Do more with Google Docs 🌟

Try these 12 useful features

Google Docs is the bicycle of digital work. It’s simple, functional and ubiquitous.

It’s so reliable — and has so many capabilities — that I still use it even after newer, fancier challengers have emerged. I’m not alone. Google’s suite surpassed Microsoft’s in 2023 global market share, according to Statista. Read on for the GDocs features I find most useful.

Save time on your documents 🕰️

1. Create a new doc instantly
Type doc.new in your browser’s address bar and you’ll have a new document. This works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Arc.

• Bonus: You can also type sheet.new, slide.new, form.new, site.new, drawing.new, or cal.new to create instant Google spreadsheets, slides, forms, sites, drawings or calendar events.

2. Translate your text automatically
Share your doc in another language. Your original is preserved — GDocs creates a translated copy. It’s not human quality, but it’s good enough to convey the gist of your message. Note: For a good translation alternative, try DeepL.
How: Go to Tools > Translate document.

3. Add a table of contents
For long documents, add a clickable outline at the top to make it easy to jump immediately down to any section.
How: Go to Insert > Table of Contents

4. Display a live word count