Suggest Edits in a Document
If you're reviewing a document and want to suggest changing some text, you can suggest edits to the owner of the document without affecting the original text. Your suggestions won't change the original text until the document owner approves them. Once you are in Suggesting mode, start typing to begin suggesting edits.
You can propose a change to a document without directly editing the text by suggesting an edit. Suggestions can be viewed on Android devices, but can’t be added on mobile devices at this time.
- Open the document.
- In the top-right corner, make sure you are in Suggesting mode, which may also appear as a
icon.
- To suggest an edit, simply begin typing where you think the edit should be made in the document. You can also select text and type alternative text to suggest replacing the original.
- Your suggestions will appear in a new color and any text you suggest deleting or replacing will be crossed out.
- Owners of the documents will receive an email with your suggestions and be able to accept or reject them.
Explain a suggested edit you’ve made
To give more detail about a suggested edit you’ve made:
- Open the document where you made the suggestion.
- Click your suggested edit and type your comment into the text box that appears.
- Click Reply.
Difference between suggesting edits and commenting
Anyone with "Can comment" or "Can edit" access to a document can leave comments or suggest edits.
| Comments | Suggested edits |
|---|
| Instructions | Click the Comment button  in the toolbar | Switch to Suggesting mode in the top-right |
| Use cases | Ask a question or make a note next to a specific section of existing text | Suggest new text that you recommend adding or changing in the document |
| Next steps | Owners can reply to your question or note, or click Resolve to close the comment | Owners can accept your suggestions to add as final text or reject the suggestions to erase them |
When you share a document with someone, you can allow them to make comments and suggest edits without making direct changes to the document by giving them "Can comment" permissions.
- Open the file you want to share.
- In the top-right corner, click Share .
- Add the email addresses for the people you want to share with in the text box.
- Click the drop-down menu next to the text box and select "Can comment".
- Click Done.
People who have permission to edit the document can also suggest edits by switching from
Editing to
Suggesting mode in the top-right corner of a document.
Partially reposted from the Google Docs Editors Help site: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6033474?hl=en&ref_topic=1361461
