Insert smart chips & building blocks in your Google Doc

Insert smart chips in your Google Doc to include information about:

Other users with Gmail or Workspace email addresses.
Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides files.
Dates or Google Calendar events.

Where there’s a smart chip in your document, you and other users can hover or click on a chip to get more information.

Tip: On Google Sheets, you can use people smart chips.

You can also insert dropdowns in Docs, or use building blocks to keep track of projects, such as product roadmaps or review trackers.

Add smart chips for people, files, dates & events

On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
Type "@".
To narrow your suggestions, select from the list of suggestions or enter letters, numbers, or symbols.
- Tip: To add a people smart chip, start typing the name or email address of the person you want.
Hover over the chip to view related information.

Important: When you mention another user in a smart chip, they don't automatically get access to your document. To grant access to another user, you must share your document.

Create and edit date chips in Google Docs

On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
To add a date chip, type:
- @today
- @tomorrow
- @yesterday
- @date
- A specific date, such as @Jan or @1/1/2021
To edit the:
- Date: Click the text field.
- Date format: Click Settings .

After you add a date chip, it shows on the doc for all collaborators in the language of the person who added it. Date chips will appear the same to collaborators in all time zones. To see how far away the date is relative to your time zone, hover over the date chip.

Convert email addresses to people chips in Google Sheets

On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
Select a range of cells with email addresses.
At the top, click Insert People chip.
- You can also convert email addresses to people chips. Right click on a cell Convert to people chip.

Tips:

Cell values that aren't formatted as email addresses or contain values that aren't valid email addresses won't convert.
You can make formatting changes to people chips such as color, size, and font style. To remove formatting, click Clear formatting.
People chips can be removed and the cell reverted to the email address. Right click on a cell View more cell actionsRemove smart chip.

Use building blocks and dropdowns to organize projects

In Google Docs, you can add and customize dropdown chips that display multiple options. You can also use building blocks to insert table templates that help you track projects, files, and more.

Add or edit a dropdown

On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
You can either:
1. Type “@dropdown” and press Enter.
2. At the top, click Insert Dropdown
Select a preset dropdown or click New Dropdown .
1. If you create a new dropdown, you can change the dropdown template name and edit the options before you save.
To make changes to a dropdown, click the dropdown, and select an option. To edit a dropdown's options, click the dropdown, then click Add/Edit Options .

Add a building block

On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
You can either:
1. Click Insert > Building blocks
2. Type “@.” Next to “Building blocks,” click More .
Select which building block you want to use.

Related resources

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