How to select text in Google Docs

Do you need to emphasize specific text in your Google document while drafting or editing a copy? Perhaps you want to make a word or phrase stand out for emphasis, or you want to draw attention to a specific section of the text.

Whatever the reason, learning how to highlight in Google Docs can be helpful during the content drafting and editing process. It allows you to draw attention to specific sections that contain important information.

Highlighting in Google Docs is simple. In this article you will learn the following:

How to highlight in Google Docs (desktop)

First, you need to select the text that you want to highlight. You can select a letter, a word, a phrase, or the entire document.

How to select text in Google Docs

Here is how to select text:

1. To select just one word, double-click on the word.
2. To select one letter or multiple words, click and hold your mouse or touchpad down, then drag it to highlight the letter or phrase. When you have finished highlighting, release your mouse.
3. To select a whole phrase, sentence, or paragraph, click three times on any word in the sentence or paragraph.
4. To select the whole document, press COMMAND + A on a Mac or CONTROL + A on a PC.

If you accidentally select incorrect letters or words, click once to remove this temporary highlight.

How to add a color highlight in Google Docs (desktop)

To highlight a Google document from your computer, complete the following steps:

1. Open your document.
2. Select the text you wish to highlight.

1. Click the highlighter icon in your menu bar.

1. Select the color you wish to use to highlight.

1. Click anywhere on your screen once to display your new highlight.

How to remove a highlight

To remove a highlight from text, do the following:

1. Select text that needs to have a highlight removed.
2. Click the highlighter icon on the menu bar.
3. Click “None.”

How to highlight in Google Docs (mobile)

To highlight text in a Google document you have opened on your mobile device, complete the following steps:

1. Open your document.
2. Tap the pen icon to begin editing your document.

1. Highlight your text by selecting a word and pressing down your finger. Move the cursors that appear to select more or less text.

1. Tap the A icon at the top for formatting options.

1. Make sure you are in the “Text” option and not the “Paragraph” option.

1. Scroll down to “Highlight color” and tap it.

1. Select a color from the color bar that is displayed.

1. If you’d like, tap one of the color hues that is displayed in the eight boxes below the color bar.
2. Tap anywhere on your screen to return to your document.

How to remove a highlight

To remove a highlight from text, do the following:

1. Tap the A icon at the top for formatting options.
2. Make sure you are in the “Text” option and not the “Paragraph” option.
3. Scroll down to “Highlight color” and tap it.
4. Tap “No color.”
5. A checkmark will appear next to “No color” to show that the text you selected no longer has a highlight.

How to customize your highlight color for Google Docs

Google offers 80 color options for highlighting a Google Doc on your computer. These options appear when you click on the highlight icon.

In addition, Google allows you to customize the highlight color by entering a hex code. A hex code is a number used to identify colors displayed in online content (such as websites). If you know the hex code of the color you want to use, follow these steps to use it as your highlight color in a Google document:

1. Open your document on your computer.
2. Click the highlight icon.
3. Click the + icon next to “Custom.”

1. Enter your hex code in the pop-up window, and click the blue “OK” button at the bottom right of the window. Alternatively, you can slide the circle on the HUE bar to explore colors, and then click anywhere on the color box to select a hue of the color you want. Then press “OK” to confirm your selection.

Google Docs is a great team collaboration tool

How to highlight text in Google Docs is one of the most common questions ever asked. This post provides great insights into that question. Now that you know what’s possible, why don’t you try out this feature right away?

Bonus tip: Google Docs is also one of the top cloud-based software solutions for team collaboration. If you’re looking for similar tools to keep everyone informed about task and project updates in real time, check out Software Advice’s team collaboration software catalog to find a tool that fits your needs.

Google Docs adds new features all the time, but now Google has added a useful new text feature: the ability to select multiple blocks of text at once.

Google revealed in a blog post, “you can now make multiple text selections at once, and apply actions such as delete, copy, paste, or format to all selections. This will make formatting and editing documents faster by eliminating the need to make repetitive changes, increasing your overall productivity.”

The same functionality has been available in Microsoft Word for a while (hold down CTRL while clicking text), but it’s great to see it in Google Docs too. This is just the latest improvement to Docs — dropdown chips and table templates were added at the beginning of May, and improved support for Markdown formatting arrived in March.

Google says the feature started rolling out on May 25, and it may take up to 15 days to appear for everyone. It’s available for everyone using Docs, no matter if you have a free Gmail account or a paid plan from work or your school.

Source: Google Workspace Updates