It does not attempt to be an up-to-date successor of the original repo, nor does it attempt to ensure everyone's use-cases are satisfied by providing an overall better experience. It is merely a fork which I maintain for my personal use-cases which incorporates some selected PRs.

Maintenance status

This fork is NOT guaranteed to be completely bug-free, nor as stable as the original (aside from the already broken things in the original repo). However, since I use this plugin myself, it is guaranteed that selected issues that I encounter myself would be fixed (to the best of my ability).

I do not merge PRs from the original repo that I don't personally need.

DO use this fork if:
- You want to use the bugfixes included in this fork, including auto_preview, and others listed in fixes
- You want to use features available in this fork, which are not included upstream
- You are OK with some things not being looked after well such as CoC support (things I don't personally use)
Do NOT use this fork if:
- You do not need the bugfixes in this fork
- You want a stable plugin (aside from the existing bugs in original repo)
- You don't need the extra features in this fork

Fixes

Extra padding/indent on left on outline window removed. Fixed issues:
Symbol preview empty (simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#176)
SymbolsOutlineClose crashing when already closed: simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#163
Symbols not showing by supporting Nerd fonts v3.0: simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#225
Newlines in symbols crash: simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#204 (simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#184)
code_actions: simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#168 (simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#123)
Fold all operation too slow: simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#223 (simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#224)
"Invalid buffer id" error simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#177
Open handler triggering multiple times ends up in messy state with errors simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#235
Fixed _highlight_current_item function checking provider on outline window
Fixed behaviour of empty markdown headings ^(#+)(%s+)$ being listed in the outline.

🛑 Breaking changes

This section may be relevant to you if your existing config uses the mentioned features:

Config: Configuration options have been significantly restructured to provide better consistency and understandability. Please see the default config for an example of the full list.
- Options that control the looks and behaviour of outline window is now moved to outline_window table;
- Options that control the items that show up are now in outline_items
- Options for the preview window is in preview_window.
- Symbol icons are now in symbols.icons, symbol blacklists are in symbols.blacklist
- Lsp blacklists are now in providers.lsp.blacklist_clients.
- Fold options are now in symbol_folding with fold_markers being symbol_folding.markers, consistent to guides.markers.
The reasoning for the above is simple. When you see 'border' under preview_window you can directly infer it controls the border for the preview window. Previously, for example, when you see winblend or wrap: is it for the outline window or the preview window? Furthermore, this change also aids extensibility to the configuration, and avoids cluttering the root setup opts namespace.

If you disagree with this decision, you are always free to switch back to the original symbols-outline.nvim, or you could pin a commit in this fork if you still want to use the features and fixes from here.
Config: keymaps.focus_location RENAMED to keymaps.peek_location to avoid confusion with focus window commands.
Config: Marker icons used for guides can now be customized. show_guides REMOVED in favor of guides.enabled.

You can set guides = false to disable guides altogether, or set guides = true to enable it but use default configuration for the guides. Otherwise, please use guides.enabled if your configuration for guides is a table.
Behaviour: Removed hover floating window from toggle_preview.
- Instead, you can set open_hover_on_preview=true (true by default) so that the hover_symbol action can be triggered when toggle_previewis triggered.
- The preview window's size changed to half of neovim height (rather than a third). This is planned to be configurable.
- The preview window is positioned to be vertically center-aligned (rather than fixed to the top). This is planned to be configurable.
Behaviour: When auto_close=true only auto close if goto_location is used (where focus changed), and not for focus_location (simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#119).
Behaviour: For auto_preview=true, previously preview is only shown after some delay. Now preview is shown instantly every time the cursor moves.

Features

Skip to plugin readme

Below is a list of features I've included in this fork which, at the time of writing, has not been included upstream (in the original repo). I try my best to keep this list up to date.

