Tuesday, February 15, 2022

New smart canvas features in Google Docs

What’s changing 

In 2021, we launched smart canvas to drive the next era of collaboration in Google Workspace. We’re now announcing new smart canvas features that will create a more flexible, interactive, and intelligent experience, enhancing the content and connections that fuel collaboration across Google Workspace. 

You can now: 

  • Add a summary to your document, giving readers a high level overview of its content. 
    • Note: For some Google Workspace editions, you’ll see automatically generated summary suggestions in certain cases. See below for availability. 
  • Create pageless documents in Docs, making it easier to collaborate on documents with wide tables, large images, and more. 

You can read more about these features on the Google Cloud Blog

Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why it’s important 

Summaries in Docs provide a brief overview of the main points in a document, so you can quickly parse the information that matters and prioritize where to focus. You can also edit the summaries, or create your own. 

Reviewing a Summary in a Google Doc
Reviewing a Summary in a Google Doc


Pageless format in Docs gives teams more space to collaborate, helping to create an uninterrupted flow of information for both writers and viewers, as well as adding more horizontal space for content like tables and images. 


Formatting a Google Doc to be Pageless

Formatting a Google Doc to be Pageless



Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for these features. 
  • End users: These features will be available by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about document summaries and pageless formatting


Rollout pace 


Availability 

Pageless formatting and summaries 
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Summary suggestions
  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Frontline
  • Not available to Google Workspace, Education Fundamentals. and Nonprofits. 

Resources