The Smart Compose Interruption
Google Docs features an AI-powered writing assistant known as “Smart Compose.” As you type a sentence, Google’s algorithms analyze your context and automatically display light-grey, predictive text ahead of your cursor, suggesting the rest of your sentence or phrase. If the suggestion is correct, you can press the Tab key to instantly accept it. While this can speed up writing generic emails or standard business letters, it is highly distracting for creative writers, novelists, or anyone who finds the constant visual flicker of grey text interrupting their train of thought and altering their natural voice.
Turning Off Predictive Text
To clear your screen of AI-generated distractions and stop Google Docs from automatically suggesting words and phrases as you type, you must disable the Smart Compose feature in the application’s preferences.
Open your Google Docs document. In the top menu bar, click on Tools. From the dropdown menu, select Preferences. A settings dialogue box will appear in the center of your screen. Click on the General tab at the top of this box (it is usually selected by default). Look down the list of options for the checkbox labeled Show Smart Compose suggestions. Click this checkbox so that it is unchecked (empty). Click the blue OK button at the bottom of the dialogue box to save your changes. From this point forward, Google Docs will only display exactly what you type on your keyboard, with no grey predictive text appearing ahead of your cursor.