Features/Changes:

Toggling folds (and added default keymaps for it) (simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#194).
Control focus between outline and code window.
- New commands: SymbolsOutlineFocus,FocusOutline,FocusCode (see commands)
- Fixed issues:
Show line number of each symbol in outline window (see recipes for a screenshot)
- Fixed issues:
  - simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#212
Cursorline option for the outline window.
Added function and command to show provider and outline window status, somewhat like :LspInfo.
Move down/up by one line and peek_location immediately, default bindings are <C-j> and <C-k> just like Aerial.
Flash highlight when using goto/peek location.
Auto jump config option (see config auto_goto) (simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#229, simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#228).
New Follow command, opposite of goto_location/focus_location
New restore location keymap option to go back to corresponding outline location synced with code (see config restore_location).
Outline/Preview window border/background/winhighlight configuration. (simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#136). See outline_window.winhl, preview_window.winhl, preview_window.*width options.
All highlights used including the virtual text for symbol details and symbol lineno are now fully customizable using outline_window.winhl. See highlights.
Option to blend cursor with cursorline (outline_window.hide_cursor)

Screen recordings/shots of some of the features is shown at the bottom of the readme.

PRs

Skip to plugin readme

Key:

✅ = Either merged superseded
📮 = Planned for merge

📮 center view on goto symbol (#239 by skomposzczet)
Distinguish between public and private function display in Elixir (#187 by scottming)
Floating window (Draft) (#101 by druskus20)

Show completed PRs

✅ Open handler checks if view is not already open (#235 by eyalz800)
✅ auto_jump config param (#229 by stickperson)

Renamed to auto_goto for consistency
✅ Update nerd fonts to 3.0 (#225 by anstadnik)
✅ fix(folding): optimize fold/unfold all (#223 by wjdwndud0114)
✅ Support markdown setext-style headers (#222 by msr1k)
✅ fix(icons): replace obsolete icons (#219 by loichyan)

Superseded by #225
✅ Support ccls symbols (#218 by rqdmap)
✅ fix: replace newlines with spaces in writer (#204 by tbung)
✅ Make close_outline idempotent (#200 by showermat)

Superseded by #163
✅ Fix some options (#180 by cljoly)
✅ fix: Invalid buffer id error (#177 by snowair)
✅ fix(code_actions): use the builtin code_action (#168 by zjp-CN)
✅ fix: plugin crashes when SymbolOutlineClose used (#163 by beauwilliams)
✅ feat: Add window_bg_highlight to config (#137 by Zane-)

Improved implementation
✅ Added preview width and relative size (#130 by Freyskeyd)

Improved upon and refactored with new config structure
✅ Improve preview, hover windows configurability and looks (#128 by toppair)

Improved upon and refactored with new config structure
✅ Do not close outline when focus_location occurs (#119 by M1Sports20)
✅ feat: instant_preview (#116 by axieax)

Superseded with an improved implementation
✅ check if code_win is nill (#110 by i3Cheese)

Superseded before this fork was created

(perhaps the PR was forgotten to be closed)

TODO

Skip to plugin readme

Key:

-     : Idea
- [ ] : Planned
- [/] : WIP
- ❌  : Was idea, found usable workaround
- ✅  : Implemented

Folds
- [ ] Org-like shift+tab behavior: Open folds level-by-level
- [ ] Optionally not opening all child nodes when opening parent node
- Fold siblings and siblings of parent on startup
Navigation
- ❌ Go to parent (as of now you can press hl to achieve the same effect)
- ❌ Cycle siblings (as of now when reached the last sibling, you can use hlj to go back to first sibling)
[ ] simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#75: Handling of the outline window when attached buffer is closed.

Maybe it should continue working, so that pressing enter can open a split to the correct location, and pressing q can properly close the buffer.
Preview / Hover
- ✅ Configurable winhighlight options for preview window (like nvim-cmp) (simrat39/symbols-outline#128)
- ✅ Configurable width and height of preview window (simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#130)
View
- ✅ Outline window customizations (simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#137)
- ✅ Option to show line number next to symbols (simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#212)
- ✅ Option to hide cursor in outline window if cursorline enabled

nvim-navic
nvim-navbuddy
dropdown.nvim
treesitter (inspect/edit)
lspsaga
navigator.lua

symbols-outline.nvim

A tree like view for symbols in Neovim using the Language Server Protocol. Supports all your favourite languages.

