Google Docs comes with default text formatting that applies to all new documents you create. This includes settings for the font, font size, line spacing, paragraph spacing, and more.
While you can change the formatting for individual documents after creating them, it’s often easier to set your preferred default formatting. That way, any new document will automatically have the font, spacing, etc. that you want without having to change it every time.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn:
The first step is to open a new or existing Google Doc and customize the formatting how you want your defaults to be.
Format a paragraph or selection of text how you want:
The key is to have a sample of text formatted exactly how you want your defaults.
Next, select the text you just formatted:
Select formatted text
Having the text selected will allow you to save the formats to use as defaults.
With your formatted text selected, click Format > Paragraph styles in the toolbar.
Then choose the style called “Normal text” from the list:
Choose normal text style
The Normal text style is what applies by default to all regular text as you type in Google Docs.
With “Normal text” style selected, click the options menu next to it:
Normal text options
Then choose “Update ‘Normal text’ to match”:
Update normal text
This will save your selected formatting to the Normal text style.
To make your updated Normal text style the default for new Google Docs, access paragraph style options again:
Paragraph style options
And click Save as my default styles:
Save as default styles
Now when you create a new document, the Normal text will use the custom formatting you set!
The process is the same:
For example, to update default heading styles:
Update heading defaults
This will undo any custom default formatting changes you have saved.
Here are some useful tips when changing default formats in Google Docs:
Setting your ideal set of default formats can save you time and effort while writing. No longer will you have to manually fix formatting every time you create a document!
And that’s it! With these simple steps you can customize Google Docs to apply your preferred font, spacing, and other formatting automatically to new documents.
Being able to update default paragraph styles is an incredibly useful way to customize Google Docs for your needs.
Taking just a minute to set your ideal formats will then save you time repeatedly applying them in the future.
Hopefully this tutorial gave you what you need to start tailoring Google Docs defaults to work best for your documents and projects. The process is quick and easy – all that’s left is deciding what formats suit you best.
So start formatting! Before long you’ll have Google Docs defaulting to your perfect set of fonts, spacings, and text styles.
Vegadocs Staff is comprised with experts in Microsoft Word and Google Docs. With years of experience, their articles offer practical tips for enhanced productivity in digital documentation.
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