels of depth (including the topmost level, which is not displayed on the outline page) for any book.

You can also edit the title of each book page from the outline. The field represents the page title, not the overridden link title you may have entered on the book’s edit page.

Once you have finished making changes to the outline, click the “Save book pages” button.

From this outline you can also follow the links to view, edit, or delete individual pages.

Editors and Contributors do not have access to the book outline, but they can move individual pages within and between books using the Book Outline section on the edit screen.

Removing pages from a book

At this time, you can't remove a page from all books once it's been added to a book. You can move it to a different book, unpublish it, or delete it.

If you unpublish or delete a book page that has children, you will disrupt the hierarchy of your book. Before unpublishing or deleting a page that's part of a book, be sure to move, unpublish, or delete all of its child pages.

Adding a book to a menu

Site builders can add Book pages to a site menu, but the regular local menu block will not appear on the book page (the Book Menu Tree will display instead, or the Table of Contents if used). We recommend that you only put the top page of any given book into your menu.

If the top page of your book is a Landing Page, you can add it to your main menu as outlined in the standard menu documentation. If the top page is a book page, visit the book page and note its path. Then follow the instructions for re-ordering and managing menu items to add the menu item.

After you’ve saved the new menu item, you can go to the "Manage links" page for the menu to drag, drop, and reorder links as needed.