Table of contents

Prerequisites
Installation
Setup
Configuration
- Terminology
- Default options
Commands
Default keymaps
Highlights
- Outline window
- Preview window
Lua API
Tips
Recipes

Prerequisites

neovim 0.7+
Properly configured Neovim LSP client

Installation

Packer:

use 'hedyhli/symbols-outline.nvim'

Lazy:

{
  "hedyhli/symbols-outline.nvim",
  config = function()
    -- Example mapping to toggle outline
    vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>tt", "<cmd>SymbolsOutline<CR>",
      { desc = "SymbolsOutline" })

    require("symbols-outline").setup {
      -- Your setup opts here (leave empty to use defaults)
    }
  end,
},

Lazy with lazy-loading:

{
  "hedyhli/symbols-outline.nvim",
  cmd = { "SymbolsOutline", "SymbolsOutlineOpen" },
  keys = {
    -- Example mapping to toggle outline
    { "<leader>tt", "<cmd>SymbolsOutline<CR>", desc = "Toggle outline" },
  },
  opts = {
    -- Your setup opts here
  },
},

This allows Lazy.nvim to lazy load the plugin on commands SymbolsOutline, SymbolsOutlineOpen, and your keybindings.

Setup

Call the setup function with your configuration options.

Note that a call to .setup() is required for this plugin to work (simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim#213).

require("symbols-outline").setup({})

Configuration

The configuration structure has been heavily improved and refactored in this plugin. For details and reasoning, see breaking changes.

Terminology

Check this list if you there's any confusion with the terms used in the configuration.

Provider: Source of the items in the outline view. Could be LSP, CoC, etc.
Node: An item in the outline view
Fold: Collapse a collapsible node
Location: Where in the source file a node is from
Preview: Show the location of a node in code using a floating window
Peek: Go to corresponding location in code without leaving outline window
Hover: Cursor currently on the line of a node
Hover symbol: Displaying a floating window to show symbol information provided by provider.
Focus: Which window the cursor is in

Default options

Pass a table to the setup call with your configuration options.

Default values are shown:

{
  outline_window = {
    -- Where to open the split window: right/left
    position = 'right',
    -- Percentage or integer of columns
    width = 25, 
    -- Whether width is relative to the total width of nvim
    -- When relative_width = true, this means take 25% of the total
    -- screen width for outline window.
    relative_width = true,

    -- Behaviour changed in this fork:
    -- Auto close the outline window if goto_location is triggered and not for
    -- peek_location
    auto_close = false,
    -- Automatically go to location in code when navigating outline window.
    -- Only in this fork
    auto_goto = false,

    -- Vim options for the outline window
    show_numbers = false,
    show_relative_numbers = false,

    -- Only in this fork (this and the one below)
    show_cursorline = true,
    -- Enable this when you enabled cursorline so your cursor color can
    -- blend with the cursorline, in effect, as if your cursor is hidden
    -- in the outline window.
    -- This is useful because with cursorline, there isn't really a need
    -- to know the vertical column position of the cursor and it may even
    -- be distracting, rendering lineno/guides/icons unreadable.
    -- This makes your line of cursor look the same as if the cursor wasn't
    -- focused on the outline window.
    hide_cursor = false,

