The Broken Words
When formatting a document in Google Docs, particularly when using fully justified text alignment (where text sits flush against both the left and right margins), the editor often struggles with spacing. To prevent massive, unsightly gaps between words, Google Docs may automatically split a long word across two lines, inserting a hyphen in the middle. While this typographical technique (hyphenation) is common in printed newspapers and books, it can look unprofessional or messy in standard digital reports, academic papers, or business letters, where clean, whole words are generally preferred for readability.
Disabling Hyphenation
To ensure that every word remains intact on a single line and stop Google Docs from automatically splitting words across lines, you must disable the document’s built-in hyphenation feature.
Google Docs does not have this feature turned on by default for standard left-aligned text, but it can easily be activated accidentally or brought over from a pasted format. Open the Google Doc you are working on. Go to the top menu bar and click on Format. Scroll down the dropdown menu and select Text. In the sub-menu that appears, look for the option explicitly named Hyphenation. (Note: Depending on your specific Google Workspace rollout, this might be located under Tools > Hyphenation, or it may not be available if you are not using a paginated view). If the hyphenation tool is active, click it to open the dialogue box, uncheck the box for Auto-hyphenate my document, and click OK. Google Docs will immediately recalculate the spacing, pushing any broken words entirely down to the next line.