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 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.

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 Down arrow to “Blank.“
      • Optionally, press 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 dialog.
  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 Right arrow to the location.
    2. Press Enter.
    3. Continue tabbing to the first file in that location.
  6. Press Right arrow to the file you want and press Enter.

From a link in a document

When you encounter a link in a document, make sure 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 & bookmarks.

From Drive

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

Navigate & 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 top.
  • Ctrl + End to move to 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 optimizations.

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/Chrome OS 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 forward.
    • 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 backward.
    • 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 verbalizing information. These can be found in the Verbalize to screen reader submenu 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 Verbalize to screen reader and then Verbalize 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 dialog, 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:

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 submenus 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 dropdown 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 immediately performed while other actions will open a dialog. If a dialog is opened, navigate or tab through the dialog and make 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
    • Capitalization (upper, lower, title)
    • Text and highlight color
  • Paragraph level text formatting:
    • Title and subtitle
    • Headings
    • Lists (bulleted, numbered, checkbox)
    • 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 color
  • Page level formatting:
    • Columns
    • Background page color
    • 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 & indent.
  3. Select an alignment option:
    • Left
    • Centered
    • Right

Bold, italicize, 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 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 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 Right arrow to ”Font list.”
  4. Press Down arrow into the menu, the current font will be checked.
  5. Press 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 Right arrow to “Font list.”
  4. Press Down arrow into the menu, the current font will be checked.
  5. Press Up arrow to “More fonts.”
  6. Press Enter to open the Fonts dialog, focus will start in the list of fonts.
  7. Press Down arrow through the list.
  8. Press Space to check the fonts to add.
  9. When done, Tab to the OK button and press Enter.

Tip: The font dialog 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 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 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 colors

Setting font text and highlight (background) colors 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 color, followed by a color name like blue or yellow.
  3. Press Down arrow to the shade desired
  4. Press Enter.
  5. To change background color, type highlight color followed by a color name.

Tip: Type just the color name and then choose from the dropdown list for text color, highlight color, or color shade. Many color combinations are difficult for some people to perceive, so use care when selecting colors.

Formatting tips

  • The instructions describe using the menus to perform these actions, but many actions also include keyboard shortcuts that can be applied without navigating the menus. To work more efficiently, take note of the shortcuts presented with the menu actions 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 the next level style.
  • To toggle a Checklist item, move the cursor to that item, then use the Ctrl + Alt + Enter (Command + Option + Enter on Mac).
  • Normal and heading styles also have keyboard shortcuts listed in the menu that 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 & 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 forward 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 backward 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 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 dialog and put focus at the last match, press Escape.

Copy & 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 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 color, from text that has the desired attributes to one or more additional strings:

  1. Press 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 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 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 organize your document with a title, headings, and a table of contents. You can customize 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. Like other links, you can navigate to the destination by moving to the line in the table of contents and press Alt + Enter (Option + Enter on Mac).

Add a table of contents

  1. Move the cursor to the location 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.

Customize a table of contents

  1. Navigate to your table of contents.
  2. Press Shift + F10 to open the context menu.
  3. At 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 & 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 & edit tables

Organize 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 Down arrow to increase the number of rows.
    • Press 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 left.
    • Insert column 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 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 & 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 popup on a chip to get more information.

You can also insert dropdowns, 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 check 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 popup 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 Popup.
  5. Press Down arrow if needed to “Move focus to popup” then press Enter.
    • Alternative: Press Ctrl + Alt + e then p (Control + Command + e then p on Mac) to enter the “Popup.”
  6. Press Tab to the available options and actions.
  7. Press Escape to dismiss the popup.

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

Add smart chips for people, files, dates & 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 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 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 popup.
  4. Press Tab to the:
    • “Open Date picker” button: Press Enter and then press 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 Up arrow to the "Calendar events" section, and then press Right arrow twice to a longer list of events.
    • Open the Insert menu, and then press Smart chips.
      • Select Calendar event.
  3. Press 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 popup 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 Down arrow to the desired file and then press Enter.

Use building blocks & dropdowns to organize projects

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

Use a dropdown

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

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

Add or edit a dropdown

  1. Move the cursor to where you want a dropdown.
  2. You can either:
    • Type “@dropdown” and press Enter.
    • Open the Insert menu and select Dropdown.
  3. Select a dropdown option.
    • If you select a new dropdown, you can change the dropdown template name and edit the option names before you save.
  4. To make changes to a previously created dropdown, use the Dropdown.
  5. Select the last option labeled 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 sourc 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 “Popup”, then select “Move focus to popup” or press Ctrl + Alt + e, then p on Chrome OS 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 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 & 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 pages format.

Add headers & footers

  1. Open the Insert menu.
  2. Press Headers & 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 pageless format, you won't see the headers and footers in your document anymore. To use and see headers and footers, make sure your document is in pages 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 will be printed, it is useful to use the common Pages 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 “Pages” or “Pageless” tab.
  4. Press Space.
  5. Optionally, 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 simplifying 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 is 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 trash

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

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 trash.

  1. Open the File menu.
  2. Select Move to trash.
  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 trash section of Drive. Learn more about finding and recovering files in the “Trash.”

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

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