This Google Docs update will finally help get your work in the right order

Google Docs
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Making sure your Google Docs files are ready for business should soon be easier than ever thanks to a new update that adds a number of new formatting and customization options.

The word processor tool is looking to improve how tables of contents appear on the platform, including the addition of an entirely new style, as it addresses what it says was one of the most highly requested features for Google Docs as a whole.

Going forward, Google Docs users will be able to toggle between three different default styles for your content table, with the new "Links" option offering jump links to the relevant section of the document alongside the traditional plain and dotted line options.

Google Docs contents

Elsewhere, users will also be able to toggle page numbers on or off, include and indent headings based on their level, and toggle tab leader styling options, which add lines between a heading and the page number.

"With these enhanced customizations, we hope this highly requested feature refines titles and headings to personalize the content of your document," the company wrote in a Google Workspace blog post announcing the updates.

Finally, the options included in the table properties sidebar in Docs are being reorganized to allow users an easier and quicker way to find and utilize table formatting options. Going forward, when a user adds or edits a table, they will now see a new "Table" section offering alignment preferences alongside a new “Cell” section with clearer cell-specific formatting options within the table properties sidebar. 

The updates are rolling out now, and are available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers, and users with personal Google Accounts.

The upgrade is the latest change to Google Docs as it looks to boost integration and collaboration across both other Google Workspace apps and external services.

Recently, as part of its Smart Canvas technology platform, Google Docs also expanded the number and type of "smart chips" it offers for users in a bid to make your documents more intuitive to use not just for you, but your wider team as well.

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Mike Moore
Deputy Editor, TechRadar Pro

Mike Moore is Deputy Editor at TechRadar Pro. He has worked as a B2B and B2C tech journalist for nearly a decade, including at one of the UK's leading national newspapers and fellow Future title ITProPortal, and when he's not keeping track of all the latest enterprise and workplace trends, can most likely be found watching, following or taking part in some kind of sport.