How to Stop Google Docs from Automatically Making Text Strikethrough

The Auto-Formatting Strike Issue

Google Docs constantly monitors your keystrokes, attempting to apply formatting based on standard syntax rules. One of these rules involves recognizing Markdown-style shortcuts. Specifically, if you type text surrounded by hyphens (e.g., -important text-) or tildes (e.g., ~important text~), Google Docs may automatically intercept those characters, remove them, and apply a rich-text strikethrough format to the enclosed words.

While this is convenient for quickly crossing out items on a casual list, it is a massive headache for technical writing. If you are documenting command-line flags (which often use hyphens), writing out complex file paths, or attempting to write raw Markdown syntax to be exported elsewhere, Google Docs will constantly ruin your text by rendering it as crossed-out words. To maintain absolute control over your document and ensure your hyphens and tildes remain visible as plain text, you must disable this auto-formatting.

How to Stop Automatic Strikethrough

You can turn off this specific text conversion via the Preferences menu.

1. Open a document in Google Docs.
2. Look at the top toolbar and click on Tools.
3. Select Preferences from the dropdown menu.
4. In the Preferences window, make sure you are on the General tab.
5. Look for the checkbox labelled Automatically detect Markdown.
6. Click the checkbox to remove the checkmark.
7. Click the blue OK button to save your changes.

From now on, Google Docs will stop intercepting your hyphens and tildes. Your text will remain exactly as you typed it as plain text, ensuring your technical documentation and code snippets do not get accidentally crossed out.