View document outlines, rulers, & non-printing characters

You can structure documents with the document outline in Google Docs. The outline detects titles and headings to help frame your document. You can also show or hide rulers.

Work with a document outline

1. Open a document in the Google Docs app.
2. To open the outline, tap More .
3. Tap Document outline. The outline will open on the bottom.
4. To close, go to the left side of "Document outline" and tap Close document outline .

Add headings to an outline

Google Docs will automatically add headings to an outline, but you can also add them manually.

1. Open a document in the Google Docs app.
2. Tap Edit .
3. Select the text you want to make a heading.
4. Tap Format .
5. Tap TEXT Style.
6. Tap a heading style.
7. Tap Done . The heading will be added to the outline.

Note: Subtitles will not appear in the outline.

Remove headings from an outline

1. Open a document in the Google Docs app.
2. Open the document outline.
3. On the heading you want to remove, tap More .
4. Tap Remove from outline.

Note: You can add a heading back to the outline. Select the text, then tap More Add to document outline.

Use an outline to move around in a document

1. Open a document in the Google Docs app.
2. Open the document outline.
3. Tap the heading you want to go to in the document. You will move to that place in the document.

Quickly scroll through documents

1. Open a document in the Google Docs app.
2. Scroll through your document. If the document is longer than one screen length, a little bar will show on the right.
3. To scroll, tap the bar. A list of available headings will show.
4. Drag the bar down on the screen to any heading.
5. To quickly jump to any section in the document, tap the relevant heading.

Show or hide rulers

To use rulers, open Google Docs on a computer. Learn how to show or hide rulers on a computer. 

Related article

Add titles, headings and customize the style of your document.