Google Docs Rolls Out Tabs to Boost Your Efficiency: How to Use Them

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Key Takeaways

  • The Google Docs Tabs feature is rolling out to Workspace users and Google personal accounts in the coming weeks.
  • The feature was first announced in April.
  • It should make it easier to organize longer documents and collaborate with others.

Tabs are rolling out in Google Docs over the following weeks to make longer documents more manageable.

In a Workspace update, Google said,

“You can now use tabs to draft and build content in a way that makes it possible for you to find what you’re looking for quickly and stay on task.”

The new feature should make organizing lengthy and complex documents easier, and Google says users can utilize it to “help readers… navigate through [your] document[s] with ease and focus on sections that matter most to them.”

The tabs feature can break down longer documents – for example, creating tabs for different ideas, dates, people, or other categories. Subtabs can be created within each tab for even finer structure. An example from Google suggests adding subtabs for travel expenses to a budget tab.

Label Google Docs Tabs with Text or Emojis

Tabs can be accessed from the bullet-point icon on the top left of the Google Docs desktop web editor document screen. Hovering over this icon displays the text “Show Tab and Outlines.”

Documents with two or more tabs will show the tab navigation menu automatically.

To create nested subtabs, users can drag and drop one tab into another or click “Add Subtab.” The subtabs and tabs can be labeled with text or emojis for easy identification.

It’s also easy to share a link to tabs by clicking the three-dot menu next to each tab.

Those with editor access to a document can create, rename, delete, and duplicate tabs, while anyone without editor access can only view tabs.