Sep 2, 2019

How can I change Google docs measurement from imperial to metric?

There's no setting at all in Google docs to toggle between metrics and imperial unit. And from answers all over the internet, the way to change this is by changing the document language, all the way to changing the Google account's default language. All those solutions sounds bizarre, but I tried them and still doesn't work for me. Is there any other solution? Meanwhile, can I have a simple button where I can switch between metrics and imperials unit, please? I want to keep my language English US while using metrics in Google Docs.

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Docs,Mac OS,Education

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All Replies (17)

Jo S.

Diamond Product Expert

I've been volunteering in the help forums since 2013. I do NOT work for Google.

Sep 2, 2019

Hi,

Unfortunately, changing the language in your account and in the document is the only way to switch to metric measurements at this time. If that didn't work for you, please make sure you're following all these steps:

You will have to change your primary language in your Google account to English UK to get metric numbers. You need to do that in myaccount.google.com. Go to Data & personalization > General preferences for the web > Language.

When you're in the Language panel, select "Add another language." Click on English and when the the option menu opens, select UK.

When you have English (US) in your account, under Languages, you can use the up-arrow beside it to make it your default. Make sure you have English (US) selected for your language in Docs after you do this. You can always make English (US) your primary language again by clicking on the up-arrow in the Languages in your account to move it up.

Although this may seem like a lot of steps, once you have it set up in your account, it's not that difficult or time consuming to switch back and forth between English US and English UK.

To help influence future feature changes or additions in Docs, I encourage you to provide feedback about this directly to the Docs team by following these steps:

Open a document.
Click Help > Report a problem.
Enter your feedback.

Although the product team is unable to respond to individual users directly, they review this feedback regularly and use it to help improve the product over time. Google doesn't check the help forums for user feedback, so it's important that you use the in-product tool. The more users who request this capability via in-product feedback, the greater the chances are of the team considering it.

~Jo

User 13629520628343018532

Nov 10, 2019

World map of countries using Metric in Grey and Imperial in Red compare with

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_territorial_entities_where_English_is_an_official_language

.... but people who live outside the US don't matter do they?

Gill S

Platinum Product Expert

Nov 11, 2019

Personally I think measurement (and paper size) and language should be settable independently.

I actually want English UK and imperial!

Gary Chernipeski

Dec 9, 2019

Canadian's Gen X and back do different things in different measurement systems. So in my case I want UK English dictionary, but I measure paper in US or Imperial inches. No idea what sizes are in CM. YET our cars measure speed and distance in metric. We learn fuel economy in both MPG and L/100Km. Being an IT person I know the wisdom of metric dates YYYY-MM-DD whereas the US, oil patch, and Boomers like the ridiculous MM-DD-YY. So you can see just picking a language doesn't work real-world for me/us.

Last edited Dec 9, 2019

Paul Snookes

Feb 14, 2020

I am British and I had English UK as my default language. I still had imperial measurements in my Google Drawing software. I have now changed to English Australia and now I have metric. Ridiculous that we don't have the option to switch between imperial and metric whatever language we use.

Gill S

Platinum Product Expert

Feb 14, 2020

<<Ridiculous that we don't have the option to switch between imperial and metric whatever language we use.>> Absolutely right!

I wish I knew how you'd got the UK-but-imperial combo.

User 16542137658503343744

Mar 2, 2020

If the google measurements at the top are metric, is it the exact right measurement in real life or just the screen. I'm wanting to print out pictures but they have to be in squares with sides of 4cm but i have to be exact that it is 4cm when i print it out not on the screen. Let's say the numbers at the top is one cm but to me, i know that A4 paper is 21cm long but on the measurement, it is only 7cm so when it is printed out, will it be 4 cm or will it be bigger or smaller?

Gill S

Platinum Product Expert

Mar 2, 2020

I believe it shows the "real" size - but if I were you I'd construct a simple test page, print it out, and see.

David Archibald

Mar 9, 2020

I'm in the UK and followed the advice to change language in my account settings. Don't know if I needed to but I closed all Google applications other than Chrome before getting to the settings. My account was set to English UK but an info box popped up saying, "Not all applications using this language setting", and it had a CHANGE ALL button. I clicked the button, went back to Docs and made sure the language setting was set to English UK. When I opened up the print settings the page size was showing A4 in metric units. Hooray!

Maria Antonia 48

Mar 25, 2020

Thank you!!! You saved me!! If you follow all the steps it will work! :) thank you again!

Jo S.

Diamond Product Expert

I've been volunteering in the help forums since 2013. I do NOT work for Google.

Mar 25, 2020

That's great, Maria! Thank you for reporting back.

~Jo

Google Product Expert Volunteer (not a Google employee)

User 13914114340322432864

Apr 2, 2020

Google really needs to fix this problem. It does not make sense to tie the measurement units to the language!!!

Jo S.

Diamond Product Expert

I've been volunteering in the help forums since 2013. I do NOT work for Google.

Apr 2, 2020

Rather than grousing here, send your feedback directly to the Docs team (per my post above). That's the best way to get Google's attention regarding this. The more individual users (not one user sending feedback over and over again) around the world who request this change, the more likely it is that Google will take notice.

To send in your feedback, open a Docs document and go to Help > Report an issue > Send feedback.

~Jo

Google Product Expert Volunteer (not a Google employee)