Change how paragraphs and fonts look

               

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You can use the buttons in the toolbar at the top of a document to:

• Edit and format the text and paragraph spacing
• Change the font and background colour
• Bold, italicise, underline or strikethrough text

These options are also available in the Format menu. To open the Format menu, use the keyboard shortcut:

• Windows and ChromeOS: Alt + Shift + o
• Mac OS: Control + Option + o

Tip: Many of these actions have keyboard shortcuts that can be used without the toolbar or menus. Take note of the shortcuts presented with the menu options that you use frequently to work more efficiently.

Format paragraphs

Change paragraph spacing and alignment

Change paragraph alignment

1. Go to the paragraph that you want to change.
   • Or select multiple paragraphs.
2. To change the paragraph spacing and alignment:
   • In the toolbar, at the upper right, select Align.
   • Open the Format menu, then select Align and indent.
3. Choose an alignment option:
   • Left
   • Centred
   • Right
   • Justified

Change line & paragraph spacing

1. Go to the paragraph that you want to change.
   • Or select multiple paragraphs.

2. To change the line and paragraph spacing:
   • In the toolbar, at the upper right, select Line and paragraph spacing.
   • Open the Format menu, then select Line and paragraph spacing. 

3. Choose a line spacing option:
   • To change your paragraph spacing, click Single, 1.15, 1.5 or Double.
   • To change your spacing between paragraphs, click Remove space before paragraph or Add space after paragraph.
   • To enter a custom size, click Custom spacing. Then enter the size of the spacing that you want before and after a paragraph and click Apply.
   • To keep paragraph headings and text on the same page, click Keep with next.
   • To keep all lines of text in the same paragraph on the same page, click Keep lines together.
   • To prevent single lines at the beginning or end of paragraphs, click Prevent single lines.

Important: Keep with next, Keep lines together and Prevent single lines aren't available in documents that are in pageless format. To use these features, make sure your document is in pages format.

Change paragraph borders or color

1. Go to the paragraph that you want to change.
   • Or select multiple paragraphs.
2. Open the Format menu.
3. Select Paragraph styles and then Borders and shading.
4. In the dialogue that opens, tab to a paragraph appearance option:
   • Position: Choose top, bottom, left, right or between paragraph lines.
   • Border width: The width of the positional border lines.
   • Border dash: The dashed, dotted or solid style of the positional border lines.
   • Border colour.
   • Background colour.
   • Paragraph padding: Spacing before the paragraph.
5. To remove paragraph borders or colour, select Reset.
6. Once finished, select Apply.

Change paragraph style

Your documents will have a more consistent appearance when you apply a style instead of updating font appearance.

To apply a style:

1. Go to the paragraph that you want to change.
   • Or select multiple paragraphs.
2. To change the paragraph style, you can:
   • In the toolbar, select Styles.
   • Open the Format menu, then select Paragraph styles.
3. Select a paragraph style:
   • Normal
   • Title
   • Heading level
4. Select Apply.

Format font

Change font

1. Select the text that you want to change.
   • To choose from a menu of fonts:
     1. In the toolbar, select Font.
     2. Choose a font from the drop-down list.
   • To search for a font, press:
     1. For Windows or ChromeOS: Alt + Slash.
        • For Mac OS: Option + Slash.
     2. Enter part of the font name.
     3. Press the down arrow to select the font name.
        • If the name has a sub-menu, you can choose your preferred font weight.
2. To change the font, press Enter.

Tip: If you search for a font, you can quickly set it again if you choose the first option in the recent list that appears when you press Alt + Slash (Option + Slash on Mac).

Change font size

1. Select the text that you want to change.
2. To change the font size:
   • Open the Format menu, then Text and then Size:
     • Select Decrease font size or press Control + Shift + ,
     • Select Increase font size or press Control + Shift + .
   • From the toolbar:
     • Select Font size then choose a size.

If you know the size that you want to set:

1. Press Alt + Slash.
   • On Mac, press Option + Slash.
2. Enter font size [number].
3. Press Enter.
   • Or just enter the numerical size and confirm the match in the results list.

Change text case

1. Select the text that you want to change.
2. Open the Format menu.
3. Select Text and then Capitalisation.
4. Choose your capitalisation:
   • lowercase
   • UPPERCASE
   • Title case

Choose a default font

1. Select the text that you want for a default.
2. Open the Format menu.
3. Select Paragraph styles, then Normal text and then Update 'Normal text' to match.

Tip: To have new documents use this font, open the Format menu, then select Paragraph styles and then Options, and then Save as my default styles.

Add fonts to your font list

In some languages, you can add new fonts to your font list.

1. Press Alt + Slash.
   • On Mac, press Option + Slash.
2. Enter more fonts.
3. Press Enter.
   • A dialogue box appears with a list of fonts.
4. To add new fonts, press Space.
5. Once finished, press Tab to the OK button and press Enter.

Tip: The font dialogue includes options for sorting and searching. You can search for types of fonts like 'serif', 'script' or 'mono'.

Available languages

Fonts are available in these languages:

• Afrikaans
• Albanian
• Arabic
• Azerbaijani
• Bangla
• Burmese
• Catalan
• Croatian
• Czech
• Danish
• Dutch
• English
• Estonian
• Filipino
• Finnish
• French
• German
• Greek
• Gujarati
• Hebrew
• Hindi
• Hungarian
• Icelandic
• Indonesian
• Italian
• Kannada
• Kazakh
• Khmer
• Kyrgyz
• Latvian
• Lithuanian
• Macedonian
• Malay
• Malayalam
• Marathi
• Mongolian
• Nepali
• Norwegian
• Persian
• Polish
• Portuguese 
• Punjabi
• Romanian
• Russian
• Serbian
• Sinhala
• Slovak
• Slovenian
• Spanish
• Swahili
• Swedish
• Tamil
• Telugu
• Thai
• Turkish
• Ukrainian
• Urdu
• Uzbek
• Vietnamese

Change the font color

1. On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
2. Select the text that you want to change.
3. On the toolbar, select Text colour .
4. Select the colour that you want.

Change the background or highlight color

1. On your computer, open a document in Google docs.
2. Select the text that you want to change.
3. On the toolbar, select Highlight colour .
4. Select the colour that you want.

Change the font colour or highlight colour by searching

1. Select the text that you want to change.
2. Press Alt + Slash.
   • On Mac, press Option + Slash.
3. Enter a colour, like blue or yellow.
4. Select the text colour or highlight colour that you want.
5. Press Enter.

Bold, italicize, or strikethrough text

1. Select the text that you want to change.
2. Open the Format menu.
3. Select Text.
4. Choose your text format:
   • Bold
   • Italic
   • Underline
   • Strikethrough

Tip: You can select text formats like bold, italic and underline from the Toolbar menu, or use keyboard shortcuts for your preferred format.

 

Related resources

• Delete a document
• Print or change the page setup
• Add headers, footers & page numbers
• Crop and adjust images
• Add a title, heading, or table of contents