Use Google Docs with a screen reader

You can review and edit Google Docs on your computer with a screen reader.

Before you start

Make sure that you're familiar with the steps and techniques in Use Google editors with a screen reader.

Topics

This article is divided into sections with headings. Use the links below to jump to a specific section of the article.

• Before you start
• Create a file
  • Create a blank document
• Open an existing document
  • From Docs home
  • From an existing document
  • From a link in a document
  • From Drive
• Navigate and read content
  • Docs navigation shortcuts
  • Use the outline panel
  • Announce info
  • Note about shortcuts
  • Search the menus
• Formatting content
  • Formatting examples
  • Formatting tips
• Find and replace text
  • Search in your document
  • Find and replace text
• Copy and paste text and images
  • Copy text formatting (paint format)
• Spell-check a document
• Add or insert content
  • Add a title, heading or table of contents
  • Add an image, table and footnote
• Add and edit tables
  • Add a table
  • Modify an existing table
• Insert smart chips and building blocks
  • Explore and act on smart chips
  • Use building blocks and drop-downs to organise projects
• Use content from other files
• Use headers, footers, page numbers and footnotes
  • Add headers and footers
• Change the view or layout
  • Pageless considerations
• Delete a document
  • Put a file in the bin
• Related resources

Create a file

Create a blank document

Choose any of these options:

• In the address bar of a new browser tab, enter docs.new.
• In the address bar of the new browser tab, enter docs.google.com, and then:
  1. Press Shift + Tab to 'Recently used templates' list.
  2. Press the Down arrow to 'Blank'.
     • As an option, press the Down arrow to another template.
  3. Press Enter to open.
• Navigate to the destination folder in Google Drive and press Alt + c, then t (Option + c, then t on Mac).
• Use a template by using the information at 'Create a file using a template'.

Open an existing document

There are multiple ways to open an existing document.

From Docs home

1. In a new browser tab, open docs.google.com.
2. Initial focus is on the recent documents list; press the Right arrow to choose a recent file.
3. To open the existing document, press Enter.

From an existing document

1. Open the File menu.
2. Choose Open.
3. Tab to the Recent tab in the Open file picker dialogue.
4. If you want a recent file, continue tabbing to the most recent file.
5. To choose another location like 'My Drive' or 'Shared with me':
   1. Press theRight arrow to the location.
   2. Press Enter.
   3. Continue tabbing to the first file in that location.
6. Press the Right arrow to the file that you want and press Enter.

From a link in a document

When you encounter a link in a document, make sure that the focus is on that link and press Alt + Enter (Option + Enter on Mac) to open that link in a new tab. To learn more about links and bookmarks, refer to work with links and bookmarks.

From Drive

To open an existing document from Drive, refer to use a screen reader with Google Drive.

Navigate and read content

When you open a document, your focus is at the beginning of the main editing area. You hear spoken feedback or feel feedback on a braille display as you type or move through the document. These standard navigation shortcuts are supported on Windows and ChromeOS:

• Left or right arrow to move by character.
• Ctrl + Left or Ctrl + Right to move by word.
• Up or Down to move by line.
• Ctrl + Up or Ctrl + Down to move by paragraph.
• Home to move to the beginning of the line.
• End to move to the end of the line.
• Ctrl + Home to move to the top.
• Ctrl + End to move to the bottom of the doc.
• Page up or Page down to move by a displayed page, not a document page.
• In a table, press Tab or Shift + Tab to move by cells.
• Use screen reader table navigation shortcuts.

These standard navigation shortcuts are supported on MacOS:

• Left or right arrow to move by character.
• Option + Left or right to move by word.
• Up or Down to move by line.
• Option + Up or Option + Down to move by paragraph.
• Home to move to the beginning of the line.
• End to move to the end of the line.
• Command + Up to move to top.
• Command + Down to move to bottom.
• Page up or Page down to move by a displayed page, not a document page.
• In a table, press Tab or Shift + Tab to move by cells.
• Use screen reader table navigation shortcuts.

Tip: To also select the content using the above granularity, hold the Shift key while navigating.

Docs navigation shortcuts

While navigating through an existing document, you might notice that your screen reader does report headings, links and other structured content. If you try the screen reader commands for navigating to headings or links, you will find those that are near the current focus. The content that is further above or below will be 'missing' due to performance optimisations.

