Google Docs: Changing The Look of Headings and Paragraphs

Title or subtitle

It is an extremely rare instance that you will use the style "Title" or "Subtitle" found in the Styles Gallery, Pane, or Pulldown. If you have questions, please reach out to accessibility@swarthmore.edu.

Change the text to or from a heading or normal text

On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
Select the text you want to change.
Click Format Paragraph styles.
Click a text style:
- Normal text
- Heading 1-6
Click Apply ‘text style.'

Macro lookup error: excerpt "Heading1Warning" was not found on page ""Fast Five" Essentials to Preparing Materials" (with ID 20382112) in space "ALLY".

If you're experiencing issues please see our Troubleshooting Guide.

Use a custom text style

On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
Add some text and style it the way you want using the options found in the top toolbar
Select that text.
Click Format Paragraph styles Choose either Normal text or Heading 1-6 Update to match
All of the text in your document of that text type, such as "Heading 4" or "Normal text," will be updated to match your new style.

Set and change a default style

On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.

Set a default style: Click Format Paragraph styles Options Save as my default styles
Apply a default style: Click Format Paragraph styles Options Use my default styles.
Restore original to the Google style: Click Format Paragraph styles Options Reset styles.