Use these quick Doc Tools to perform daily text operations in one click: change case and font size, highlight and sort text, turn words into numbers and back.
Video: One-click tools for Google Docs
Start the add-on
Select the text you'd like to change and go to Add-ons > Doc Tools > Start to open the sidebar with the tools:
The add-on will appear to the right of your document. Decide what you need to do, and click the corresponding button to apply changes:
Tip. We placed some of the tools directly to the Google Docs drop-down menu under the Start option. Click right there to change text quicker.
Change font size
The first two icons will help you make the font of the selection bigger or smaller:
- To make text bigger, select it and click on the Increase font size icon.
- To make text smaller, select it and run the Decrease font size tool.
Note. The font will change according to the standard list of font sizes in Google Docs.
Highlight text
The highlighter is a great tool to quickly mark the most important blocks of text. Select the information you want to accentuate and click on the Highlight text tool on the sidebar:
Tip. The little arrow next to the icon will let you choose from 5 colors. The tool will always remember the latest color you choose:
The highlighter can also remove any of the selected colors, or clear them altogether. Select the paragraphs where you want to remove all highlighting and click on the Eraser icon.
Tip. To remove a particular color, click on the little arrow and pick the needed color in the list:
Sort your data
How to alphabetize lists
To organize your bibliography list alphabetically, select the items and click on the Sort A to Z or Sort Z to A icon to arrange them in ascending or descending order respectively:
Note. If the selected list items contain additional text, they will be moved together to avoid data corruption.
How to sort paragraphs
To sort the paragraphs, please select them separately, i.e. without headings or list items.
How to organize tables
You can organize records in your table by any columns.
Place your mouse cursor at the beginning of any cell in a table and click one of the Sort icons. You will see a small dialogue box that prompts you to pick column(s) with the key records:
- Select the column(s) to sort on. E.g. you can sort the reference list by author's name, and then by article titles.
- Tick off My table has header row to leave the top row intact.
Once you specify how you want to arrange your text, click Sort.
Tip. To organize just a part of your table, select the necessary rows and click Sort to define the key columns.
Spell numbers
Number-to-word converter will help you replace integers with words and vice-versa in one click.
Simply select the number you need to spell and click on the 10 to Ten icon. You can turn words to numbers with the help of Ten to 10 tool:
Note. The current version of the add-on does not work with decimals.
Change case
The add-on offers five common ways to change the case of the selection.
Place the cursor on the word, or select the block of text you want to change, and click on the case you prefer on the sidebar:
- Change all selected text to uppercase by clicking the UPPERCASE icon.
- Apply lowercase to the selection using the lowercase icon.
- Click the Capitalize icon to start all words with a capital and make all other letters small.
Note. If there are some words in all capitals within the range, please apply lowercase beforehand. This should be done in order to avoid corrupting any acronyms you may have.
- Apply Sentence case. to start every selected sentence with a capital letter.
Note. Only the first letter in a sentence will change, all your acronyms and names that start with a capital will remain intact.
- Click tOGGLE cASE to invert case in the selection.
Related pages
Responses
Is it possible to sort tables by number value instead of alphabet?
For example, if I have a table with a serial number column, at the moment the number 101 is sorted before the number 20.
Hello Yoav,
Thank you for contacting us. Please send us a screenshot of your table to support@ablebits.com. We will check the problem on our side and try to find its cause.
Hello, Numbers in letters is a wonderful tool, but I'd need to transform "page numbers" in" letters": we are teacher in a italian school, Istituto Farlottine Bologna (www.farlottine.it), and we would teach English from 5 to 13 Years wit our Englis-LAB, create with Google Documents. Is it possible to insert that tool in Doc Tools? It would be lovely! Thank you very much! Sabina
Hello Sabina,
Thank you for sharing this idea with us. I've forwarded it to our development team so they might introduce this option in future, however, can't tell you the exact timing.