So instead of switching between virtual or browse modes and focus navigation, you can stay in focus navigation and use Google Docs Accessibility shortcuts.

For easy learning, these are available in the Accessibility menu: Alt + Shift + a on Windows/ChromeOS and Control + Option + a on MacOS. For those that you use frequently, the shortcuts are also listed in the menus.

For example, to navigate quickly, you can use the Docs 'Next' and 'Previous' shortcuts:

• 'Next' shortcuts: These key combinations move your focus forwards.
  • Windows: Press Ctrl + Alt + n.
  • Mac: Press Control + Command + n followed by another key, such as the h key for headings or the l key for links. For example, to move to the next heading, hold Ctrl + Alt and press n then h.
• 'Previous' shortcuts: These key combinations move your focus backwards.
  • Windows: Press Ctrl + Alt + p.
  • Mac: Press Control + Command + p followed by another key. For example, to move to the previous heading, hold Control + Command and press p then h.

Use the outline panel

Another method for navigating to a heading and also reading the headings is by hiding and then showing the 'Outline'. It receives keyboard focus when shown. You can do this via the View menu, but since you will often toggle it twice, the shortcut is more convenient:

1. Hold Ctrl + Alt.

• Control + Option on MacOS.

2. Press the a key and then the h key.

3. Note that you have to 'Tab' to the outline.

4. Press the Down arrow through the headings.

5. Press Enter on a heading to move focus to the content at that heading.

Tip: To reach the 'Remove from outline' button, press Tab on a heading list item.

Announce info

Docs has several shortcuts for announcing or verbalising information. These can be found in the Verbalise to screen reader sub-menu of the Accessibility menu.

1. Open the Accessibility menu.
2. Press s to open the submenu.
3. To announce the text or paragraph formatting at your cursor's current location, open the Accessibility menu.
4. Select Verbalise to screen reader and then Verbalise selection formatting.
5. Note the shortcut in the menu for quick access.

Note about shortcuts

To open a list of shortcuts in your document, press Ctrl + Slash (or Command + Slash on Mac). You can search for actions like Insert or Next. To return to your document, press Escape. For navigation guidance in this dialogue, refer to use Google editors with a screen reader.

For a web page table of shortcuts, refer to one of the following links for your platform:

• PC shortcuts
• ChromeOS shortcuts
• Mac shortcuts

Windows keyboard shortcut considerations

If you're not using the US English keyboard layout that is the default in the US, many shortcuts that include the Ctrl + Alt modifier won't work as expected (they will act as if the AtlGr key was pressed instead). If you would like to use these shortcuts, consult the Windows documentation on installing and temporarily switching to the US English keyboard layout.

Search the menus

Besides using the menu bar and sub-menus or using shortcuts, you can also search the menus by:

1. Press Alt + Slash (Windows, Chrome OS).
   • Or Option + Slash (Mac).
2. Type a command, like Rename or Insert.
3. Press the Down arrow to hear search results. For example, if you type Insert, the options include adding an image, a comment and other choices.
4. To choose an action, press Enter.

Tip:

1. Recent searches are saved in the drop-down list, so it's easy to repeat actions.
2. After searching, press the shortcut again at the next location.
3. Press Enter to repeat.

Formatting content

Formatting can be applied at the character, paragraph or page level. Formatting can be applied to existing text or future text. To apply to existing text, first select the text and then apply formatting, or if you want the change to apply to future content, then don't have any text selected when applying format.

• Most text and paragraph formatting are in the 'Format' menu that is opened with this shortcut:
  • On Windows and ChromeOS: Alt + Shift + o.
  • On MacOS: Control + Option + o.
  • When the menu item is activated, some actions are performed immediately while other actions will open a dialogue. If a dialogue is opened, navigate or tab through the dialogue and make the desired choices.
• Some actions are also available via the context menu.
• However, some formatting options are available only in the toolbar or via 'Search the menus?' To reach the toolbar, open the File menu and then tab until the toolbar is reached. To search the menus, press Alt + Slash on Windows/ChromeOS or Option + Slash on Mac, type a command (e.g. spacing) or a subset of the command (e.g. space), Down arrow to the desired action and then press Enter.

