As a service made by the US company, Google Docs is by default uses the imperial system as the primary measurement unit. But this poses a problem for users outside the US who rely on the metric system.
For example, Google Docs may uses inches instead of centimeters — a measurement unit which by far the most popular choice in most countries.
If you want to switch from ‘inch’ to ‘CM’ in Google Docs, I have bad news for you; you won’t find any setting for it. However, by changing the language region, the metric system will be used automatically.
Here is how to do that.
1. First, go to your Google Account and select Manage your data & personalization.
2. Then hit the Language menu.
3. Click the pencil (edit) button to change the default language.
4. For instance, I will select English.
5. Then select either United Kingdom, Canada, or Australia. Basically, do not choose English US as your language preference.
6. Now reload a Google Docs document and see if the imperial system has switched to metric.
This setting will not only affect Google Docs, but also other Google services connected to your Google account. You can switch back to the imperial system whenever you feel it will be more suitable in your situations.
Unfortunately, this changes all things to do with the language. Spelling too. And while I do want metric measurements, I don’t want docs to use UK English as my language. Messes up spelling and other suggestions. When will people learn not to use language as a shortcut for a plethora of unrelated settings? But I guess, I should tell the Google Docs team that, not you.
Yeah… Doesn’t work. Set my language to English, United Kingdom, and my document STILL has a ruler in inches.
So frustrating that such basic settings are buries so deep in pages of preferences that it requires a help manual to find it. Rather than how a trained design would do things — user right-clicks ruler; selects “Ruler units”; changes to preferred units.
It’s called human-centred design, but the coders at Google do not understand ‘human’.
It do not work for me. Units do not change from in to cm.
Hi, make sure to reload the document page after changing the setting. Also, consider clearing the browser cache if the problem persists.
I hope that helps.
I’ve tried that. It didn’t work, unfortunately.
Clear cookies after the language change, indeed. Otherwise it does not work.
This is really really dumb. The units of measurement should be applied to a document, and should have nothing to do with your Google Account! What if I want some documents (for American collaborators/customers) in inches and others (for European collaborators/customers) in metric. What if an American and a European are editing the same document.
Have changed the language, have cleared the cache, have reloaded the document, have closed and reopened google drive, have turned rulers off and on again and it doesn’t f***** work!!!!
I am from Québec. I want Google to work in French but use inches for paper formats. Don’t want to change the language to changes units.
thank you so much!