By default, Google Docs is designed to be helpful by automatically capitalizing the first letter of every new sentence you type. While this is fantastic for writing standard essays or business emails, it is incredibly annoying if you are trying to write programming code, specific brand names (like “iPhone” or “eBay”), or poetry where lowercase letters are intentional. If you are tired of constantly hitting backspace to fix Google’s “corrections,” you can simply turn the feature off.
How to Disable Auto-Capitalization
This setting is buried inside the global Preferences menu, meaning once you turn it off here, it will remain off for all future documents you create.
- Open a document in Google Docs on your desktop web browser.
- In the top toolbar, click on Tools.
- Scroll down to the very bottom of the menu and select Preferences.
- A popup window will appear on your screen. Ensure you are on the General tab at the top.
- Look for the very first option in the list, labelled Automatically capitalize words.
- Click the checkbox next to it to uncheck it.
- Click the blue OK button in the bottom right corner.
The change is immediate. You can now type freely, and Google Docs will respect your exact keystrokes without silently changing lowercase letters into capital letters when you hit the spacebar or press enter.