Some formatting examples are:

• Character-level text formatting:
  • Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough
  • Capitalisation (upper, lower, title)
  • Text and highlight colour
• Paragraph-level text formatting:
  • Title and subtitle
  • Headings
  • Lists (bulleted, numbered, tick box)
  • Alignment and indent level
  • Keep paragraph headings and text on the same page
  • Prevent single lines at the beginning or end of paragraphs
  • Paragraph borders and colour
• Page-level formatting:
  • Columns
  • Background page colour
  • Page size, margins and orientation
  • Headers and footers

Or you can turn your content into one long page by making it pageless.

For more information about formatting, visit change how paragraphs and fonts look.

Formatting examples

This section gives examples for several types of formatting. The following examples provide the steps for navigating the menus, but you may want to note the direct shortcuts that are presented in the menu options.

Select normal, heading-style paragraphs

1. Open the Format menu.
2. Select Paragraph styles.
3. Select a paragraph style:
   • Normal
   • Title
   • Heading level
4. Select Apply.

Change paragraph alignment

1. Open the Format menu.
2. Select Align and indent.
3. Select an alignment option:
   • Left
   • Centred
   • Right

Bold, italicise or strikethrough text

1. Open the Format menu.
2. Select Text.
3. Select:
   • Bold
   • Italic
   • Underline
   • Strikethrough

Change font style and size

If you know the name of the font that you want to use:

1. Press the menu search shortcut, Alt + Slash (Option + Slash on MacOS).
2. Type font, followed by the name.
3. Press the Down arrow to the matching name.
4. If the name has a sub-menu, you can also choose a font weight.
5. Press Enter to change the font
   • Or Escape to cancel.

If you want to choose from a menu of fonts:

1. Open the File menu.
2. Tab several times to the Main toolbar.
3. Press theRight arrow to 'Font list'.
4. Press the Down arrow into the menu; the current font will be ticked.
5. Press the Down arrow to explore the alphabetical menu of fonts.
6. If the name has a sub-menu, you can also choose a font weight.
7. Press Enter to change the font
   • Or Escape to cancel.

If you want to add fonts to your font menu:

1. Open the File menu.
2. Tab several times to the Main toolbar.
3. Press the Right arrow to 'Font list'.
4. Press the Down arrow into the menu; the current font will be ticked.
5. Press the Up arrow to 'More fonts'.
6. Press Enter to open the Fonts dialogue; focus will start in the list of fonts.
7. Press theDown arrow through the list.
8. Press Space to check the fonts to add.
9. When complete, tab to the OK button and press Enter.

Tip: The font dialogue includes options for sorting and searching; try searching for types of fonts like Serif or Mono.

Change font size

1. Select the Format menu.
2. Press Text.
3. Press the Up arrow to size.
4. Select Increase font size.
   • Or Decrease font size.

Tip: Use the keyboard shortcuts mentioned in the menu items if you do this often.

If you know the size that you want to set:

1. Press the menu search shortcut, Alt + Slash (Option + Slash on MacOS).
2. Type font, followed by the numerical size.
3. Press Enter.
   • Or just type the numerical size and confirm the match.

Change the font colours

Setting font text and highlight (background) colours isn't available in the Format menu. They are available in the toolbar, but searching the menu is easier by keyboard:

1. Press the menu search shortcut, Alt + Slash (Option + Slash on MacOS).
2. Type text colour, followed by a colour name like blue or yellow.
3. Press the Down arrow to the shade desired
4. Press Enter.
5. To change background colour, type highlight colour followed by a colour name.

Tip: Type just the colour name and then choose from the drop-down list for text colour, highlight colour or colour shade. Many colour combinations are difficult for certain people to perceive, so take care when selecting colours.

Formatting tips

• The instructions describe the use of the menus to perform these actions, but many actions also include keyboard shortcuts that can be applied without navigating through the menus. To work more efficiently, take note of the shortcuts presented with the menu actions that you use frequently.
• To start a numbered list at the beginning of a paragraph, type '1.' followed by a space or '*' followed by a space to start a bulleted list. Or:
  • To start or change to a numbered list, press Ctrl + Shift + 7 (Command + Shift + 7 on Mac).
  • To start or change to a bulleted list, press Ctrl + Shift + 8 (Command + Shift + 8 on Mac).
  • To start or change to a checklist, press Ctrl + Shift + 9 (Command + Shift + 9 on Mac).
• To start a bulleted or numbered list inside a list, press Tab. The new list will be indented and use the next level style.
• To toggle a checklist item, move the cursor to that item, then use Ctrl + Alt + Enter (Command + Option + Enter on Mac).
• Normal and heading styles also have keyboard shortcuts listed in the menu, which can be used without navigating the menus. For example, Ctrl + Alt + 3 for heading level 3 (Control + Command + 3 on Mac).

