diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c312cbdcb..1e31738e6 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ spack*
 # Populated by doc generation
 /doc/py_api
 /doc/_build
+/doc/cpp_api/
 
 # CLion artifacts
 .idea/
diff --git a/cmake/FindSphinx.cmake b/cmake/FindSphinx.cmake
index 6d8a34f38..d3e96e0de 100644
--- a/cmake/FindSphinx.cmake
+++ b/cmake/FindSphinx.cmake
@@ -2,12 +2,7 @@ find_program(SPHINX_BUILD_EXECUTABLE
   NAMES sphinx-build
   DOC "Path to sphinx-build executable")
 
-find_program(SPHINX_API_DOC_EXECUTABLE
-  NAMES sphinx-apidoc
-  DOC "Path to sphinx-apidoc executable")
-
 include(FindPackageHandleStandardArgs)
 
 # Handle standard arguments to find_package
-find_package_handle_standard_args(Sphinx "Failed to find sphinx-executable"
-  SPHINX_BUILD_EXECUTABLE SPHINX_API_DOC_EXECUTABLE)
+find_package_handle_standard_args(Sphinx "Failed to find sphinx executable" SPHINX_BUILD_EXECUTABLE)
diff --git a/cmake/podioDoxygen.cmake b/cmake/podioDoxygen.cmake
index da2bee132..3ccc107d1 100644
--- a/cmake/podioDoxygen.cmake
+++ b/cmake/podioDoxygen.cmake
@@ -2,48 +2,19 @@ find_package(Doxygen)
 find_package(Sphinx)
 
 if(DOXYGEN_FOUND AND SPHINX_FOUND)
-  # temporarily override the version for doxy generation (for nightly snapshots)
-  set(tmp ${podio_VERSION})
-  if(DOXYVERSION)
-    set(podio_VERSION ${DOXYVERSION})
-  endif()
+  set(SPHINX_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/doc/_build)
 
-  set(DOXYGEN_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/doc/_build)
-  file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${DOXYGEN_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}) # Doxygen doesn't create this for us
-
-  set(DOXYGEN_FILE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/Doxyfile)
-
-  add_custom_target(doxygen
-                    ${DOXYGEN_EXECUTABLE} ${DOXYGEN_FILE}
-                    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
-                    COMMENT "Generating API documentation with Doxygen" VERBATIM)
-
-  add_custom_target(pybindings_doc
-                    COMMAND
-                    ${SPHINX_API_DOC_EXECUTABLE} --force -o ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/doc/py_api
-                    ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/python ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/python/podio/test_*.py
-                    COMMENT "Generating python bindigns documentation" VERBATIM
-                    )
-
-  set(SPHINX_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/sphinx_build)
-
-  add_custom_target(Sphinx
+  add_custom_target(documentation
                     COMMAND
-                    ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E env "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/src/:$ENV{LD_LIBRARY_PATH} ROOT_INCLUDE_PATH=${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/include"
-                    ${SPHINX_BUILD_EXECUTABLE} -b html
-                    -Dbreathe_projects.PODIO=${DOXYGEN_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/xml
+                    ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E env "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/src/:$ENV{LD_LIBRARY_PATH};ROOT_INCLUDE_PATH=${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/include;"
+                    ${SPHINX_BUILD_EXECUTABLE} -M html
                     ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/doc ${SPHINX_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}
-                    DEPENDS doxygen pybindings_doc
-                    COMMENT "Building sphinx documentation" VERBATIM
+                    COMMENT "Building documentation" VERBATIM
                     )
 
   install(DIRECTORY ${SPHINX_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/
     DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_DOCDIR}
     OPTIONAL)
-
-  # revert version to old value
-  set(podio_VERSION ${tmp})
-  unset(tmp)
 else()
   message(WARNING "Could not generate documentation because either Doxygen or Sphinx could not be found")
 endif()
diff --git a/doc/conf.py b/doc/conf.py
index cd0b696ad..c7098d099 100644
--- a/doc/conf.py
+++ b/doc/conf.py
@@ -143,8 +143,7 @@
         "-o",
         "py_api",
         "../python",
-        "*/test_*.py",  # exclude tests
-        "podio_version.py",  # exclude the convenience version wrapper
+        "*test_*.py",  # exclude tests
     ]
 )
 
diff --git a/include/podio/SIOBlockUserData.h b/include/podio/SIOBlockUserData.h
index 2c2c5d275..4d3110fba 100644
--- a/include/podio/SIOBlockUserData.h
+++ b/include/podio/SIOBlockUserData.h
@@ -14,24 +14,24 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <typeindex>
 
-namespace {
-
-/// helper function to get valid sio block names
-template <typename BasicType, typename = podio::EnableIfSupportedUserType<BasicType>>
-inline std::string sio_name() {
-  std::string s = podio::userDataTypeName<BasicType>();
-  std::replace(s.begin(), s.end(), ' ', '_');
-  return s;
-}
-} // namespace
-
 namespace podio {
+namespace detail {
+
+  /// helper function to get valid sio block names
+  template <typename BasicType, typename = podio::EnableIfSupportedUserType<BasicType>>
+  inline std::string sio_name() {
+    std::string s = podio::userDataTypeName<BasicType>();
+    std::replace(s.begin(), s.end(), ' ', '_');
+    return s;
+  }
+} // namespace detail
 
 template <typename BasicType, typename = EnableIfSupportedUserType<BasicType>>
 class SIOBlockUserData : public podio::SIOBlock {
 public:
   SIOBlockUserData() :
-      SIOBlock(::sio_name<BasicType>(), sio::version::encode_version(UserDataCollection<BasicType>::schemaVersion, 0)) {
+      SIOBlock(detail::sio_name<BasicType>(),
+               sio::version::encode_version(UserDataCollection<BasicType>::schemaVersion, 0)) {
 
     podio::SIOBlockFactory::instance().registerBlockForCollection(podio::userDataTypeName<BasicType>(), this);
   }