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google docs added greater visibility for non-printing characters collaboration toolincluding spaces, tabs, and pauses to make it easier for users to distinguish them.
The feature, now available after a Announcement (opens in new tab) in a post on the Google Workspace Updates blog also includes line, paragraph, section, page, and column break marks and can be enabled in the View menu in the Google Docs document view.
The feature is available to all Google Workspace and legacy G Suite customers, and to customers with a personal Google account.
Google Docs is catching up
As reported by The edge (opens in new tab)although markings for non-printed characters may seem basic and much requested feature (opens in new tab)that users had to rely on until now third-party add-ons like “Show” (opens in new tab) for similar functionality.
However, it’s worth noting that I’m composing this article in Google Docs in my Google Workspace account and I don’t currently have access to the ‘Show non-printing characters’ menu option here, or even in my personal Google account, so it may take a while for the feature to be visible to everyone.
This is generally standard practice for Google. In its announcement, the tech giant told users to expect a gradual rollout of 15 days from January 9, 2023 for organizations participating in the Rapid Release feature rollout track, and 15 days from January 23, 2023 for organizations on the Scheduled Release track.
While some users may not be too concerned about any lag, those who, like me for example, use Google’s free text editor to make a copy that contains links and wants to keep links free of erroneous spaces might be disappointed.