Important: For consistency, it is generally better to apply a 'normal' or 'heading' style instead of updating font appearance. Apply a style for a paragraph by choosing a style in the format menu.

Find and replace text

Search in your document

1. Press Ctrl + f (Command + f on Mac). Results are found immediately as you type.
2. Press Enter to search forwards to the first match after your cursor.
3. Press Enter to search again. The found string should be announced in context.
4. Press Shift + Enter to search backwards from your cursor location.
5. Press Escape to move focus to the location of the last match.

Find and replace text

1. Press Ctrl + h (Command + Shift + h on Mac).
2. Enter the text that you want to locate in the 'Find' field.
3. Enter the text you want to replace it with in the 'Replace with' field.
   • Tab to the Replace, Replace all, Previous or Next buttons to find and replace text.
   • When you activate the Replace button, the next found string should be announced in context.
4. To exit the dialogue and put focus on the last match, press Escape.

Copy and paste text and images

You can copy and paste text and images between your files even if you're going from one type of file to another. The first step is to press Shift + Arrow keys to select the text and/or image that you want to copy. Then use these keyboard shortcuts:

• PC: Press Ctrl + c for Copy, Ctrl + x for Cut and Ctrl + v for Paste.
• Mac: Press Command + c for Copy, Command + x for Cut and Command + v for Paste.

Copy text formatting (paint format)

When you want to duplicate the font style, size and colour, from text that has the desired attributes to one or more additional strings:

1. Press the Shift + Arrow keys to select text with the desired attributes.
2. Press the menu search shortcut, Alt + Slash (Option + Slash on MacOS).
3. Type format.
4. Press the Down arrow to 'Copy formatting'.
5. Press Enter (note the shortcut for future use).
6. Select the text to be formatted like the first selection.
7. Press the menu search shortcut, Alt + Slash (Option + Slash on MacOS).
8. Type format.
9. Press the Down arrow to 'Paste formatting'.
10. Press Enter (note the shortcut for future use).

Tip: This only works within the document in a single browser tab.

Spell-check a document

Docs automatically finds misspellings in your document.

• To go to the next misspelling, press Ctrl + Apostrophe (Command + Apostrophe on Mac).
• To go to the previous misspelling, press Ctrl + Semicolon (Command + Semicolon on Mac).
• To correct a misspelling, open the context menu by pressing Shift + F10.
• From the context menu, select the correctly spelled suggestion or ignore option.
• Press Enter.

Learn more about spell-check and automatic corrections.

Add/insert content

Add a title, heading or table of contents

You can organise your document with a title, headings and a table of contents. You can customise the font and size of the text styles and set your styles as defaults.

Add, delete or refresh a table of contents

You can provide easy navigation in your document with a table of contents. Each item in the table of contents links to your document headings or title. As with other links, you can navigate to the destination by moving to the line in the table of contents and pressing Alt + Enter (Option + Enter on Mac).

Add a table of contents

1. Move the cursor to the location where you want your table of contents.
2. Open the Insert menu.
3. Select Table of contents (near the bottom).
4. Select how you want the table of contents to look (with or without page numbers).

Tip: Pageless documents won't have step 4 since only one style is available.

Customise a table of contents

1. Navigate to your table of contents.
2. Press Shift + F10 to open the context menu.
3. On the bottom page, select Table of contents options.
   • This option is only available to document editors.
4. This opens the Table of contents sidebar; tab to:
   • Formatting: To select the style.
   • Heading levels: To select which heading levels to include.
   • Select the close button in the sidebar when done.

Tip: Your changes in the sidebar take effect immediately, so no need to refresh.

After a table of contents is added to the document, you can delete or refresh the table of contents:

1. Navigate to your table of contents.
2. Press Shift + F10 to open the context menu.
3. Select one of the actions from the context menu:

• Near the bottom, select Delete table of contents.
• Near the bottom, select Refresh table of contents.

