The default font in Google docs is Ariel size 11 font. Since I am in a doctoral program and have to write a lot of APA papers that require Times New Roman size 12 font it would be nice if I could default all of my documents to this. Google has over 600 fonts that you can use in your Google Docs (Click Here to see the list of fonts.) You probably have a favorite font (can I recommend comic sans?!) that you would like your documents to default to.

Start a Document

Start a text document from Google Drive.

Set the font and size

Type something in the document. This is font style “normal text.” You can identify the font style by looking in the toolbar next to the font type.

Set the text to be the desired font type and size.

Update Normal Text

While your text is still highlighted, go to the toolbar and click on “Normal text.” This will show you the header styles for the document. Hovering over “Normal text” in the drop down from the toolbar will reveal an arrow on the right hand side. Click on the arrow to choose the option “Update ‘Normal text’ to match.” This will make your font and size the default for THIS document.

On a side note, I highly encourage you to utilize header styles instead of bolding and changing the font size manually when creating sections in your document.

 

 Save Defaults

If you would like your default font style and size to apply to all new Google text documents that you create, go back to the headings drop down menu Down at the bottom is a choice for “Options.” Click on the arrow on the right hand side of options and choose “Save as my default styles.”

Start a New Document

Start a new text document. If you did it correctly your new font and size should be the default for typing normal text.