How to Make Bookmarks in Google Docs
Written by Tanja Google Workplace / Docs
Key Points
To make a bookmark in Google Docs:
- Select the text you want to use as a bookmark - drag your cursor through it.
- From the top toolbar menu, select and click on ‘Insert’.
- Then select ‘Bookmark’
It doesn’t matter what kind of Google Docs you create; bookmarks can always be of service to point to a specific text. They are a place in your document that you want to mark and link to from different locations, and they will appear as a blue symbol in the left margin.
So, if till now, you were only using headings to link to important areas of your document, why not also learn how to make bookmarks to navigate around your Google Docs?
In this blog post, we’ll show you how to do it, so without further ado, let’s jump right into the details.
Also read: How to make a Matrix in Google Docs?
What does a Bookmark do in Docs?
Like a bookmark that you would use in a novel when reading to mark a certain page, you can use the bookmark tool to choose a special place in your document that you want to link to.
People use links and bookmarks to help others find specific content or to link within a document to a specific section or paragraph. So, they use bookmarks and links to quickly jump to particular content or headings inside and outside their document.
Benefits of using the bookmark option in Google Docs
- It makes it easier to find text in a large document - by using bookmarks; you can mark a location in a document to quickly find and jump back to it.
- It helps you create a hyperlinked table of contents.
- It can point collaborators to various parts of a document, easing confusion and makings collaboration faster.
How to create a Bookmark in Google Docs
Creating/adding bookmarks on a Google Docs file is very straightforward.
Follow the steps to do so:
- Select the text you want to use as a bookmark - drag your cursor through it.
- If you want a spot in the document to be the bookmark, place your cursor on it, but remember that the bookmark will be blank if no text is selected.
- From the top toolbar menu, select and click on ‘Insert’.
- Then select ‘Bookmark’.
You have successfully created/added a bookmark when the symbol appears in the margin as a reminder.
Note: Bookmarks are not available for Google Sheets and Google Slides.
How to link to bookmark in Google Docs
To put your bookmark to work, you’ll need to add a link once it is created.
It all starts with you choosing where you want to put the link, and an excellent example is when you are creating a table of contents and adding the link to the name of a particular chapter.
- Once again, select the text you want to use as a link to the bookmark.
- Click on ‘Insert’ (top toolbar menu).
- From the options, select ‘Link’.
- Click to expand the option ‘Headings and bookmarks’ option.
- Select the bookmark you want to link to.
You will see that the selected text now features a link, and when you click on it, it will redirect you to your bookmarked text.
Bonus read: How to remove all links in Google Docs?
How to remove a Google Docs Bookmark
After you are done using a certain bookmark, you might as well remove it. To do this, you’ll only need to take two steps:
- Next to your text, select the Blue Bookmark icon.
- Then, click on the 'Trashcan' icon.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article helped you learn the advantages of using bookmarks in your Google Docs, how to make one, and how to link to a bookmark. So, use this tool wisely - it always comes in handy.
If interested, you can also learn how to do other things in your Google Docs files, for example, how to sort things alphabetically, or how to double space in Google Docs - we have easy-to-read guides on those too.
