Google is rolling out an upgrade for Docs that could help users improve the quality of their writing.
As explained in its latest blog post, the company is adding a number of new “assistive writing features” to the word processing software, including synonym and sentence structure suggestions.
The service will also flag up any “inappropriate” language, as well as instances in which the writer would be better served by using the active rather than passive voice.
Google Docs update
In the form of the Smart Compose feature, which offers autocomplete suggestions as the user types, Google Docs has long been equipped with a measure of intelligence.
However, the company has recently ramped up efforts to introduce artificial intelligence-powered functionality to its Workspace suite, with the goal of boosting user productivity and the quality of work.
In addition to this latest update, Google recently announced that Docs is now capable of summarizing the most salient information in any document, eliminating the need to wade through lengthy reports.
Separately, an update for Google Drive allows the cloud storage service to intuit which documents a user may want to work on at which time of day, cutting the time spent hunting for specific files.
The arrival of further recommendation features for Docs is another step in the campaign to make the company’s product suite more intelligent.
“Suggestions will appear as you type and help guide you when there are opportunities to avoid repeated or unnecessary words, helping diversify your writing and ensuring you’re using the most effective word for the situation,” Google explained.
“We hope this will help elevate your writing style and make more dynamic, clear, inclusive, and concise documents.”
When the tools are active, suggestions will be underlined in purple. Selecting the underline will bring up a small pop up that prompts the user to accept or decline the change.
These suggestions will be switched on by default, but can be deactivated under the Tools menu at the top of the page.
The new Google Docs features are currently in the process of rolling out and should take effect for all premium business customers by the end of the month. The updates will not be available to Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, nor Enterprise Essentials customers.
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