Get ready to see a lot more fun and emotion in your documents because Google Docs has a new shortcut that makes it easier than ever to quickly access and add emojis.
Lately, Google has been busy adding various features and options to Docs, including the ability to react with an emoji back in April. However, now the company is full-on embracing the emoji, as you'll be able to insert an emoji into text in a matter of seconds.
This new feature integrates into Google's existing "insert" shortcut. When you start a new doc, you'll see a popup saying "Type @ to insert," but if you start typing too fast, it'll disappear. This shortcut actually allows for all types of quick inserts, and now when you type something like @smile, it'll populate a list of smiling emojis to use instead of words.
Alternatively, you can type ":" to quickly get a similar list. Basically, Google made it so all Docs users have to do is type "@:" or ":" to see a dropdown list of emojis. You can navigate the entire catalog and choose whatever you'd like.
So, if you don't know precisely which emoji you're looking for, just type "@:" or ":" for a list of them all. Or, if you do know, type "@smile," and it'll show a list of smiley emojis.
The new emoji shortcut has already started rolling out to Workspace and personal Google Accounts. That said, Google mentioned it could take upwards of 15 days for select users to see it. Then, a more general release will arrive on September 12th.
via ZDNet