Formatting shouldn’t feel like the hardest part of writing, but too often it does. You open a blank Google Doc, start typing, and before you know it, you’re knee-deep in fiddling with fonts, resizing headings, and trying to remember what spacing you used last time.

This steals time away from the actual work of creating.

Have you considered letting Google Docs do the heavy lifting? By setting up styles and building your own templates, you can create documents that look professional every time.

In this article, you’ll learn how to set up and customize styles, build Google Docs templates that fit your needs, and reuse them across projects.

By the end, you’ll have a repeatable workflow that makes formatting effortless. 

Highlights

• Google Docs styles create consistency inside documents by applying preset rules for headings, body text, and spacing, making content easier to read and more professional.
• Custom Google Docs templates save time across projects, locking in formatting, structure, and branding so every new report, proposal, or draft starts polished.
• Styles and templates serve different purposes: styles manage formatting within a document, while templates apply that consistency across multiple documents.

What are styles in Google Docs?

Styles in Google Docs are preset formatting options that control how your text looks within a document.

You can apply different headings, subheadings, and body text with a single click. This keeps your documents consistent without requiring manual adjustments to fonts, sizes, or spacing.

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It may seem like a small feature. But styles in Google Docs exist to solve one of the most common pain points in writing: inconsistent formatting. 

Furthermore, more than one billion people create Google Docs every month (Source: ExplodingTopics). In a sea of that many resumes, reports, and proposals, presentation matters. Styles provide a way to stand out. They give documents a polished structure, and signal to readers that you organized the content with care and intention. 

That polish translates into real advantages:

• Time savings: Formatting becomes a one-click action instead of a repetitive task.
• Consistency: Every heading, subheading, and body paragraph follows the same rules.
• Professional credibility: A document that looks deliberate earns more trust from readers.
• Easier collaboration: Multiple contributors can add content without breaking the style.
• Better readability: Structured text makes it easier for audiences to scan and absorb information.

What are custom Google Docs templates?

Custom templates in Google Docs are reusable document frameworks that lock in formatting, structure, and branding so you don’t have to start from scratch every time. A template can include styled headings, company logos, standard colors, and even placeholder text.

Once you create a template, it serves as a ready-to-use starting point for any new project, whether that’s a report, proposal, email newsletter, or blog draft.

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The true value of templates becomes clear when you think about how much time you lose to repetitive formatting. Every time you open a blank Google Doc, you make dozens of choices, such as setting the font, aligning text, spacing paragraphs, choosing heading sizes, and more.

On their own, sure, these steps seem minor. Multiply them across dozens of documents each month, and they become a serious drag on productivity.

Most of us don’t realize how much time formatting eats up…until we stop doing it. In fact, 2025 statistics from Kissflow show that workflow automation, including the use of templates, improves productivity by between 25% and 30%.

Here are some other benefits of Google Docs templates:

• Standardize branding: Ensure every document reflects the same fonts, colors, and logos.
• Improve collaboration: Give teams a shared framework, so multiple contributors work within the same structure.
• Reduce errors: Eliminate the risk of mismatched formatting or overlooked details.
• Scale processes: Make recurring tasks, like monthly reports, client proposals, or lesson plans, faster to produce. 

Whether you’re looking for a simple way to increase productivity or a stylish way to build your brand, custom Google Docs templates provide the key to the next level.

Google Docs styles and templates: What’s the difference?

So, what is the difference between styles and templates? 

Both exist to make formatting easier, both improve consistency, and both save time.

But they serve different purposes.

Styles are the individual formatting rules you apply inside a document. Headings, subheadings, and body text each have a style assigned to them. Once you define what a style should look like, you can reuse it throughout your document with a single click.

Google Docs custom templates, on the other hand, are entire document frameworks. A template may include your predefined styles along with logos, headers, tables, and any other elements that make up a polished document. 

So, think of style as the ingredients of a document and templates as the recipe.

In a nutshell:

• Styles handle consistency inside a document. Every heading, subheading, and paragraph follows the same rules.
• Templates handle consistency across documents. Every new proposal, report, or WordPress blog draft begins with the same structure.
• Styles feed into templates. Once you refine your heading and text styles, you can embed them into a template so that Docs automatically applies them every time you start a new project.

Let’s break it down into features:

Feature	Styles	Templates
Definition	You apply formatting rules to text, such as fonts, sizes, spacing, and colors.	You create a reusable document framework with layouts, branding, and structure.
Scope	Styles control elements inside a single document.	Templates control the overall structure of multiple documents.
Reusability	You reuse styles within the same doc or save them as defaults.	You start every new doc from the same blueprint.
Best For	Maintaining consistency within a specific document and applying formatting quickly..	Streamlining recurring tasks, such as reports, proposals, or blog posts, rather than starting from scratch.

How to customize styles

Customizing styles in Google Docs means setting the rules once, so every heading, subheading, and body paragraph follows the same look. 

This creates a consistent framework you can use across the entire document. Once you understand how to apply, update, and save styles, you’ll never waste time fixing mismatched fonts or uneven spacing again. And it gives productivity a huge boost, especially when collaborating with a team.

Apply a style

Now, for the fun part.

Here’s how to apply a style to your text.

