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Google Docs is getting a new update with improvements to content organization. The word processor tool is adding more formatting and customization options for the table of contents. Formatting other tables is also now easier thanks to a reorganization of available options.
With the latest update, Google Docs offers three default styles for tables of contents. You can choose between a plain text style, dotted or tab leader style (adds lines between a heading and the page number), and a link style where clicking on a heading will take you to the corresponding content in the document. Google has added check boxes for quickly enabling or disabling page numbers. You can also pick from multiple line styles for the tab leader format.
Similar check boxes let you select which heading you want to keep in the tables of contents. The same toolbox also lets you customize the indent for each heading. You get six different indent size presets in the drop-down menu for headings. The options range between 0-1.25 inches. “With these enhanced customizations, we hope this highly requested feature refines titles and headings to personalize the content of your document,” Google said in a Workspace Updates blog post earlier this week.
Elsewhere, Google has reorganized the formatting options available in the table properties sidebar in Docs. When adding or editing a table, you will get a new “Table” section with three alignment preferences. You can select the column order and indent for your preference. The same sidebar also adds a new “Cell” section with cell-specific formatting options. It lets you customize the cell’s vertical alignment and cell padding. These changes “make it easier for you to find and utilize table formatting options,” the company added in the same announcement post.
This update for tables in Google Docs is now rolling out to users
Google started rolling out the latest update for Docs this Monday, March 20th. As usual, users on Rapid Release domains will receive the changes first. The company expects to cover those users within the next couple of weeks. The rollout for users on Scheduled Release domains will begin after that, on April 3rd. The update should reach all eligible Google Docs users in the first week of April.
Speaking of eligibility, this update is available for all. Every Google Workspace customer, legacy G Suite Basic and Business customer, and user with a personal Google account around the world will receive the changes to formatting and customization options for tables.
