# EPUBCheck NCX-006: empty label in the NCX, how to fix it

Source: https://epubcc.com/epubcheck/ncx-006/ (updated 2026-11-04)

EPUBCheck NCX-006 is a usage message: “Empty "text" label in the NCX document.” An NCX navigation entry has an empty text label, so the table of contents shows a blank line. The NCX is the EPUB 2 table of contents that older reading systems use.

- Official message (EPUBCheck 5.4.0): Empty "text" label in the NCX document
- Default severity: Usage

## Typical causes

- Entries generated from headings that had no text, such as image-only headings.
- A label removed by hand while the entry was kept.

## How to fix it

1. Open the NCX and find the navPoint whose navLabel text is empty.
2. Give every navLabel a text, for example <navLabel><text>Chapter 3</text></navLabel>, matching the label in the EPUB 3 navigation document if there is one.
3. Or remove the entry if it does not lead anywhere useful.
4. Rebuild the EPUB and run EPUBCheck again to confirm the message is gone.

## When it's not this

An empty label in the EPUB 3 nav document is a schema error reported as RSC-005, not NCX-006.

## Sources

- EPUB 3.3, §5.9.5 NCX: https://www.w3.org/TR/epub-33/#sec-opf2-ncx (read 2026-11-04)

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