The Unexpected Formatting
Google Docs has progressively introduced support for Markdown-style shortcuts. When you type text surrounded by asterisks (e.g., *word*), Docs can automatically convert it into italic formatting. Double asterisks (**word**) become bold. While this is convenient for users who frequently switch between Markdown-based tools like GitHub and Google Docs, it is deeply frustrating for anyone who actually needs literal asterisks in their text — such as writers drafting content that references wildcard characters, mathematicians using multiplication notation, or technical writers documenting command-line syntax where asterisks are functional globs, not formatting cues.
Disabling Markdown Auto-Detection
To stop Google Docs from automatically converting Markdown-style syntax (asterisks, underscores, etc.) into formatted bold, italic, or other rich-text styles, you must disable the automatic detection feature in the Docs preferences.
Open your document in Google Docs. Navigate to Tools in the top menu bar. Click on Preferences. In the Preferences dialogue box, select the General tab. Look for a checkbox labelled Automatically detect Markdown. Uncheck this option. Click OK to save your changes. With this setting disabled, typing *text* will simply produce the literal characters *text* in your document rather than silently converting them to text. If you also want to prevent Docs from converting typed hyphens into bullet lists or hashes into headings, ensure the companion option Automatically detect lists is also unchecked within the same Preferences panel. These settings apply to all documents you edit going forward from your account.