How to Change Text Color Google Docs

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166149 How to Change Text Color Google Docs

Changing the text color in Google Docs is easy and allows you to emphasize important points, differentiate types of text, or just add some visual interest to your documents. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to change text color in Google Docs, along with some tips for using color effectively.

Select the Text You Want to Change

First, open the Google Docs document and highlight the text you want to change the color of. You can select a word, sentence, paragraph, or multiple paragraphs.

To select text:

  • Click and drag your mouse across the text to highlight it
  • Double click a word to select it
  • Triple click within a paragraph to select the entire paragraph
  • Ctrl/Command + A to select all text in the document

Access the Text Color Option

With your text selected, access the text color option in one of two ways:

  • From the toolbar: Click the Text color icon (the letter A with a square color palette next to it)
  • From the menu: Go to Format > Text color

Text color toolbar icon

Choose a Color

After accessing the text color option, you’ll see a palette of predefined color swatches to choose from, along with options to create a custom color.

Google Docs color palette

Some tips for choosing color:

  • Stick to the pre-defined palette colors for consistency
  • Avoid red for large sections of text as it can strain eyes
  • Use darker shades for longer sections of text for better readability
  • Accessible color combos ensure text is readable for those with visual impairments

To create a custom color, click “Custom” to bring up a color picker window. From here you can:

  • Use the color slider to select a custom hue
  • Enter RGB or Hex color codes
  • Use the eyedropper to select a color from elsewhere on your screen

Change Color of Other Elements

The text color option changes the color of text in Google Docs, but you can modify the color of other elements as well:

  • Text highlight color: Emphasize text with a colored background using the Highlight color option
  • Shapes and lines: Change color of shapes and lines inserted from the Insert menu
  • Cell background: For tables, click inside a cell and use the Fill color option to change cell background color

Tips for Using Color Effectively

Here are some tips to ensure your use of color is visually appealing and accessible:

  • Use sparingly: Avoid overusing different colors, which can decrease readability
  • Limit red text: Red text is best used minimally as it stands out strongly from other colors
  • Ensure sufficient contrast: Choose colors that contract sufficiently with your page background color
  • Check accessibility: Text color combos should have an accessible contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
  • Be consistent: Stick to one color scheme rather than arbitrarily changing colors

Using color effectively helps communicate key points clearly for your readers.

Applying Text Colors to Multiple Selections

Once you’ve changed the text color the first time, you can quickly apply that same color to multiple text selections without having to re-access the color palette each time.

To do this:

  1. Highlight the text you want to apply the color to
  2. Right click and select “Text color”
  3. The most recently used custom color will appear as the first option — simply select it to apply that color

This saves you time when applying the same color across different parts of your document.

Additional Tips

Here are a few more tips for working with text color in Google Docs:

  • Use keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl/Command + Shift + X on PC/Mac) to quickly access the text color palette without the mouse
  • Create a custom color theme for your document under the Themes menu by saving a custom color palette
  • Check color contrast using the accessibility checker under Tools > Accessibility checker
  • Make sure your color choices print well in black and white using File > Print preview

Conclusion

The ability to change text color in Google Docs lets you add visual interest to text and emphasize important content. By following best practices for readability and accessibility, you can incorporate color to effectively communicate your message.

The process is simple — just highlight text, access the color palette from the toolbar or menu, and select any default or custom color option. Combine this with other formatting like bold, italics, text highlighting, and more to take your documents to the next level.

So try out different text colors in your next Google Doc!

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