How To Link To a Specific Part of a Google Doc

Google Docs is an incredibly useful software for working with written documents. But going through a file that’s hundreds of pages long can make it hard to locate a specific part that you need to reference. Fortunately, there’s a shortcut that allows you to provide direct links to a particular paragraph of the document.

You can insert a link in the form of a heading or bookmark that will point you directly to the section you wish to link to. Also, you can create a shareable link to share with anyone who has access to the document, which will refer them directly to the section you need.

If this sounds like a scenario you could use, stay tuned. In this article, we share step-by-step instructions on how to manage your Google Doc so it’s easier to locate specific parts.

Link to Specific Part of Google Doc With a Bookmark

Bookmarks are useful features in digital documents that allow readers to mark their progress or highlight important information featured in their files. They are also the most efficient method you can use to link to a paragraph in Google Docs. This allows you to link one section of the file to a specific word, phrase, sentence, or paragraph with a simple click of a button.

Users can set up a bookmark and create a shareable link for that section or insert the bookmark into a text that will link to another section of the text.

Setting the Bookmark in Google Docs

1. Open the document you want to edit in Google Docs.
   
2. Place the cursor at the beginning of the word, sentence, or paragraph where you want to insert a link.
   
3. Navigate to the “Insert” menu located at the top of the page and pick the “Bookmark” option.
   
4. A ribbon will be inserted next to where you placed the cursor on the document. Click on the ribbon icon.
   
5. You can choose between removing the bookmark or getting a link for it. Click on the “Copy and Paste” Icon that says “Copy Link.”
   
6. The link will now be copied, and you can send it to anyone who has access to the Google Doc. When they open the link, it will redirect them right to the paragraph you bookmarked.

If you no longer need to use the bookmark, you can remove it by pressing the “Remove” button in the fifth step.

This is the most straightforward way to link to a specific document location in Google Docs and create a shareable link for it. If you wish to link one part of the document to another in the software, you can learn more about it below.

Setting the Bookmark Link Inside the Document

Being able to jump between pages or sections of a file is one of the reasons why people love digital documents. While finding information in a short document doesn’t require any specific effort, doing so with longer files can be quite tiring. Thankfully, you can link a bookmark inside the document to make finding information easier.

If you wish to link to the bookmark you just created and place that link to a specific part of the document, follow the steps below:

1. Launch Google Docs on your computer and open the text you want to work with.
   
2. Navigate to the paragraph or piece of text you want to link to the bookmark.
   
3. Mark that section. It can be a word, sentence, or paragraph.
   
4. Right-click on it and hit “Link” from the options menu.
   
5. You’ll see a new field asking you to select what you want to do with the link. Select the “Bookmarks” section to open the list of your existing bookmarks.
   
6. Choose the desired one.
   

The link will now be inserted into the document. Every time you click on it, you’ll be taken to the specific part of your Google Doc you previously marked as a bookmark.

Google Docs also allows users to link to a specific file heading. Here’s how this function works.

Link to a Heading

Headings are often used at the start of a section and are convenient to link to. Maybe you want to link a particular phrase, information, or data that’s mentioned on one page of the document to its respective heading section in another part of the file. Linking to a heading in Google Docs can help you do just that.

This can be done by following a few simple steps:

1. Open the document you want to work with.
   
2. Highlight the text you wish to link to the heading.
   
3. Right-click on the marked text and press the “Link” option.
   
4. Press the “Headings and Bookmarks” menu and select the heading you wish to link to.
   
5. Hit “Apply” to generate the link.
6. Click on the link, then on the name of the heading to use the link.

Every time you click on the link and the name of the heading, you will be redirected to that specific heading in the document.

Note that for the Google Docs to recognize a heading as such (in Step 3), you need to format the text as a heading in the Text Styles section. The heading should be marked as “Heading 1, 2, or 3” in order to appear on the menu in Step 3.

Navigate Through Google Docs With Ease

Working with large Google Docs files can be quite time-consuming, especially if you only need to focus on specific parts. Luckily, you can use shortcuts that allow you or other users to quickly find the paragraph you need.

You can choose to link a specific section of the text to a heading or create a bookmark you can place anywhere in the document. You can also create a shareable link pointing directly to the specific section. Overall, linking to a part of Google Docs is no rocket science, and everyone can do so if they follow the steps provided in this article.

How will you use the function to link to a specific document in Google Docs? Which elements do you typically link to? Share your experience in the comments section below.