Add an image, table and footnote

1. Place the cursor where you'd like to add an image, table or footnote.
2. To open the Insert menu, press Alt + Shift + i or Control + Option + i on Mac.
3. Explore the list using arrow keys.
4. To make your selection, press Enter.

Add alt text for an image or drawing

1. Select the image or drawing with Shift + Arrow keys.
2. Press Shift + F10 to open the context menu.
3. To open the Image options sidebar, select Alt text.
4. Tab to the 'Description edit' field.
5. Type the alt text.
6. Tab to the close button.
7. Press Enter to close the sidebar.

Tip: The Ctrl + Alt + y (Command + Option + y on Mac) shortcut can be used instead of the context menu.

Add and edit tables

Organise information in a document or presentation with a table. You can add and delete tables, and adjust the size and style of table rows and columns.

Add a table

1. Open the Insert menu.
2. Select Table.
3. Press Arrow keys to choose how many rows and columns you want to add:
   • Press the Down arrow to increase the number of rows.
   • Press the Right arrow to increase the number of columns.
   • Tip: Tables can be inserted up to 20 x 20 cells.
4. Press Enter to add the table to your document.

Modify an existing table

Once a table has been added, several actions can be made through the context menu or table properties changed through a side panel.

Table actions via context menu

1. Move the focus to the table to be modified.
2. Move focus to a cell.
3. Press Shift + F10 to open the context menu.
4. Select one of these menu options:
   • Insert column to the left.
   • Insert column to the right.
   • Insert row above.
   • Insert row below.
     • Tip: To insert more than one row or column, select more than one row or column before opening the context menu.
   • Delete column, Delete row or Delete table.
   • Distribute rows or Distribute columns.
     • Tip: When you distribute rows, you're adjusting the height of all cells to the height of the tallest row. When you distribute columns, you're adjusting the width of all cells to the widest column.
   • Pin header row, pin header up to this row or unmerge header row.
   • Sort table.
   • Merge cells. Any data in the merged cells will also be merged.
   • Unmerge cells.
     • Tip: Unmerge doesn't reverse merged data. Press the Undo command, Ctrl + z (Command + z on Mac) to unmerge previously merged cells.
   • Split cell.

Change table property

1. Move focus to the row or column that you want to change.
2. Open the Format menu.
3. Select Table.
4. Select Table properties.
5. In the focused Table properties sidebar.
6. Tab to the desired field.
7. Adjust/modify the current settings.
8. Tab to the close button.
9. Press Enter to close the sidebar.
   • Or press Escape to return to your content.

Tip: Select the content in more than one column or row to adjust all selected columns or rows to the same property.

Insert smart chips and building blocks

Insert smart chips in your Google Doc to include information about:

• Other users with Gmail or Workspace email addresses
• Other Google Docs, Sheets or Slides files
• Dates or Google Calendar events
• Places and map directions

Where there's a smart chip in your document, you and other users can explore the pop-up on a chip to get more information.

You can also insert drop-downs or use building blocks to track projects like product roadmaps or review trackers.

Explore and act on smart chips

Some smart chips are presented by the screen reader as a link. You can activate them just as you would for a link: Press Alt + Enter (Option + Enter on Mac). Move the cursor to the smart chip and use the shortcut to perform these actions:

• People: Opens a new Gmail browser tab to compose a new message to the person.
• File: Opens a new browser tab with the Workspace file opened.
• Calendar event: Opens a new Calendar browser tab with the event opened.
• Place: Opens a new Maps browser tab with the place opened. Press Tab to options like directions.
• Voting: Adds or removes your vote.
• Stopwatch: Starts, pauses or resumes the stopwatch.
• Timer: Starts, pauses, resumes or restarts the timer.

Tasks are presented as a tick box list item and you can toggle them the same way: Ctrl + Alt + Enter (Command + Option + Enter on Mac).

Most smart chips present additional information or actions in a pop-up as follows:

1. Move your cursor to the beginning of the smart chip.
2. Press Shift + Right arrow to select the 'character' representing the smart chip.
3. Press Alt + Slash (Option + Slash on Mac) to search the menus.
4. Type Pop-up.
5. Press the Down arrow if needed to 'Move focus to pop-up', then press Enter.
   • Alternative: Press Ctrl + Alt + e then p (Control + Command + e then p on Mac) to enter the 'Pop-up'.
6. Press Tab to the available options and actions.
7. Press Escape to dismiss the pop-up.

