Insert smart chips and building blocks in your Google Doc

Insert smart chips into your Google Doc to include information about:
  • Other users with Gmail or Workspace email addresses
  • Other Google Docs, Sheets or Slides files
  • Dates or Google Calendar events
  • Places and map directions

Where there's a smart chip in your document, you and other users can hover or click on a chip to get more information.

You can also insert placeholder chips, time trackers and drop-downs, and use building blocks to track projects, files and more.

Add smart chips for people, files, dates, events and places

  1. On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
  2. Type '@' anywhere in your document or click the '@' button on a blank line.
  3. To narrow your suggestions, select from the list of suggestions or enter letters, numbers or symbols.
    • Tip: To add a people smart chip, start typing the name or email address of the person that you want or type @me to add yourself.
    • Tip: To add a file smart chip, enter the file name or related keywords.
  4. To add a smart chip that a collaborator can fill in, select 'Placeholder chip'. Then select the type of information that you want your collaborator to add when they fill in the smart chip.
  5. Hover over the chip to view related information.
Important: When you mention another user in a smart chip, they don't automatically receive access to your document. To grant access to another user, you must share your document.

Create and edit date chips

  1. On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
  2. To add a date chip, type:
    • @today
    • @tomorrow
    • @yesterday
    • @date
    • A specific date, such as @Jan or @1/1/2021
    • A relative date, such as @Monday, @next Tuesday or @last Wednesday
  3. To edit the:
    • Date: click the text field.
    • Date format: click Settings Settings.

After you add a date chip, it appears in the doc for all collaborators in the language of the person who added it. Date chips will appear the same to collaborators in all time zones. To see how far away the date is relative to your time zone, hover over the date chip.

Create calendar event chips

You can add a smart chip for a calendar event to see information about the event and join the video meeting from your Google Doc.

  1. On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
  2. You can either:
    1. Type '@' and scroll down to 'Calendar events'.
    2. At the top, click Insert and then Smart chips and then Calendar event.
  3. Choose an event.

Tip: If the calendar event has a video meeting and is starting soon or has started already, you can join the video meeting from your Google Doc. Click the calendar event chip, then in the bottom right, click Join.

Use building blocks and drop-downs to organise projects

In Google Docs, you can add and customise drop-down chips that display multiple options. You can also use building blocks to insert templates that help you track projects, files and more. 

Add or edit a drop-down

  1. On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
  2. You can either:
    1. Type '@drop-down' and press Enter.
    2. At the top, click Insert and then drop-down
  3. Select a preset drop-down or click New drop-down New.
    1. If you create a new drop-down, you can change the drop-down template name and edit the options before you save.
  4. To make changes to a drop-down, click on the drop-down and select an option. To edit a drop-down's options, click on the drop-down, then click Add/edit options New.

Add a building block

  1. On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
  2. You can either:
    1. Click Insert and then Building blocks
    2. Type '@'. Next to 'Building blocks', click More and then.
  3. Select which building block you want to use.

Insert meeting notes

Learn more about how to add meetings notes in Google Docs.

Insert an email draft

Learn more about how to draft emails in Google Docs.

Related resources

Need more help?

Try these next steps:

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