The Cramped Mobile Screen
When you open a Google Doc on your smartphone or tablet using the dedicated mobile app, the default view often attempts to mimic the physical layout of an A4 or Letter-sized piece of paper, complete with left and right margins. Because mobile screens are narrow, this “Print Layout” forces the text to wrap tightly, often displaying only four or five words per line. Furthermore, you will constantly scroll past large, empty gaps representing the physical page breaks. This layout is terrible for casual reading or quick editing on a commute, as you spend more time scrolling than actually reading the content.
Enabling Continuous Flow
To optimize the reading experience for small screens and stop the Google Docs mobile app from forcing physical page breaks and strict margins, you must switch the application out of its default paginated mode.
Open the Google Docs app on your Android or iOS device and open the specific document you wish to read. In the extreme top-right corner of the screen, tap the three vertical dots to open the document options menu. Look near the top of this menu for a toggle switch labelled Print layout. If this switch is turned on (highlighted blue or green), the app is enforcing strict page boundaries. Tap the toggle to turn it Off. The document will instantly reformat. The artificial page breaks will disappear entirely, and the text will reflow to utilize the absolute maximum width of your device’s screen, creating a seamless, continuous scrolling experience perfect for mobile reading.