    -- Whether to wrap long lines, or let them flow off the window
    wrap = false,
    -- Only in this fork:
    -- Whether to focus on the outline window when it is opened.
    -- Set to false to remain focus on your previous buffer when opening
    -- symbols-outline.
    focus_on_open = true,
    -- Only in this fork:
    -- Winhighlight option for outline window.
    -- See :help 'winhl'
    -- To change background color to "CustomHl" for example, append "Normal:CustomHl".
    -- Note that if you're adding highlight changes, you should append to this
    -- default value, otherwise details/lineno will not have highlights.
    winhl = "SymbolsOutlineDetails:Comment,SymbolsOutlineLineno:LineNr",
  },

  outline_items = {
    -- Whether to highlight the currently hovered symbol (high cpu usage)
    highlight_hovered_item = true,
    -- Show extra details with the symbols (lsp dependent)
    show_symbol_details = true,
    -- Only in this fork.
    -- Show line numbers of each symbol next to them.
    -- Why? See this comment:
    -- https://github.com/simrat39/symbols-outline.nvim/issues/212#issuecomment-1793503563
    show_symbol_lineno = false,
  },

  -- Options for outline guides.
  -- Only in this fork
  guides = {
    enabled = true,
    markers = {
      bottom = '└',
      middle = '├',
      vertical = '│',
      horizontal = '─',
    },
  },

  symbol_folding = {
    -- Depth past which nodes will be folded by default
    autofold_depth = nil,
    -- Automatically unfold hovered symbol
    auto_unfold_hover = true,
    markers = { '', '' },
  },

  preview_window = {
    -- Automatically open preview of code location when navigating outline window
    auto_preview = false,
    -- Automatically open hover_symbol when opening preview (see keymaps for
    -- hover_symbol).
    -- If you disable this you can still open hover_symbol using your keymap
    -- below.
    -- Only in this fork
    open_hover_on_preview = true,
    -- Only in this fork:
    width = 50,     -- Percentage or integer of columns
    min_width = 50, -- This is the number of columns
    -- Whether width is relative to the total width of nvim.
    -- When relative_width = true, this means take 50% of the total
    -- screen width for preview window, ensure the result width is at least 50
    -- characters wide.
    relative_width = true,
    -- Border option for floating preview window.
    -- Options include: single/double/rounded/solid/shadow or an array of border
    -- characters.
    -- See :help nvim_open_win() and search for "border" option.
    border = 'single',
    -- winhl options for the preview window, see ':h winhl'
    winhl = '',
    -- Pseudo-transparency of the preview window, see ':h winblend'
    winblend = 0
  },

  -- These keymaps can be a string or a table for multiple keys
  keymaps = { 
    show_help = '?',
    close = {"<Esc>", "q"},
    -- Jump to symbol under cursor.
    -- It can auto close the outline window when triggered, see
    -- 'auto_close' option above.
    goto_location = "<Cr>",
    -- Jump to symbol under cursor but keep focus on outline window.
    -- Renamed in this fork!
    peek_location = "o",
    -- Only in this fork (next 2):
    -- Visit location in code and close outline immediately
    goto_and_close = "<S-Cr>"
    -- Change cursor position of outline window to the current location in code.
    -- "Opposite" of goto/peek_location.
    restore_location = "<C-g>",
    -- Open LSP/provider-dependent symbol hover information
    hover_symbol = "<C-space>",
    -- Preview location code of the symbol under cursor
    toggle_preview = "K",
    -- Symbol actions
    rename_symbol = "r",
    code_actions = "a",
    -- These fold actions are collapsing tree nodes, not code folding
    fold = "h",
    unfold = "l",
    fold_toggle = "<Tab>",       -- Only in this fork
    -- Toggle folds for all nodes.
    -- If at least one node is folded, this action will fold all nodes.
    -- If all nodes are folded, this action will unfold all nodes.
    fold_toggle_all = "<S-Tab>", -- Only in this fork
    fold_all = "W",
    unfold_all = "E",
    fold_reset = "R",
    -- Only in this fork:
    -- Move down/up by one line and peek_location immediately.
    down_and_goto = "<C-j>",
    up_and_goto = "<C-k>",
  },

  providers = {
    lsp = {
      -- Lsp client names to ignore
      blacklist_clients = {},
    },
  },