Tip: Use your screen reader review/browse mode to read non-focusable information in the pop-up.

Add smart chips for people, files, dates and events

Important: When you mention another user in a smart chip, they don't automatically get access to your document. To grant access to another user, you must share your document.

1. Move the cursor to where you want a smart chip.
2. Type '@' to open a list of suggestions.
3. Press the Down arrow to select from the list of suggestions or start typing letters, numbers or symbols that are part of the desired chip.
   • Tips:
     • To add a person smart chip, start typing the name or email address of the person that you want, or type '@me' to add yourself.
     • To add a file smart chip, enter the file name or related keywords.
4. Press Enter to insert the smart chip.

Create and edit date chips

1. Move the cursor to where you want a smart chip.
2. To add a date chip, type '@' followed by:
   • Today
   • Tomorrow
   • Yesterday
   • A specific date, like Jan or 1/1/2021
   • A relative date, like Monday, next Tuesday or last Wednesday
3. To edit, enter the pop-up.
4. Press Tab to the:
   • 'Open date picker' button: Press Enter and then press the Arrow keys to adjust the date, and press Enter.
   • 'Open date format menu' button: Press Down arrow to the desired format and then Enter.
   • Press Escape when you're done editing.

After you add a date chip, it shows on the document for all collaborators in the language of the person who added it. Date chips will appear the same to collaborators in all time zones.

Create calendar event chips

You can add a smart chip for a Calendar event to find information about the event and join the video meeting from your Google Doc.

1. Move the cursor to where you want a smart chip.
2. You can either:
   • Type '@', then press the Up arrow to the 'Calendar events' section and then press the Right arrow twice to a longer list of events.
   • Open the Insert menu, and then press Smart chips.
     • Select Calendar event.
3. Press the Down arrow to the desired event and then press Enter.

Tip: If the calendar event has a video meeting and is starting soon or has started already, you can join the video meeting from your Google Doc. Open the pop-up for the Calendar event chip, press Tab to the 'Join' button and press Enter.

Create file chips

1. Move the cursor to where you want a smart chip.
2. Type '@' and part of the file name.
3. Press the Down arrow to the desired file and then press Enter.

Use building blocks and drop-downs to organise projects

In Google Docs, you can add and customise drop-down chips that display multiple options. You can also use building blocks to insert templates to help track projects, files and more.

Use a drop-down

When you navigate the document content by line, the drop-down will be presented only by the currently selected option. When you navigate by word or character, the drop-down will be presented as a 'drop-down chip' followed by the currently selected option. To change the current selection:

1. Move focus to the 'Drop-down chip'.
2. Select the character that represents the drop-down chip (you may hear the current option).
3. Press the Down arrow and the current option will be in focus.
4. Press the Down arrow to choose an option.
5. Press Enter on the desired option.
   • Or press Escape to cancel.
6. The drop-down will close and the new option will be announced.

Add or edit a drop-down

1. Move the cursor to where you want a drop-down.
2. You can either:
   • Type '@drop-down' and press Enter.
   • Open the Insert menu and select Drop-down.
3. Select a drop-down option.
   • If you select a new drop-down, you can change the drop-down template name and edit the option names before you save.
4. To make changes to a previously created drop-down, use the Drop-down.
5. Select the last option labelled Add/Edit options.

Add a building block

1. Move the cursor to where you want a building block.
2. Open the Insert menu and select Building blocks.
3. Select which building block you want to use.

Insert a code block

1. Move the cursor to where you want a code block.
2. Open the Insert menu and then press Building blocks.
3. Select Code block.
4. Select a code block language.

Tip: If you have enabled Markdown for Google Docs, you can also insert a code block by typing ``` and pressing Enter.

Use content from other files

Charts, tables or slides in other files can be added into a document.

Add a chart

Use the Insert menu to use an Image or a Drawing from another source in your document.

1. To use an existing chart, in the 'Insert' menu, select Chart and then From Sheets.
2. To create a Sheet with sample data and a chart for that data, select Bar, Column, Line or Pie.
3. Edit the data in the new Sheet to create the new chart.

