How to Select All in Google Docs

Selecting all text in your Google Docs document is a common task when formatting, copying, or deleting content. While you can manually select everything by dragging your cursor, Google Docs offers simple keyboard shortcuts to select all text with one click.

In this guide, you’ll learn 7 methods to select all text in Google Docs using shortcuts and menu options. We’ll cover selecting all text on both Windows and Mac operating systems.

Why Select All in Google Docs?

Selecting all content in your document is useful for:

• Copying everything to paste into another file
• Deleting all text to start fresh
• Applying bulk formatting like fonts, sizes, colors
• Printing the entire document
• Checking word count
• Editing many pages at once

Manually choosing all text by scrolling and highlighting everything takes too much time. The select all function speeds up your workflow.

1. Keyboard Shortcut to Select All

The fastest way to select all text is using a single keyboard shortcut:

• Windows: Ctrl + A
• Mac: ⌘ + A

When pressed, this shortcut highlights the entire document instantly. Headers, footers, images, tables – everything gets selected.

To select all:

1. Click anywhere in the Google Doc
2. Press the shortcut key to highlight everything

This method works on any operating system like ChromeOS too.

2. Through the Edit Menu

Alternatively, use the application’s menu to select all contents:

1. Click Edit in the menu
2. Choose Select all in the dropdown

This menu item has the same effect as the keyboard shortcut. All text, objects, and elements get highlighted immediately.

3. Shift + Click Selection

To manually select everything visible on-screen:

1. Click at the very start of the document
2. Scroll to the bottom
3. Shift + Click at the end

Google Docs lets you extend a text selection by holding Shift while clicking in a new spot. This method selects all visible content.

4. Select All from Cursor Onwards

To choose text from your cursor to the end:

1. Place cursor at desired start point
2. Ctrl + Shift + End (Windows)
3. ⌘ + Shift + End (Mac)

This shortcut highlights everything from the cursor till the last character, excluding headers and footers.

5. Select All Up to Cursor

To pick all text from the beginning to cursor:

1. Position cursor at desired end point
2. Ctrl + Shift + Home (Windows)
3. ⌘ + Shift + Up Arrow (Mac)

The text before the cursor gets highlighted after the shortcut.

6. Select Formatted Text

To select all text with specific formatting applied:

1. Highlight sample formatted text
2. Right click
3. Choose Select all matching formatting

For example, highlighting a bolded line lets you select bolded text everywhere. This works for fonts, sizes, colors or any style.

7. Select Table Cells

To select all cells in a table:

1. Click in any cell
2. Ctrl + A (Windows)
3. ⌘ + A (Mac)

The shortcut now picks table cells instead of document text.

Google Docs Select All Shortcuts Cheat Sheet

Here’s a quick cheat sheet to remember shortcuts based on your operating system:

Windows Shortcuts

• All text – Ctrl + A
• From cursor – Ctrl + Shift + End
• Up to cursor – Ctrl + Shift + Home

Mac Shortcuts

• All text – ⌘ + A
• From cursor – ⌘ + Shift + End
• Up to cursor – ⌘ + Shift + Up Arrow

Selecting Text on Mobile Devices

Google Docs apps are available for iOS and Android mobile devices too. You can select all text using:

• iOS: Tap document, Tap Select, Tap All
• Android: ⋮ menu > Select all

While less convenient than keyboard shortcuts, mobile users can still select everything when required.

Conclusion

Whether you’re on Windows, Mac, Chromebook or mobile, Google Docs offers multiple shortcuts to select all text in documents. Learning these methods saves you time when editing, formatting or reorganizing content.

Next time you need to quickly copy paragraphs or apply bulk formatting, use the handy Ctrl/⌘ + A shortcut or menu options to select all. Speed up your Docs workflow with these simple but effective tips covered above.