How to Disable the Google Docs ‘Link to heading’ Suggestions

The Auto-Linking Distraction

Google Docs frequently introduces smart formatting features designed to save time. One of these features is “Link to heading” suggestions. When you type text that exactly matches the title of a heading you have already created elsewhere in the document (for example, typing “Introduction” in a paragraph when you have an “Introduction” H2 heading above), Google Docs will underline the text and display a popup asking if you want to convert that text into a clickable hyperlink jumping to that heading.

While this is useful for creating internal navigation in massive documents, it can be highly distracting in standard writing. If you frequently repeat words that happen to be headings, constantly dismissing the “Link to heading” popup interrupts your flow and adds visual clutter to your screen. You can turn off these specific smart link suggestions in the settings.

How to Disable Heading Link Suggestions

You can turn off this feature in the Google Docs Preferences menu.

1. Open a document in Google Docs.
2. Click on the Tools menu in the top menu bar.
3. Select Preferences from the dropdown list.
4. A popup window will appear. Ensure you are on the General tab.
5. Look down the list of checkboxes for the option labelled Suggest links to headings and bookmarks.
6. Uncheck the box next to this option.
7. Click the blue OK button at the bottom of the window.

Google Docs will immediately stop scanning your text for heading matches, and the annoying link suggestion popups will no longer appear while you write. (You can still manually link text to a heading by pressing Ctrl + K and selecting the heading from the list).