How to Stop Google Docs from Automatically Substituting Text (Shortcuts)

What is Text Substitution?

Google Docs features a built-in “Substitutions” engine designed to act like a combination of autocorrect and custom keyboard shortcuts. By default, it looks for specific character combinations and automatically replaces them with special symbols. For example, if you type (c), it instantly replaces it with a copyright symbol ©. If you type 1/2, it replaces it with a formatted fraction ½.

While this is a great time-saver for standard office documents, it is incredibly annoying if you are writing technical manuals, mathematical formulas, or programming tutorials where those exact raw characters (like fractions or parentheses) are strictly required. You can completely disable this automatic replacement engine.

How to Disable Automatic Text Substitution

You can turn off all automatic character replacements in the Google Docs Preferences menu.

1. Open your web browser and navigate to any open document in Google Docs.
2. At the top of the screen, click on the Tools menu.
3. Scroll down the dropdown list and click on Preferences.
4. A popup window will appear. Click on the Substitutions tab at the top.
5. At the very top of this tab, you will see a master checkbox labelled Automatic substitution.
6. Click the checkbox to remove the checkmark.

(Note: If you only want to disable one specific shortcut, like the fraction replacement, but keep the copyright symbol shortcut active, leave the master box checked. Instead, scroll down the list of rules below it and uncheck only the specific rows you want to disable).

7. Click the blue OK button at the bottom of the window to save your changes.

Once you uncheck the master box, Google Docs will completely stop scanning your keystrokes for shortcuts, allowing you to type raw characters without interference.