Does the sort alphabetically tool work for a table of contents in Docs? I am getting this error message:
TypeError: Cannot find function appendParagraph in object TableOfContents
Hello Dina,
Thank you for contacting us. Sorry to hear about the error message. For us to understand the problem better, please send us a screenshot of your table of contents. We will try to help.
I am looking for a tool that can add line breaks before a key word. Is this possible through the doc tools add on?
Hello Dayevin,
I'm sorry, our Doc Tools can not help you with this task. Sorry for not being able to assist you more.
Im looking for a tool that can merge multiple Google Docs into a single Doc
Hello Dean,
Thank you for contacting us. As much as we'd like to help, we have no tool to merge Google Docs.
Sorry for not being able to help you more.
I installed your Docs Tools to sort a list in a table. The table is simply two columns. It sorted it Z to A and now won't resort it the way I wanted, A to Z.
Hello James,
Thank you for your comment. Please note that there is currently an issue on the side of Google that occurs when you are logged in under more than one account. Please sign out and log in back only under the account you used to grant permissions to the add-on and try to reproduce the issue.
If this doesn't help, for us to be able to assist you, please send us the screenshot of the records you're trying to sort before and after the sorting to support@ablebits.com. Thank you.
Help me start a voice type in google docs.
Avelino,
We don't have any tools for voice typing because this feature is standard for Google Docs. Just follow the steps described on their help page:
https://support.google.com/docs/answer/4492226?hl=en
I would like to create an index of words at the end of a Google Doc. I need to know how many times a word has been used and on what page I can find it on. Possible?
Thank you for your question, Mel.
I believe our Search & Navigate can help you. It shows all instances of the word on its sidebar and their total. You can quickly navigate between them to check what pages they are on.
The help page for the tool will tell you more on how to use it:
https://www.ablebits.com/docs/google-docs-search-navigate/#find-text
I can't seem to sort a table. Using the Add-on it allowed me to Capitalize, but not sort ascending or depending. Help
Hello Holly,
Thank you for your comment.
Please note that there is currently an issue on the side of Google that occurs when you are logged in under more than one account. We kindly ask you to sign out and log in only under the account you used to grant permissions to the add-on and try to reproduce the issue.
If this doesn't help, please send us the screenshot of the records you're trying to sort to support@ablebits.com and specify whether you run the sorting tool via the drop-down Google Docs menu (Add-ons > Doc Tools > Sort the selection ascending/descending) or by clicking the corresponding icon on the Doc Tools sidebar.
These details will help us understand the problem better. Thank you.
How can I insert a text box into a picture to add text?
Hello Mozelle,
Though we don't have a tool for that, you should find the tutorial on adding text boxes into images here:
https://support.google.com/docs/answer/179740?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
How do i combine pdf docs into one document.
Hello Mark,
Thank you for contacting us.
Unfortunately, we don't have an add-on with such functionality. Sorry for not being able to help you better.
I'm looking for a tool that will center text top to bottom within a table cell.
Thank you for contacting us, Kathy.
You can do that with a standard Google Docs feature. Select all cells (table) you want to center, right-click any cell, and choose Table properties. In the next pop-up window find the Cell vertical alignment option and choose to center at the Top/Middle/Bottom of cells.
This will place your text accordingly within each cell.
I'm looking for an add on that will allow me to create another tab within the Google Doc, similar to how you can add multiple sheets in Google Sheets. Is this possible?
Hi Cassie,
Thank you for contacting us. Unfortunately, we cannot offer an add-on with such functionality. I hope I could assist you better.
I'm looking for an add on that will allow me to print brochures - or simply print back to back with a 'flip on long edge' option. I've searched the add ons, but haven't found it yet.
Thanks
Thank you for your question, Hope.
To print brochures, you need to access your system printer settings before printing. Please follow the steps described here to do that correctly:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/print-doublesided-google-docs-50784.html
Hope this helps!