Add a table

1. To insert a table from an existing Sheet, select and clipboard copy the cells.
2. Clipboard paste into your document
   • To insert that content into your document, select Paste unlinked.
   • To refresh the table whenever the source content is updated, select Link to spreadsheet.

Add a slide

1. To use a slide from an existing presentation, select and clipboard copy one or more slides.
2. Clipboard paste into your document.
   • To insert that version of the slide, click Paste unlinked.
   • To allow your document to update with the slide content, click Link to presentation.

Modify the added content

Use the context menu on the inserted content to modify how inserted content is presented in your document. Additional presentation options are usually available by pressing Alt + Slash (Option + Slash on Mac), typing 'Pop-up', then selecting 'Move focus to pop-up' or press Ctrl + Alt + e, then p on ChromeOS and US English Windows, or Command + Option + e then p on Mac.

To refresh linked content, select Linked objects from the 'Tools' menu to open the sidebar that has a button to refresh all of your linked content, or press Enter on one of the listed linked objects to move the focus to that object in your document.

To open linked content from your document, select the linked object, then use Ctrl + Alt + e, then o (Command + Option + e, then o on Mac) to focus on the options section. Press Tab to the 'Linked slide/table/chart options' menu button. Press Down arrow to 'Open source' to open the source of the slide/table/chart content in your document. If changes are made to the linked content, you still have to refresh your document content when you return.

Use headers, footers, page numbers and footnotes

You can use footnotes to add references in your Google Doc. You can include headers and footers to add content to every page in the document. You can also add page numbers in documents that are in page format.

Add headers and footers

1. Open the Insert menu.
2. Press Headers and footers.
3. Select Header or Footer.
4. Enter or edit text for the header or footer.
5. To return to the content, press Escape.

Important: This feature isn't available for pageless documents. If your document already includes headers or footers and you switch it to a pageless format, you won't see the headers and footers in your document anymore. To use and see headers and footers, make sure that your document is in page format.

This alternative for header or footer actions may be faster:

1. Press Alt + Slash (Option + Slash on Mac).
2. Type 'header' or 'footer'.
3. Press Down arrow to select an option:
   • Insert or move to header or footer.
   • If it has been added, Remove header or Remove footer.
   • Insert page number in header or footer, starting on the first page.
   • Insert page number in header or footer, starting on the second page.

Change the view or layout

Pageless considerations

When your document is printed, it is useful to use the common page format. Pageless format is useful when the content will be predominantly online, or when it includes wide tables or images that won't print well.

Some features are limited or not available in pageless format:

• No page columns.
• No page numbers.
• No headers or footers.
• No page watermarks.
• Fewer table of contents options.
• Footnotes are all grouped at the end of the content.

To change the document between pageless and pages:

1. Open the File menu.
2. Select Page setup.
3. Tab to either the 'Pages' or 'Pageless' tab.
4. Press Space.
5. As an option, tab and select options specific to your selection.
6. Tab to the OK button.
7. Press Enter to change your document.
   • Or press Escape to cancel.

Pageless documents allow for the simplification of a document by collapsing or hiding the content under selected headings:

1. Move focus to the desired heading.
2. Press Shift + F10 to open the context menu.
3. Select Collapse heading.
   • Or Collapse all headings of the same style.
     • When a heading has already collapsed, the context menu will instead include options to 'Expand heading' and 'Expand all headings of the same style'.

Important: Content in collapsed headings will also be hidden from search results.

Read more about the visual presentation options for Pages or Pageless in change a document's page setup.

Delete a document

Put a file in the bin

To remove a file, you can put it in your bin. Your file will stay there until you empty your bin.

If you're the owner of the file, others can view it until you permanently delete the file. If you're not the owner, others can see the file even if you empty your bin.

1. Open the File menu.
2. Select Move to bin.
3. Tab to and press Go to Docs home screen.
   • Or close the browser tab.
4. Press Escape to cancel.

Tip: The file will be moved to the bin section of Drive. Learn more about finding and recovering files in the 'Bin'.

If you delete a shared document, spreadsheet or presentation that you own, it will be completely removed from Drive for all collaborators and they will no longer have access to the document. Before deleting a document, you may want to make someone else its owner so that others can still access it.

Related resources

• Learn how to change how paragraphs and fonts look.
• Learn how to collaborate and comment on documents.