  symbols = {
    -- Symbols to ignore.
    -- Possible values are the Keys in the icons table below.
    blacklist = {},
    -- Changed in this fork to fix deprecated icons not showing.
    icons = {
      File = { icon = "󰈔", hl = "@text.uri" },
      Module = { icon = "󰆧", hl = "@namespace" },
      Namespace = { icon = "󰅪", hl = "@namespace" },
      Package = { icon = "󰏗", hl = "@namespace" },
      Class = { icon = "𝓒", hl = "@type" },
      Method = { icon = "ƒ", hl = "@method" },
      Property = { icon = "", hl = "@method" },
      Field = { icon = "󰆨", hl = "@field" },
      Constructor = { icon = "", hl = "@constructor" },
      Enum = { icon = "ℰ", hl = "@type" },
      Interface = { icon = "󰜰", hl = "@type" },
      Function = { icon = "", hl = "@function" },
      Variable = { icon = "", hl = "@constant" },
      Constant = { icon = "", hl = "@constant" },
      String = { icon = "𝓐", hl = "@string" },
      Number = { icon = "#", hl = "@number" },
      Boolean = { icon = "⊨", hl = "@boolean" },
      Array = { icon = "󰅪", hl = "@constant" },
      Object = { icon = "⦿", hl = "@type" },
      Key = { icon = "🔐", hl = "@type" },
      Null = { icon = "NULL", hl = "@type" },
      EnumMember = { icon = "", hl = "@field" },
      Struct = { icon = "𝓢", hl = "@type" },
      Event = { icon = "🗲", hl = "@type" },
      Operator = { icon = "+", hl = "@operator" },
      TypeParameter = { icon = "𝙏", hl = "@parameter" },
      Component = { icon = "󰅴", hl = "@function" },
      Fragment = { icon = "󰅴", hl = "@constant" },
      -- Added ccls symbols in this fork
      TypeAlias =  { icon = ' ', hl = '@type' },
      Parameter = { icon = ' ', hl = '@parameter' },
      StaticMethod = { icon = ' ', hl = '@function' },
      Macro = { icon = ' ', hl = '@macro' },
    },
  },
}

To find out exactly what some of the options do, please see the recipes section of the readme at the bottom for screen-recordings.

Commands

:SymbolsOutline[!]

Toggle symbols outline. With bang (!) the cursor focus stays in your original window after opening the outline window. Set focus_on_win = true to always use this behaviour.
:SymbolsOutlineOpen[!]

Open symbols outline. With bang (!) the cursor focus stays in your original window after opening the outline window. Set focus_on_win = true to always use this behaviour.
:SymbolsOutlineClose

Close symbols outline
:SymbolsOutlineFocus

Toggle focus on symbols outline
:SymbolsOutlineFocusOutline

Focus on symbols outline
:SymbolsOutlineFocusCode

Focus on source window
:SymbolsOutlineStatus

Display current provider and outline window status in the messages area.
:SymbolsOutlineFollow[!]

Go to corresponding node in outline based on cursor position in code, and focus on the outline window.

With bang, retain focus on the code window.

This can be understood as the converse of goto_location (see keymaps). goto_location sets cursor of code window to the position of outline window, whereas this command sets position in outline window to the cursor position of code window.

With bang, it can be understood as the converse of focus_location.

Default keymaps

These mappings are active for the outline window.

Key	Action
Esc / q	Close outline
?	Show help
Enter	Go to symbol location in code
o	Go to symbol location in code without losing focus
Shift+Enter	Go to symbol location in code and close outline
Ctrl+k	Go up and goto location
Ctrl+j	Go down and goto location
Ctrl+g	Update outline window to focus on code location
Ctrl+Space	Hover current symbol (provider action)
K	Toggles the current symbol preview
r	Rename symbol
a	Code actions
h	Fold symbol or parent symbol
Tab	Toggle fold under cursor
Shift+Tab	Toggle all folds
l	Unfold symbol
W	Fold all symbols
E	Unfold all symbols
R	Reset all folding

Highlights

Outline window

Default:

outline_window = {
  winhl = "SymbolsOutlineDetails:Comment,SymbolsOutlineLineno:LineNr",
},

Possible highlight groups provided by symbols-outline to customize:

Highlight	Purpose
SymbolsOutlineCurrent	Highlight of the focused symbol
SymbolsOutlineConnector	Highlight of the table connectors
SymbolsOutlineDetails	Highlight of the details info virtual text
SymbolsOutlineLineno	Highlight of the lineno column

You can customize any other highlight groups using winhl too, this option is passed directly to the winhl vim option unprocessed.

