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
Other Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides files
Dates or Google Calendar events
Places and map directions

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

You can also insert dropdowns, 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, or type @me to add yourself.
- Tip: To add a file smart chip, enter the file name or related keywords.
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
- A relative date, such as @monday, @next tuesday, or @last wednesday
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.

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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