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Quick Answer: To add a summary in Google Docs, click “View” and select “Show outline.” Click the “+” or “Edit” button beside “Summary,” then enter or edit the AI-generated summary as needed.
Sometimes reading GDocs can be a chore, and not everyone wants to read an endless tower of text. That’s why you need to know how to add a summary to a document in Google Docs.
Thankfully, Google makes summarizing your work simple and does most of the work for you.
If the app’s AI understands the content of a document, it automatically generates a one or two-sentence description. You can, of course, edit the auto-generated summary if needed or write your own from scratch.
Don’t make your readers suffer through every long-winded sentence you expelled onto the page. Let’s discuss how to add a summary to your Google Docs.
How to add a summary in Google Docs
We’ve got you covered if you need to summarize a long document. Here’s how to add a summary to a document in Google Docs:
Once you add a summary in Google Docs, the outline panel will display when the document opens, so everyone will see the description and breathe a sigh of relief at not having to read the entire text.
Docs summaries have several uses
Adding a summary is a great way to present a Google doc’s key point and show the reader what to expect in the main text.
Shorter summaries are ideal for providing a quick preview. In some cases, longer descriptions can even remove the need to read the main text.
Interestingly, Google Docs doesn’t put a character limit on summaries. So you can make them as lengthy as you’d like.
If you’re feeling diabolical, you could write a description longer than the main text and see how much of people’s time you can waste.
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