The Unwanted Hyperlink Issue
Google Docs is designed to be helpful, and one of its most prominent automatic features is link detection. Whenever you type something that looks like a web address (e.g., www.example.com or an email address) and press the spacebar or Enter key, Docs instantly converts that plain text into a clickable, blue, underlined hyperlink. It assumes that if you type a URL, you want readers to be able to click it.
While this is perfect for writing standard reports or emails, it is incredibly annoying for specific types of professional writing. If you are drafting a print-only document, creating a coding tutorial where you need to show raw URLs as plain text strings, or writing a legal document where automatic formatting changes are forbidden, these forced blue links are a major disruption. You have to constantly stop typing, hit Ctrl+Z to undo the format change, and then continue. To keep your URLs exactly as you typed them, you must disable this automation.
How to Stop Automatic Link Creation
You can turn off this auto-formatting feature via the Preferences menu.
- Open a document in Google Docs.
- Look at the top toolbar and click on Tools.
- Select Preferences from the dropdown menu.
- In the Preferences window, make sure you are on the General tab.
- Look for the checkbox labelled Automatically detect links (usually the second option from the top).
- Click the checkbox to remove the checkmark.
- Click the blue OK button to save your changes.
From now on, whenever you type a web address or an email address, Google Docs will leave it alone. The text will remain in your default font color with no underline, allowing you to write technical strings without interruption.