Google Docs is constantly changing, with new features and improvements. There’s a new feature on the way that might make managing templates and copying documents easier: building blocks.
Google is rolling out a new feature in Docs that allows you to save blocks of text, tables, and chips as reusable blocks. You can then insert those blocks into other documents. It’s a bit like template files, but just for small sections of a document. Microsoft has been experimenting with a somewhat similar concept, allowing Loop components to be dropped into applications like Teams and Outlook, but those work more like embedded workspaces that synchronize changes back to the origin.
Google said in a blog post, “For example, you might create a project kickoff template to track milestones and tasks, a product launch checklist, or even a block of code or text that’s commonly used within your organization. Rather than reworking the out-of-the-box building blocks to meet your specific needs or searching for a template that you frequently copy/paste into a new Doc, you can save that snippet or the entire document as a custom building block, and easily insert the content into other documents.”
You’ll be able to create a building block by selecting part of a document, then right-click and select “Save as custom building block.” Your saved blocks will be stored in a Google Drive folder. You can then use the block later in a document by typing an @ symbol, followed by the name of the block.
Unfortunately, Google isn’t rolling out custom blocks to personal Google accounts — only select work or school accounts (Google Workspace). Maybe that will change in the future. In the meantime, collapsible headers are rolling out to everyone.
Source: Google Workspace Updates
