Documents

Documents is the word processor, at documents.cactive.com.au. What it shares with Sheets and Slides (files in Drive, editing together, comments, version history, sharing, templates and downloads) is described in Documents, Sheets and Slides; this page is about writing.

Pages or pageless

A document shows on pages of its paper size, with the margins, header, footer and page numbers you'd print. Text moves to the next page where it no longer fits: a heading stays with the paragraph after it, a paragraph never leaves one lonely line at the foot or the top of a page, and a table breaks between rows and repeats its header row at the top of each page. Insert → Break → Page Break (⌘↵) starts a new page.

File → Page Setup sets the paper (A4, Letter or Legal), portrait or landscape, and the margins. View → Zoom shows the pages smaller or larger, or Fit to the window. Turn on Pageless for one long sheet on screen, which suits notes nobody prints. Phones and narrow windows always show documents pageless; the pages are still there when you print.

Headers, footers and page numbers

Double-click the top or bottom margin of a page, or choose Insert → Headers and Footers, to write the header or footer; Done or Escape goes back to the text. Insert → Page Numbers puts the page number in a corner or the middle of the header or footer. In File → Page Setup → Headers and Footers, Different first page gives a cover page its own header and footer, and Start at sets the first page's number.

Writing and formatting

The toolbar and the Format menu have:

• Paragraph styles: Normal text, Title, Subtitle and Headings 1 to 6 (⌘⌥0 to ⌘⌥6). Format → Paragraph Styles → Update to Match makes a style look like the selected text; Edit Styles changes any style's font, size, colour, weight and spacing for the whole document.
• Text: font, size, bold (⌘B), italic (⌘I), underline (⌘U), strikethrough (⌘⇧X), superscript (⌘.), subscript (⌘,), code, text colour and highlight.
• Paragraphs: alignment (⌘⇧L, ⌘⇧E, ⌘⇧R, ⌘⇧J), line spacing, space before and after, indents (⌘] and ⌘[), bulleted, numbered and checklists (⌘⇧8, ⌘⇧7, ⌘⇧9). Tab nests a list item; numbered lists number each level in its own style.
• Clear Formatting (⌘\) and Paint Format, which copies the formatting where you are to the next text you select.

You can also type Markdown as you go: # for a heading, - or 1. for a list, [ ] for a checklist, > for a quote, ``` for code, --- for a line, and **bold**, *italic*, ~~strikethrough~~ and `code`. Markdown you paste is formatted the same way.

Tables

Insert → Table picks the size. Format → Table adds and removes rows and columns, merges and unmerges cells, turns the header row on or off, and sets a cell's background, borders and vertical alignment. Drag a column's edge to change its width; Tab moves to the next cell.

Pictures

Insert → Image uploads a picture or takes one from Drive; you can also paste one or drop it on the page. Pictures are kept with the document and count against its space's storage. Select a picture to resize it from a corner, crop it, write its alt text (read aloud for people who can't see it) or remove it. Edit in Studio opens the picture in the image editor; a picture that's only in the document is saved to Drive beside it first.

Footnotes

Insert → Footnote (⌘⌥F) puts a numbered reference where you are and opens the note to write. Notes are numbered in the order their references appear and sit at the foot of the page their reference is on, which keeps room for them; in pageless documents they're listed after the text. Select a reference or a note to change it, or to remove the footnote.

Smart chips, links and contents

Type @ for a menu of people in your organization, files and dates; picking one adds a chip that opens what it names. Insert → Link (⌘K) links text to a web page or a file; select a link to open, copy, edit or remove it. Insert → Table of Contents lists the headings as links and keeps itself up to date. View → Show Outline (⌘⌥A) shows the headings beside the page; select one to go there. Insert → Chart from Sheets adds a spreadsheet's chart with its figures as they are now.

Suggesting

Choose Suggesting in the mode menu at the right of the toolbar (⌘⌥⇧X) to make your edits suggestions: what you type is underlined and what you delete is struck through, in your colour; changing formatting is marked too. Each suggestion is listed in the comments panel with who made it, and editors Accept or Reject it there, or all at once from the Edit menu. Deleting text you suggested removes it. Viewing (⌘⌥⇧C) shows the document as it would read with every suggestion accepted, without changing anything; Editing (⌘⌥⇧Z) edits directly.

People who can comment but not edit read the document in Viewing and comment on it.

Comments

Select text and choose Add comment in the toolbar or Insert → Comment (⌘⌥M). Commented text is highlighted; selecting it opens its thread. If the text is deleted, the thread stays and says the original text was deleted. More on comments, mentions and resolving in Documents, Sheets and Slides.

Find and replace

Edit → Find and Replace (⌘F, or ⌘⇧H) highlights every match, with Match case and Regular expressions (replacements can use $1 for groups). Enter goes to the next match and ⇧Enter to the previous. In Suggesting mode, replacements are suggestions.

Word count

Tools → Word Count (⌘⇧C) counts pages, words and characters, and the selection's words. Show word count while typing keeps a count in the corner.

Version history

Selecting a version in File → Version History shows it on its pages with what changed since the version before: added text underlined and removed text struck through, in the colour of the person who made it.

Printing and downloading

File → Print (⌘P) prints the pages as you see them, on the document's paper size. PDFs made with File → Download use the same layout.

Writing help

The Caity button in the header opens writing help: Help me write, Rewrite, Summarise and Proofread. What Caity writes goes into the document as a suggestion, so you accept or reject it like anyone else's.

Settings

File → Page Setup, File → Language and Tools → Preferences open the document's settings: page setup, headers and footers, styles, the document's language (for spelling) and your own preferences (the word count, the outline and spelling), which are kept on your device.

Keyboard shortcuts