Format text

Docs has a full formatting toolbar above the editor. You can change the font, set headings, make text bold or italic, pick a color, align paragraphs, and build lists, all without leaving the page.

The toolbar is visible whenever you have write access to the document. If you can only view, the toolbar is hidden.

On a narrower window the toolbar shows fewer formatting buttons, and on a small screen none. Everything on this page is also in the Format menu in the toolbar, which works on any screen.

Choose a font

Click the font name in the toolbar, or open Format, then Font. A dropdown shows the four available fonts:

• Inter (the default, a clean sans-serif)
• Source Serif 4 (a serif font, good for long-form reading)
• JetBrains Mono (monospaced, suited to code or technical content)
• Excalifont (a hand-drawn style)

Click the name you want. The change applies to the selected text. If nothing is selected, it applies to new text you type from that point.

Apply a paragraph style

The style selector sits next to the font picker. It shows the current style of the cursor position, such as Normal text or Heading 2.

1. Click inside the paragraph you want to change, or select several lines.
2. Click the style selector to open the dropdown, or open Format, then Paragraph styles.
3. Choose Normal text, Title, Subtitle, or one of Heading 1 through Heading 6.

These are block styles: the whole paragraph changes, not just the selected words. Choosing Normal text removes the style and returns the paragraph to the default style.

To set paragraphs off as a quote, open Format, then Paragraph styles, and choose Quote. Choose it again to turn the quote back into normal paragraphs.

Make text bold, italic, or underlined

Select the text you want to change, then click the button in the toolbar:

• Bold (or Cmd+B / Ctrl+B)
• Italic (or Cmd+I / Ctrl+I)
• Underline (or Cmd+U / Ctrl+U)

Each button is a toggle. Click it again on the same selection to remove the style. When the cursor is inside styled text, the button appears highlighted, so you can see what is active.

For more styles, open Format, then Text. Next to Bold, Italic, and Underline it has Strikethrough, Superscript, Subscript, Inline code, and Small (renders the text at a smaller size inline). Choose a style again on the same selection to remove it.

Set text in capitals

Select the text, then open Format, then Text, and choose All caps (or press Cmd+Shift+A / Ctrl+Shift+A) or Small caps. All caps shows every letter as a capital. Small caps shows lowercase letters as smaller capitals. The letters you typed stay as they are, so choosing the style again brings them back.

Set a text color

The text color button shows a letter A with a colored underline reflecting the current color.

1. Select the text you want to color.
2. Click the Text color button in the toolbar, or open Format, then Text, then Text color.
3. A color grid opens. Click the color you want.

To go back to the default color, click Default at the top of the grid.

Highlight text

The Highlight button (the highlighter pen icon) works the same way as text color, but paints the background behind the selected text.

1. Select the text.
2. Click the Highlight button, or open Format, then Text, then Highlight color.
3. Pick a color from the grid.

To remove the highlight, open the grid and click None.

Align a paragraph

Alignment applies to the whole paragraph the cursor is in, or to all paragraphs in the selection.

• Left (the default)
• Center
• Right
• Justified: stretches each line to both margins, except the last line of the paragraph.

Click the Align button in the toolbar, which shows the current alignment, and choose one. The current alignment is marked in the list. You can also open Format, then Align and indent, and choose Left, Center, Right, or Justified.

Add a list

Place your cursor on the line where you want the list to start, then click one of the list buttons:

• Bulleted list: an unordered list with bullet points.
• Numbered list: an ordered list with sequential numbers.
• Checklist: a list with tick-box items you can check off.

The same lists are in Format, then Bullets and numbering: Numbered list, Bulleted list, and Checklist.

Press Enter to add the next item, and press Enter on an empty item to end the list. You can also click the same button again on a selected list to turn it back into regular paragraphs.

Choose a numbering style

Open Format, then Bullets and numbering, then Numbered list, and choose one of five styles: 1. 2. 3., a. b. c., A. B. C., i. ii. iii., or I. II. III. On a regular paragraph this starts a numbered list in that style. Inside a numbered list it changes the style of that list. The style of the list the cursor is in is marked.

Restart numbering

1. Click in the list item where the new count should begin.
2. Open Format, then Bullets and numbering, then List options, and choose Restart numbering.
3. Enter the first number in Start at and click OK.

On the first item, the whole list starts at that number. On a later item, the list splits in two there, and the second list counts on from your number. List options works only when the cursor is in a numbered list.

Remove all formatting

To strip every style from selected text in one step, click the Clear formatting button in the toolbar, or choose Clear formatting from the Format menu. This removes bold, italic, color, font changes, and any other marks, leaving plain text.

See Clear formatting for more detail on what gets removed and when to use it.