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Google Docs is reorganizing and shrinking toolbar menus on the web

Google is updating the toolbar menus that appear in the Docs web client with a focus on making it “easier to locate the most commonly used features.” 

The new design improves findability of key features, making it quicker and easier to use Docs. Note that existing functionality isn’t changing with this launch. 

Google Docs will get shorter menus for better navigation, while all items now look to be accompanied by “prominent icons for faster recognition.” At the moment, only select actions have icons that help you to find things if you don’t remember the keyboard shortcut. This reorganization is also meant to provide a “more intuitive feature location.”

For features that have been reorganized, we hope that their new menu location will be more intuitive and make it easier and faster to navigate the product. In particular, Apps Script-related functionality is now grouped under the new “Extensions” menu. This includes access to the Apps Script IDE as well as management of add-ons. 

In the example provided today, we see that making a document is now the very first thing that appears in the File menu. This is followed by a section for sharing and downloads, while a “Labels” option appears in the next grouping. Version history and offline storage get moved down, while “Print” remains the very last action. 

Meanwhile, “Add-ons” is now called “Extensions”

The updated menus in Google Docs should be fully rolled out by the end of May:

Available to all Google Workspace customers as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers. Available to users with personal Google Accounts.

More on Google Docs:

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com