The Intrusive Dropdown Menus
Google Docs recently introduced a feature called “Smart Chips.” When you type the “@” symbol followed by a few letters, Docs automatically generates a massive dropdown menu suggesting contacts, files from your Google Drive, calendar events, or formatting templates to insert directly into the document. Furthermore, it will occasionally try to automatically convert an email address you just typed into a clickable, pill-shaped “Contact Chip.”
While this integration is useful for collaborative project management, it is highly disruptive if you are simply trying to write an essay, a coding tutorial, or a script. If you need to type an email address as plain text, or if you frequently use the “@” symbol in code snippets (like Python decorators), having Google Docs constantly throw aggressive, screen-blocking dropdown menus in your face completely breaks your typing flow. If you want a distraction-free writing environment, you must disable the Smart Chips triggers.
How to Disable the @ Menu Suggestions
You can turn off the automatic Smart Chip generation in the Preferences menu.
- Open a document in Google Docs.
- Click on Tools in the top menu bar.
- Select Preferences from the dropdown list.
- In the Preferences window, ensure you are on the General tab.
- Look down the list of checkboxes for the option labelled Show smart chips (or “Show smart chips for contacts, files, and more”).
- Click the checkbox to remove the checkmark.
- Additionally, uncheck Show link details to prevent Docs from turning URLs into interactive preview cards.
- Click the blue OK button to save your changes.
From now on, when you type the “@” symbol, it will simply appear as plain text on the page. Google Docs will no longer interrupt your typing with file or contact suggestions.