Preview window

preview_window = {
  winhl = "",
},

Lua API

Symbols-outline provides the following public API for use in lua.

require'symbols-outline'

setup(opts)
toggle_outline(opts)

Toggle opening/closing of outline window.

If opts.focus_outline=false, keep focus on previous window.
open_outline(opts)

Open the outline window.

If opts.focus_outline=false, keep focus on previous window.
close_outline()

Close the outline window.
focus_toggle()

Toggle cursor focus between code and outline window.
focus_outline()

Focus cursor on the outline window.
focus_code()

Focus cursor on the window which the outline is derived from.
is_open()

Return whether the outline window is open.
show_status()

Display current provider and outline window status in the messages area.
has_provider()

Returns whether a provider is available for current window.
follow_cursor(opts)

Go to corresponding node in outline based on cursor position in code, and focus on the outline window.

With opts.focus_outline=false, cursor focus will remain on code window.

Tips

To open the outline but don't focus on it, you can use :SymbolsOutline! or :SymbolsOutlineOpen!.

This is useful in autocmds, say you have a filetype that, whenever a buffer with that filetype is opened you want to open the outline.
After navigating around in the outline window, you can use <C-g> (default mapping for restore_location) to go back to the corresponding outline location based on the code location.
To customize the background colors, text colors, and borders, you can use outline_window.winhl for the outline window or preview_window.winhl for the preview floating window. See highlights.

Recipes

Behaviour you may want to achieve and the combination of configuration options to achieve it.

Code snippets in this section are to be placed in .setup({ <HERE> }) directly unless specified otherwise.

Unfold all others except currently hovered item

symbol_folding = {
  autofold_depth = 1,
  auto_unfold_hover = true,
},

Use outline window as a quick-jump window

preview_window = {
  auto_preview = true,
},

https://github.com/hedyhli/symbols-outline.nvim/assets/50042066/a473d791-d1b9-48e9-917f-b816b564a645

Note that in the recording I have preview_window.open_hover_on_preview = false.

Alternatively, if you want to automatically navigate to the corresponding code location directly and not use the preview window:

outline_window = {
  auto_goto = true,
},

This feature was added by @stickperson in an upstream PR 🙌

https://github.com/hedyhli/symbols-outline.nvim/assets/50042066/3d06e342-97ac-400c-8598-97a9235de66c

Or, you can use keys <C-j> and <C-k> to achieve the same effect, whilst not having auto_goto on by default.

This feature is newly added in this fork.

Hide the extra details after each symbol name

outline_items = {
  show_symbol_details = false,
},

Show line numbers next to each symbol to jump to that symbol quickly

This feature is newly added in this fork.

outline_items = {
  show_symbol_lineno = false,
},

The default highlight group for the line numbers is LineNr, you can customize it using outline_window.winhl: please see highlights.

Single cursorline

outline_window = {
  show_cursorline = true,
  hide_cursor = true,
}

This will be how the outline window looks like when focused:

Note that in the screenshot, outline_items.show_symbol_lineno is also enabled.

Some may find this unhelpful, but one may argue that elements in each row of the outline becomes more readable this way, hence this is an option.

This feature is newly added in this fork, and is currently experimental (may be unstable).

Any other recipes you think others may also find useful? Feel free to open a PR.

README.md Unescape Escape

Fork status

Maintenance status

Fixes

🛑 Breaking changes

Features

PRs

TODO

Related plugins

symbols-outline.nvim

Prerequisites

Installation

Setup

Configuration

Terminology

Default options

Commands

Default keymaps

Highlights

Outline window

Preview window

Lua API

Tips

Recipes

README.md