How to Turn Off Auto-Capitalization on Google Docs

Written by Tijana Google Workplace / Docs

- 4 min read

Word processing applications such as Google Docs have come a long way in assisting writers in improving their spelling errors and mistakes.

One of the more popular features on Google Docs is the auto-capitalization feature.

The auto-capitalization option is automatically activated for each new document, but it sometimes gets annoying when you don’t need to have an uppercase letter in a new row or after entering a full-stop.

In addition, everyone that regularly uses Google Docs for work either uses the caps lock key, or the shift key to capitalize letters as a force of habit, which makes this feature not as necessary as Google might think.

Luckily, this feature can easily get turned off, in a matter of a few seconds and a few clicks. Google Docs allows adjustments to be made in their preferences options, where you can change the capitalization settings.

If you’re wondering how to turn off auto-capitalization on Google Docs, keep reading below for a step-by-step guide.

Check out: How to Insert Checkbox In Google Docs That Users Can Check.

How do I turn off automatic capitalization?

The following steps work for the web version of Google Docs. Follow these steps to turn off auto-capitalization:

  1. Open the Google Docs website, and find the Google Docs file you want to edit or create a new one.
  2. Click on the ‘Tools’ menu in the top bar, and from the drop-down menu, click on the ‘Preferences’ menu.

google-docs-tools

  1. Under ‘Preferences’, find ‘Automatically capitalize words’, and uncheck the box right next to it.

auto-capitalize-words-docs

  1. After unchecking the box, click on ‘OK’ at the bottom of the screen to confirm your changes.
  2. Google Docs will no longer capitalize the first letter.

To turn the feature back on, follow the steps that were mentioned above. The automatic capitalization in Google will be reactivated.

You might also like: How to Download Image From Google Docs.

How do I turn off automatic capitalization in the Google Docs mobile app?

As opposed to the web version of Google Docs, the mobile app does not have a feature that capitalizes certain words, which means there isn’t a button that users can turn off.

Instead, Google Docs capitalizes letters based on the settings of the phone/tablet that is being used.

Therefore, if you want your smartphone to stop auto-capitalizing your letters in the Google Docs app, you’ll need to make these adjustments from your phone settings.

Follow these steps:

iOS

  1. Open the ‘Settings’ app on your iPhone, and open ‘General’.
  2. Find the ‘Keyboard’ section, and from the list of options, toggle the button next to ‘Auto-Capitalization’ to turn it off.

ios-auto-capitalize

Android

  1. Open the ‘Settings’ app on your phone, and open ‘Language & Input’.
  2. From the list of options, tap on ‘Keyboard’.
  3. Select the keyboard you use, and find the ‘Text correction’ feature.
  4. Toggle the button next to ‘Auto-capitalization’.

Conclusion

As useful as the auto-capitalization feature might be, it’s not always as handy, depending on what type of content you write when using Google Docs.

Luckily, this feature can be turned off for both iOS and Android, as well as the web version of Google Docs, which is what we have covered in this article.

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