How to number headings in Confluence

Confluence Cloud has no setting that numbers headings. The Numbered headings for Confluence template gives every heading and the table of contents its outline number in your own browser, without writing anything into the page.

Steps

1. In Skins Studio, open Explore, pick Numbered headings for Confluence and click Create App.
2. On a Confluence page, open the Skins side panel from the browser toolbar. The skin is listed under On this page.
3. Switch it on. The page reloads with numbered headings.

What you get

• An outline number on every heading (1., 1.1, 1.1.1 …), taken from the page’s heading levels.
• The same numbers in the table of contents.
• Nothing written into the page.
• Numbers that follow the headings as the page changes: add, move or delete a heading and the rest renumber.

Limits

• The numbers show in your browser only.
• They’re not saved in the page, so PDF and Word exports don’t include them, and other readers don’t see them unless they turn the template on themselves.
• Numbering follows heading levels, so a page that skips levels numbers the levels it has.
• Headings inside expands and tables are not numbered.

Other options

• Marketplace apps: paid apps for numbered headings, installed by an admin. Their numbers survive export.
• Type the numbers: put them in the heading text by hand, and renumber by hand when headings move.
• Ask Atlassian: vote on the ticket. Its status is Gathering Interest; in 2019 Atlassian said it isn’t on the roadmap and pointed to Marketplace add-ons. Comments continue in 2026.