How to turn off auto capitalization in Google Docs on your computer or phone

You don't have to live with automatic capitalization in Google Docs. Shutterstock

• You can turn off automatic capitalization in Google Docs by opening the Preferences menu.
• This setting only applies to the Google Docs website, not the mobile app.
• In the Google Docs mobile app, auto capitalization is controlled by your phone's settings.

Typing isn't always easy, and apps like Google Docs include a lot of tools meant to silently clean up your mistakes. One of the tools you'll see most often automatically capitalizes sentences that you haven't started with an uppercase letter.

But this feature isn't always as helpful as Google thinks. That's why you can turn it off, no matter what version of Docs you're using.

How to turn off auto capitalization on the Google Docs website

If you're using the Google Docs website, you can turn off automatic capitalization through the Preferences menu.

1. Head to the Google Docs website and open any document that you can edit.

2. In the toolbar at the top of the screen, click Tools, and then Preferences.

3. Uncheck the box next to Automatically capitalize words, the first option.

4. Click OK at the bottom of the menu.

Turn off the “Automatically capitalize words” option. Google; William Antonelli/Insider

From now on, Docs won't automatically capitalize your sentences. If you want to turn the feature back on, open the Preferences menu and check that box again.

How to turn off auto capitalization in the Google Docs app

Unlike the Docs website, the Docs mobile app doesn't have an independent setting to control automatic capitalization. Instead, it's controlled by the capitalization settings on your phone.

So to turn off automatic capitalization in the Google Docs mobile app, you'll need to turn it off across your entire phone.

iPhone and iPad

1. Open the Settings app and scroll down to select General.

2. In the menu that opens, find and tap Keyboard.

3. Underneath the All Keyboards heading, toggle off the Auto-Capitalization setting.

Flip the toggle switch to the left. Apple; William Antonelli/Insider

Android

1. Open the Settings app and scroll down to select System.

2. Tap Languages & input, and then On-screen keyboard.

3. Choose the keyboard that you use on your Android. If you're not sure which one you use, it's probably Gboard.

4. Tap Text correction, then scroll down and toggle off Auto-capitalization.

You'll have to scroll a bit to find the "Auto-capitalization" option. Google; William Antonelli/Insider