When you collaborate on a Google Doc and someone leaves a comment in the margin, you will often notice three small, pill-shaped buttons appearing directly beneath their text. These buttons offer automated, AI-generated responses like “Sounds good,” “Will do,” or “Thanks!” This feature is called Smart Reply, and it is designed to help you quickly acknowledge feedback without having to type out a full sentence.
While this can be convenient for simple edits, many professionals find these algorithmic suggestions highly intrusive and impersonal. Accidentally clicking “Looks great” on a comment that actually requires a nuanced, detailed explanation can cause severe miscommunication in a professional environment. If you prefer to write your own responses manually every time, you can easily disable the Smart Reply feature.
Disabling Smart Reply in Google Docs Settings
You can turn off these automated comment suggestions directly within the Google Docs editor. Once disabled, the setting applies to your entire Google Account.
- Open any existing document in Google Docs on your web browser.
- Look at the main menu bar at the top of the screen and click on Tools.
- From the dropdown menu, select Preferences (usually located near the bottom).
- A settings window will appear. Ensure you are on the General tab.
- Look for the checkbox labelled Show Smart Reply suggestions.
- Click the checkbox to uncheck it.
- Click the blue OK button at the bottom of the window to save the change.
The change is instantaneous. If you look at an active comment thread in your document margins right now, those three automated suggestion bubbles will be completely gone, leaving only the standard text box for you to type your own, original reply.