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Google Docs on the web testing convenient link previews

In June, Google updated Docs on the web with a Material Theme URL editor. The tool is now testing a very convenient link preview to get a sense of what pages are about without needing to visit.

The new Google Docs link previews are not widely rolled out today, and use the same pop-up UI when your cursor is moved to the hyperlinked text. Instead of a URL at the top, the page name is now listed. The domain is below, and while some might decry the full link being removed, the old approach essentially only showed the domain and a few other characters.

Meanwhile, the real upgrade is a link preview at the bottom that’s especially useful for articles. If you link to a site’s homepage, it will list an equally convenient general description.

This saves time when looking through the pages you’ve hyperlinked and means you do not have to open the full site to get a reminder. It takes a second for the preview to load, and the globe icon in the top left will be temporarily blank. Fast shortcuts for copying, editing, and removing the link are still at the right.

This updated Google Docs link preview feature is still in testing and only live on one of the Google accounts — a G Suite variant — we checked this afternoon today.

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com