1. Highlight your text. Select the line or paragraph you want to format.
2. Open the Styles dropdown. It sits in the toolbar and usually defaults to “Normal text.”
3. Choose the level you need. For example:
   1. Title for the document’s main title
   2. Heading 1 for major sections
   3. Heading 2 for subsections
   4. Heading 3 for details under an H2

(In the image below, you can see how to switch from plain text to Heading 2.)

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4. Confirm the change. Your text will update instantly to match the style’s current settings.
5. Check the outline. If you open “View” > “Show outline,” headings will appear in a nested list. This makes the structure clear and helps you jump between sections quickly.

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6. Use shortcuts for speed. Keyboard shortcuts save you from breaking your writing flow:
   1. Windows/ChromeOS > Ctrl + Alt +1/2/3 applies Heading 1, 2, or 3.
   2. Mac > Cmd + Option + 1/2/3 does the same.

Modify the formatting

Applying a style helps you structure your document, but the default fonts and sizes in Google Docs may not match your preferences or your organization’s standards. You can refine each style to look exactly the way you want, then update the whole document with a single change.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Select the text with the style you want to change. Click into a heading or paragraph where you already applied a style. (Ex: Highlight some text with Heading 2 label).
2. Adjust the formatting. Use the toolbar to change font type, size, color spacing, alignment, or any other attribute.
3. Update the style definition. Open the Styles dropdown menu again, hover over the style you just changed. 
4. Repeat for each style level. Work through Title, Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, and Normal text. Adjust each until your document has a coherent hierarchy.
5. Use spacing and size strategically. 
   1. Give Heading 1 a clear, dominant size so readers can easily see section breaks.
   2. Make Heading 2 smaller but still distinct, so subsections stand out.
   3. Keep Heading 3 subtle but consistent, so you don’t overwhelm the page.
   4. Ensure the Normal text is large enough for comfortable reading and uses a clean font.
6. Preview with the outline. After modifying, open the Document outline again to check readability. The hierarchy should be obvious. H1s should look dominant, H2s should support them, and H3s should nest neatly beneath.

After you’re happy with your adjustments, it’s time to lock them in. Updating the style tells Google Docs, “Make this the rule for every Heading 2,” or whatever level you’re working on.

To do this:

• Open the Styles dropdown from the toolbar.
• Hover over the style name you just modified
• Click “Update [Level] to match selection.”
• Repeat for each style level.

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Save as default styles

Updating styles inside a document gives you consistency for that file, but what about the next one? Without saving your choices as defaults, every new Google Doc reverts to the standard Arial font, size 11, and generic spacing.

That means you’d have to reapply or redefine styles every single time you start fresh.

Saving as default styles solves that.

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Here are the steps:

1. Customize your styles. Apply, modify, and update each style in the current document until you’re satisfied with the hierarchy.
2. Go to the styles dropdown. Open the same menu you used to apply or update a style.
3. Click “Options.” At the bottom of the menu, you’ll see a gear icon labeled Options.
4. Choose “Save as my default styles.” Select this option, and Docs will remember your current settings.
5. Confirm in a new document. Open a new Google Doc, check the Styles dropdown, and you’ll see your custom formatting in place.

How to create a custom Google Docs template

Once you’ve customized your styles and saved them as defaults, the next step is to build a custom Google Docs template you can reuse for recurring projects.

Start with your styled document

The easiest way to create a template is to begin with a document that already uses your customized styles. If you’ve defined your headings, body text, and spacing rules, open that file and treat it as your foundation.

Also, if you have placeholder text, make sure that’s in the document as well.

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From there, think about the purpose of your template. Each use case may need a slightly different structure.

For example, a proposal template might include sections for an executive summary, objectives, budget, and next steps.

Add branding elements

So, you’ve got your structure in place. Now, bring in the branding.

Add your company logo at the top, insert your preferred color palette into headings, or design a footer with page numbers and contact information.

Branding elements make your document look professional. They also reinforce trust and consistency across everything your organization produces.

An easy way to source professional-looking, branded content is through Envato Elements. You can browse through an extensive library of design resources, like logos, typography sets, and other graphics.

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Apply the template to new projects

A custom Google Docs template only saves time if you use it as the starting point for new work. After building and branding your template, the key is to make it part of your workflow on the right foundation.

Here are the main ways to put your template into action:

1. Make a copy for each new document. Open your saved template, then go to File > Make a copy. Give the new file a descriptive name and save it in the right Google Drive folder.
2. Use the template gallery. If you’re on Google Workspace, you can publish your template to the shared template gallery. This lets everyone on your team start new documents from the same source file.

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3. Pin or star your template for quick access. In Google Drive, right-click your template file and select Add to Starred. Now it shows up at the top of your Drive sidebar.
4. Build placeholders into your template. Add placeholders like “[Insert Executive Summary Here]” or “[Add Image]” to speed up drafting.

The easiest wins come from smarter content workflows

Mastering styles and custom Google Docs templates is all about creating a system that makes every document you touch more consistent, professional, and far less time-consuming.

Your next Google Doc doesn’t have to start as a blank page. It can start as a ready-made framework that reflects your standards, speeds up your workflow, and ensures your work always looks as polished as it reads. 
If you’re serious about streamlining your workflow, don’t let publishing slow you down. Start saving hours on every post with Wordable and exporting perfectly formatted Google Docs straight to WordPress with a single click.