The Distracting Previews
Google Docs is built heavily on web technologies. When you insert a hyperlink into your document and later click on it to edit the text or cursor position, Docs immediately pops up a massive preview box directly below the link. This box often contains the full URL, a thumbnail image of the website, and a snippet of text. While helpful for verifying you linked the correct page, this massive pop-up obscures the lines of text immediately below it. If you are trying to edit a dense bibliography or a list of citations, these constant, overlapping pop-ups make it nearly impossible to read the surrounding document.
Disabling Link Previews
To keep your editing environment clean and stop Google Docs from automatically opening massive preview boxes when you click on links, you must disable the Smart Chip link previews in your global preferences.
Open the Google Doc. Navigate to the top menu bar, click on Tools, and select Preferences. A new dialogue box will appear on your screen. Ensure you are on the General tab. Scan down the list of checkboxes until you find the option labelled Show link details. By default, this box is checked. Click the box to uncheck it. Click the blue OK button to save your changes. From now on, when you click a hyperlink in your document, Docs will only show a tiny, minimalist bar with options to “Copy link,” “Edit link,” or “Remove link,” leaving the rest of your document completely visible.