Format text

Docs has a full formatting toolbar above the editor. You can change the font, set headings, make text bold or italic, pick a colour, align paragraphs, and build lists, all without leaving the page.

The toolbar is visible whenever you have write access to the document. If you can only view, the toolbar is hidden.

Choose a font

Click the font name on the left of the toolbar. A dropdown shows the four available fonts:

• Inter (the default, a clean sans-serif)
• Source Serif 4 (a serif font, good for long-form reading)
• JetBrains Mono (monospaced, suited to code or technical content)
• Excalifont (a hand-drawn style)

Click the name you want. The change applies to the selected text. If nothing is selected, it applies to new text you type from that point.

Apply a heading style

The heading selector sits next to the font picker. It shows the current style of the cursor position, such as Normal or Heading 2.

1. Click inside the paragraph you want to change, or select several lines.
2. Click the heading selector to open the dropdown.
3. Choose one of Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, Heading 4, or Normal text.

Headings are block styles: the whole paragraph changes, not just the selected words. Choosing Normal text removes any heading and returns the paragraph to the default style.

Make text bold, italic, or underlined

Select the text you want to change, then click the button in the toolbar:

• Bold (or Cmd+B / Ctrl+B)
• Italic (or Cmd+I / Ctrl+I)
• Underline (or Cmd+U / Ctrl+U)
• Strikethrough
• Small (renders the text at a smaller size inline)

Each button is a toggle. Click it again on the same selection to remove the style. When the cursor is inside styled text, the button appears highlighted, so you can see what is active.

Set a text colour

The text colour button shows a letter A with a coloured underline reflecting the current colour.

1. Select the text you want to colour.
2. Click the Text color button in the toolbar.
3. A colour grid opens. Click the colour you want.

To go back to the default colour, click Default at the top of the grid.

Highlight text

The Highlight button (the highlighter pen icon) works the same way as text colour, but paints the background behind the selected text.

1. Select the text.
2. Click the Highlight button.
3. Pick a colour from the grid.

To remove the highlight, open the grid and click None.

Align a paragraph

Alignment applies to the whole paragraph the cursor is in, or to all paragraphs in the selection.

• Align left (the default)
• Align center
• Align right

Click the relevant button in the toolbar. The alignment buttons are the three icons showing horizontal lines in different positions.

Add a list

Place your cursor on the line where you want the list to start, then click one of the list buttons:

• Bulleted list: an unordered list with bullet points.
• Numbered list: an ordered list with sequential numbers.
• Checklist: a list with tick-box items you can check off.

Press Enter to add the next item, and press Enter on an empty item to end the list. You can also click the same button again on a selected list to turn it back into regular paragraphs.

Remove all formatting

To strip every style from selected text in one step, click the Clear formatting button in the toolbar. This removes bold, italic, colour, font changes, and any other marks, leaving plain text.

See Clear formatting for more detail on what gets removed and when to use it.