Reset Google Docs to Default: A Quick Guide

[nerdslife_team]

Ever messed around with Google Docs styles and ended up with something you need to undo? It happens! While Google Docs doesn’t have a magic “reset all” button, you can bring things back to normal pretty easily by adjusting different parts of your document individually.

Getting Formatting Back to Normal

Sometimes text just gets a little out of hand. If you need to clear out all those custom styles you’ve added, there are a couple of ways to do it. Let’s look at how to clean up your text.

Method 1: Clearing Formatting from Text

This is your go-to for fixing up existing text quickly, while keeping any hyperlinks you might have. Just remember, you might need to tweak the cleared text a bit to make it match the rest of your document.

1. Highlight the text that needs a refresh. Next, click on “Format” in the menu bar at the top.
   

   

2. From the dropdown menu, select “Clear formatting.” All the special formatting will disappear from your selected text.
   

   

3. Now your text should have the default styling for the document.
   

   

   Quick Tip: The shortcut Ctrl + \ can be used to quickly clear formatting on any selected text.

Method 2: Pasting Text Without Formatting

If you are adding new text into your document from a different source and want it to blend in with your current document’s style, this one’s for you. It gets rid of all the formatting – links, images, everything – and leaves you with clean text.

1. Copy the text you want to add to your document. Then, put your cursor where the text should go.

2. Right-click, and from the menu, pick “Paste without formatting”.
   

   

   Quick Tip: You can also use the Ctrl + Shift + V shortcut for pasting without formatting.

Adjusting Margins Back to Normal

Margins are those spaces around your text and images. By default Google Docs uses a 1-inch margin all around your document. Here’s how to check and fix that, if needed.

1. Click the “File” menu, in the top-left corner.
   
   
2. Select “Page setup” from the dropdown.
   
   
3. In the “Page setup” window you will find the margin settings on the right. Change the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right margins to 1 inch, if needed. Make sure that “Apply to” is set to “Whole document”.
   
   
4. Hit “OK” to apply the changes.
   
   

Now you should see the default margins on your document again.

Related: How to Edit, Adjust and Change Margins in Google Docs

Resetting Paragraph Styles

Paragraph styles manage how your headings and normal text appear. If you’ve made a lot of tweaks, resetting them is a good way to start fresh.

1. Click on “Format” in the top menu.
   
   
2. Hover your mouse over “Paragraph styles”, then select “Options”. From that list, select “Reset styles”.
   
   

This will return all your paragraph styles to their default look. Be sure to check through your document to make sure everything is back the way you want it.

Getting Header and Footer Margins Back to Normal

Headers and footers help keep things consistent on every page of your document, and they have their own margin settings. The default is 0.5 inches, here’s how to get them back to that.

1. Go to the “Format” menu at the top.
   
   
2. Choose “Headers & footers” from the menu.
   
   
3. In the window, set both header and footer margins to 0.5 inches and then click “Apply”.
   
   

Your header and footer margins are now back to their default position.

Cleaning Up Your Personal Dictionary

Over time, your personal dictionary in Google Docs can get filled up with words that are not right. Although there is no option to clear everything, here is how to remove specific words:

1. Click on “Tools” in the navigation bar at the top.
   
   
2. Select “Spelling and grammar”, and then pick “Personal dictionary” from the submenu.
   
   
3. You’ll see a list of added words. Hover over a word and click the trash icon to remove it.
   
   
4. After removing all the desired words, hit “OK” to save.
   
   

Now, the dictionary should be up to date and Google Docs will flag those deleted words as misspellings in your documents.

Resetting Browser Print Settings

If you have problems printing documents, it could be a problem with the browser’s print settings. You can reset these, however, be aware that it will reset other browser preferences too.

1. In your browser (for example, Chrome), click the three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner and choose “Settings”.
   
   
2. Scroll down the page, and click on “Advanced” to see more settings.
   
   
3. Click on “Reset and clean up” at the bottom of the list.
   
   
4. Select “Restore settings to their original defaults”.
   
   
5. Click “Reset settings” when the confirmation dialog appears.
   
   

That will put your browser’s printing settings back to their original state. Hopefully, this will fix any printing issues you have had with Google Docs.