How to Draw on Google Docs

While writing on a Google Docs document is fairly intuitive, did you know that you can draw on Google Docs too? If you want to spice up your project by adding some images or freehand drawings to your documents, then you’ve come to the right place.

Google Docs allows users to create and add artwork in several different ways. Some are as simple as adding word art to your document like you would in Microsoft Word while others allow you to grab your nearest stylus and use Google Docs like a drawing board. Not all of these methods are as simple as you might think, making drawing in a Google Doc a feature that not many people know about.

We’re going to cover the best ways to easily add your Google drawings, images, or simple diagrams to your Google Docs. Best of all, it won’t matter if you have the latest gaming laptop or a 2-in-1 work laptop, our tips will work for all of your devices.

What is Google Docs?

Google Docs is Google’s word processing application application that works through the web. It’s part of the Google Suite of applications that includes Gmail, Google Sheets, and many more.

Through your Google account, you can create, share, collaborate, and edit your Google document. This versatility makes Google Docs one of the premier ways to write essays, create reports, and write content — we should know!

Along with your projects, Google Docs also has features to add illustrations to your document. A picture is worth a thousand words after all, so the ability to add and insert images is undeniably useful. Even if you use your laptop for data science research or video editing, there’s no doubt that you can use the drawing tools on Google Docs.

How to Draw on Google Docs

Now that you have a good idea of what Google Docs is and the utility of being able to draw on it, let’s cover how to draw on Google Docs. We’ve listed the steps in and easy to read the guide:

1. Start by opening a new document,
2. Navigate to the top toolbar of Google Docs, you should see a tab labeled “Insert”. Underneath Insert should be an option entitled “Drawing”, click it.
3. Choose “New”.
4. A new window will pop out labeled “Drawing”. From here you have a wealth of options to add or create images using the Google Drawings app. You can easily add Word Art by clicking on the Actions menu, or add shapes and lines with the shape tool and line tool. For free drawing, choose the Line tool in the taskbar, select Scribble, and then press enter.
5. Once done, you can click save and close to automatically save the drawing onto your Google Drive. Congratulations, you’ve used Google’s built-in drawing tool.
6. From there, if you want to insert a drawing into Google Docs, click “Insert”, then “Drawings”, and then “Google Drive”.

It’s as simple as that. These tips work regardless of the type of computer that you have as long as you have the Google Docs application from Google. It is available for download on both Macbook and Windows PCs.

Our Tips for Using Google Docs

Drawing isn’t a unique and useful feature that you may have not known about. If you were impressed with our tips for creating using the drawing feature, then you’ll love our other tips using Google Docs! Let’s not waste any more time:

Customize your Document with More Fonts

Want to spice up the fonts that you’re using for college work essays? Google Docs provides you with nearly two dozen fonts at first, but there are ways to get more.

All you have to click on the fonts and dropdown menu bar, and then click on “More Fonts”. You’ll be shown a series of fonts that you can add to your document, including Roboto, Montserrat, Oswald, and many more!

Research Topics with Google Docs

If you’re writing a college essay and want to back up your sources, then make sure to use Google Docs’ online research feature. Forget about clicking back and for between tabs to research your project, find images, and copy links.

The easiest way to use the tool is to open the Toolbar at the taskbar. Once the drop-down menu options appear, you can choose “Research”. You can also research by highlighting a word and then right-clicking on it, which will give you the option to research the word.

Keep in mind that the Research tool is only available to computers and Android mobile so you’ll have to research by yourself on the iPhone for now. But this may change in the future!

Google Docs’ Comment Feature

If you’re working on a team and want to communicate about a piece of your project with your team, then the Google Docs’ comment feature is game-changing. If you want to add comments to a piece of content, here’s how you can easily do so:

Highlight the piece of text that you’re looking to leave a comment on and then navigate to the toolbar and choose “Insert” and then click on “Comment” from the drop-down.

Your comment will be within a text box or text boxes that others who have access to the document. A comment will act as a thread to your team or project members to keep your work as professional and up-to-date as possible, especially if you can comment on the version history.

Image Editing & Drawing Tool

We’ve briefly talked about how to create Google drawings, but there’s more than you can use the drawing tool for! Once you’ve used the drawing window and finished drawing in Google Docs, you can always edit your drawings and make edits to them.

Click on the image you’ve inserted and you’ll see all the taskbar tools at the top will switch to a new tab applicable to your image. Here you can crop your image, add borders to it, and mask it to your heart’s content. If you’re using Google Docs to create designs on Cricut Explore Air 2, then you’ll love the editing tools offered by Google Docs.

All laptops are compatible with your Google Docs, no matter if you’re a non-gamer or have the latest generation i7 laptop.

Frequently Asked Questions

Drawing on your Google Docs is as simple as that! But if you had some questions while reading through our article, you’ll be happy to know we’re here to answer them! We’ve compiled the most frequently asked-about drawing on Google Documents and provided answers to every one of them.

If you’re already satisfied, feel free to check out our top picks for the cheapest gaming laptops or laptops with the most SSD under $500

How do you freehand draw in Google Docs?

This one’s simple; you can easily freehand draw in Google Docs like you were using your computer’s paint app. Here’s the best way to do so:

Open a document on your computer and navigate to the top left, where you’ll find the Insert Drawing tool. Click New, then insert shapes, lines, text, or whatever else you want and you’re set to draw.

You can also choose a free hand and make whatever else you’d want with Google Docs, not just a line tool. It’s a great tool for college students to add beautiful drawings to their papers.

How do you use a pen in Google Docs?

Unless you are using a tablet or have a space where you can use Google Docs with a touch screen monitor, you’ll find that using a virtual pen to write and draw on Google Docs isn’t very easy to do.

However, if you have a tablet then we highly recommend that you give it a shot! It will work much easier if you have a pen on hand.

Luckily you don’t need to be a computer science student to freehand or use a pen on your Google Docs.

How do you scribble in Google Docs?

It’s fairly straightforward! All you have to do is go to “Insert” and choose the Drawing feature. This will open a Drawing window, which has the option to select line and other options. One of these is Scribble, which allows you to freehand draw to your heart’s content.

The next time you have a Zoom call with your project teammates, having a way to illustrate your points on Google Docs is easy with the scribble feature.

Conclusion

Paint a canvas onto your Google Docs without any hesitation! Hopefully, you’ve followed our tips to get started on your next masterpiece in your documents. Art adds a bit of flair to your project, so we recommend if you have a nack give it a try.

That’s how to draw on Google Docs. Want to read more from The Holy Tech? We’ve written articles about how to remove stickers from your laptop or our review of the Google Pixelbook 12-inch Chromebook.