Google Docs recently introduced a feature known as “Smart Canvas.” Now, whenever you paste a URL into a document and press the spacebar or Enter key, Google Docs automatically attempts to convert that raw text link into a rich “chip.” These chips display the website’s favicon and the page title, effectively replacing the actual URL you just pasted.
While visually appealing, this is highly problematic if you are writing technical documentation, sharing code repositories, or compiling a bibliography where the exact text of the URL must be visible to the reader. If you want Google Docs to stop converting your links into rich chips, you can disable the Smart Canvas auto-replacement.
How to Disable Smart Canvas Links
You can turn off this auto-formatting feature in the main Google Docs preferences menu.
- Open any document in Google Docs on your computer.
- Click on Tools in the top menu bar.
- Select Preferences from the drop-down menu.
- A new dialogue box will appear. Click on the General tab at the top of the box.
- Look down the list of checkboxes for the setting labelled Automatically detect links.
- Uncheck the box next to it.
- Click the blue OK button in the bottom-right corner to save your changes.
From now on, whenever you paste a web address like https://digitash.com into your document, it will remain exactly as you pasted it. Google Docs will still turn it into a standard blue, clickable hyperlink, but it will no longer attempt to hide the URL behind a rich preview chip.