How to activate dark mode on Google Docs

January 6, 2023

By auroraoddi

If you often use Google Docs surely this guide by Syrus is just what you were looking for. In this article we will follow you step by step to be able to activate dark mode on Google Docs from the smartphone app or the Google service website.

Sometimes the brightness of the screen might bother our eyes, especially if we spend a lot of time in front of the computer often working with Google Docs. Fortunately, Google Docs gives us the option to turn on dark mode. In addition to helping rest our eyes, switching to a dark theme also gives you the option to reduce the brightness of the screen to save battery power if you use a laptop. As mentioned earlier, you can do this both on the smartphone app and in Google Docs web.

Activate dark mode in Google Docs on PC

To enable dark mode in Google Docs web you need to resort to a browser extension such as DocsAfterDark. This is a free extension that you can use on Google Docs with Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Opera. The task to be performed is very simple, all you will have to do is:

Download the DocsAfterDark plugin from your browser’s store.
Open Google Docs on your computer and click on the extension icon in the top right corner of your browser

Having done this you can turn dark mode on or off at any time for any document. In addition, in the extension’s menu you can get your hands on several features such as choosing the theme to apply or changing it according to your needs and preferences. If you use Google Chrome you can also use the Dark Theme for Chrome extension to apply dark mode to the browser interface and all web pages.

Activate dark mode in Google Docs on Smartphone

If you already have dark mode enabled on your smartphone, Google Docs will automatically turn on dark mode by default. But, if you want to enable dark mode only on Google Docs instead, follow the guide below. Follow these steps if you use the iOS operating system:

Open Google Docs on your mobile device
Press the three lines in the top right corner
Select Settings
Now press on Theme
To activate dark mode, select Dark

For Android operating system users, however, the steps are very similar:

Open Google Docs on your mobile device
Press the three lines at the top right
Select Settings
Now press on Choose theme
To activate dark mode, select Dark

When you reach this point, all documents in Google Docs will be displayed in dark mode, the application interface will also be in dark mode. If you want, however, you can display the documents with a light theme. To do this the steps to follow are very simple:

Open any document in Google Docs
Enter the menu (the three dots in the upper right corner)
Press the View with Light Theme item

Now, the application interface will be in dark mode, but the document pages will be in clear mode. This setting will automatically apply to all other documents as well.