Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Create custom building blocks in Google Docs

What’s changing

Today, we’re introducing custom building blocks in Google Docs, one of the latest innovations in smart canvas that brings people and data into a single workflow to save time and keep you focused. 

This feature enables you to save custom blocks of text, tables, and chips to build reusable components. For example, you might create a project kickoff template to track milestones and tasks, a product launch checklist, or even a block of code or text that’s commonly used within your organization. Rather than reworking the out-of-the-box building blocks to meet your specific needs or searching for a template that you frequently copy/paste into a new Doc, you can save that snippet or the entire document as a custom building block, and easily insert the content into other documents.
Create custom building blocks in Google Docs

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • To create custom building blocks, select any part of a document that you have access to copy from > right click and select "Save as custom building block" > name the block and click save. 
      • Note: Custom building blocks are saved as documents in your Google Drive in a folder called "Custom Building Blocks (auto-generated)", where you can reorganize, edit, or delete those documents as you wish. 
    • To insert the custom building block in a document, type "@" and the name of your block > hit enter or scroll down to "building blocks" > select the name of your building block. 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about inserting custom building blocks.

Rollout pace 



Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus customers and Nonprofits 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade and Frontline
  • Not available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources