# NAV-003: page breaks without page list, how to fix it

Source: https://epubcc.com/epubcheck/nav-003/ (updated 2026-11-04)

EPUBCheck NAV-003 is an error message: “The Navigation Document must have a page list when content document(s) contain page breaks (epub:type="pagebreak").” The content marks page breaks (epub:type="pagebreak") but the navigation document has no page list. Page-break markers exist so readers can go to a printed page number, and without a page list there is no way to reach them.

- Official message (EPUBCheck 5.4.0): The Navigation Document must have a page list when content document(s) contain page breaks (epub:type="pagebreak").
- Default severity: Error

## Typical causes

- Page-break markers kept from the print source without generating the matching page list.
- A page list deleted from the nav document by an editor or a script.

## How to fix it

1. Add a nav with epub:type="page-list" to the navigation document, with one link per page-break marker, for example <li><a href="ch01.xhtml#page12">12</a></li>.
2. Give each page-break marker an id so the links have a target.
3. Or remove the page-break markers if the printed page numbers do not matter for this book.
4. Rebuild the EPUB and run EPUBCheck again to confirm the message is gone.

## When it's not this

If a page list exists but its links point to missing ids, the error is RSC-012.

## Sources

- EPUB 3.3, §7.4.3 The page-list nav element: https://www.w3.org/TR/epub-33/#sec-nav-pagelist (read 2026-11-04)
- EPUB Accessibility 1.1, §3.4.1.3.2 Page list: https://www.w3.org/TR/epub-a11y-11/#sec-page-list (read 2026-11-04)

Message text and severity: EPUBCheck (W3C, BSD-3-Clause). Explanation: EpubCC.