diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index eeb9f109..0051a940 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -75,7 +75,9 @@ $ markdown2 foo.md > foo.html
 Use `--use-file-vars` on the CLI, or `use_file_vars=True` with `markdown()`,
 `markdown_path()` or `Markdown()`, to enable extras declared in Emacs-style
 file variables such as `<!-- -*- markdown-extras: header-ids -*- -->` at the top
-of a file. This option is disabled by default and is not an extra.
+of a file. For example, `<!-- -*- markdown-extras: toc -*- -->` enables a table
+of contents and heading IDs for that document. This option is disabled by
+default and is not an extra.
 
 ```shell
 $ markdown2 --use-file-vars foo.md > foo.html
diff --git a/lib/markdown2.py b/lib/markdown2.py
index 18419ef0..9e712003 100755
--- a/lib/markdown2.py
+++ b/lib/markdown2.py
@@ -349,15 +349,7 @@ def __init__(
             self.extras.update(extras)
         assert isinstance(self.extras, dict)
 
-        if "toc" in self.extras:
-            if "header-ids" not in self.extras:
-                self.extras["header-ids"] = None   # "toc" implies "header-ids"
-
-            if self.extras["toc"] is None:
-                self._toc_depth = 6
-            else:
-                self._toc_depth = self.extras["toc"].get("depth", 6)
-
+        self._setup_toc()
         self._normalize_header_ids()
 
         if 'break-on-newline' in self.extras:
@@ -404,6 +396,16 @@ def reset(self):
         self._setup_extras()
         self._toc = []
 
+    def _setup_toc(self):
+        if "toc" in self.extras:
+            if "header-ids" not in self.extras:
+                self.extras["header-ids"] = None   # "toc" implies "header-ids"
+
+            if self.extras["toc"] is None:
+                self._toc_depth = 6
+            else:
+                self._toc_depth = self.extras["toc"].get("depth", 6)
+
     def _normalize_header_ids(self):
         if 'header-ids' in self.extras:
             if not isinstance(self.extras['header-ids'], dict):
@@ -414,6 +416,7 @@ def _normalize_header_ids(self):
                 }
 
     def _setup_extras(self):
+        self._setup_toc()
         self._normalize_header_ids()
         if "footnotes" in self.extras:
             # order of insertion matters for footnotes. Use ordered dict for Python < 3.7
diff --git a/test/test_markdown2.py b/test/test_markdown2.py
index 21a66aa3..f4d105ac 100755
--- a/test/test_markdown2.py
+++ b/test/test_markdown2.py
@@ -230,6 +230,17 @@ def test_header_ids_from_file_vars(self):
             self.assertIn('<h1 id="{}">Heading</h1>'.format(heading_id), html)
             self.assertEqual(md.convert("# Heading\n"), "<h1>Heading</h1>\n")
 
+    def test_toc_from_file_vars(self):
+        md = markdown2.Markdown(use_file_vars=True)
+        for option in ("toc", "header-ids, toc"):
+            with self.subTest(option=option):
+                modeline = "<!-- -*- markdown-extras: %s -*- -->\n" % option
+                html = md.convert(modeline + "# Heading\n")
+                self.assertIn('<h1 id="heading">Heading</h1>', html)
+                self.assertIn('<a href="#heading">Heading</a>', html.toc_html)
+                plain_html = md.convert("# Heading\n")
+                self.assertEqual(plain_html, "<h1>Heading</h1>\n")
+
     def test_footnote_numbers_reset_between_conversions(self):
         md = markdown2.Markdown(extras=["footnotes"])
         md.convert("First[^first], second[^second].\n\n"