As we all know Google Docs is one of the best document readers, and editors in the market due to its versatility and the ability to run on any device that has a browser. The whole Google Docs experience is browser-based which makes it super easy to use from anywhere even if you aren’t with your computer.

While, most of the apps, websites and systems UI’s are shifting towards an option to enable dark mode because most of people use their devices for a long period and at night as well.

Thus, using a screen with dark mode makes it easier to use in dim lighting or darker environments. Thankfully, Google is also onboard and provides us with an option to enable dark mode on Google docs.

Dark mode replaces the white background of the page with a black or dark colour background which reduces the pressure on our eyes, it is one of the very underrated yet valuable tools that we should respect and every app developer should provide for their app.

In this post, we will discuss a few different ways through which you can enable dark mode on Google Docs.

Enabling Dark mode in Google Docs on Chrome

officially, Google doesn’t allow us to enable the dark mode on google docs, so if you visit docs.goggle.com and then sign in using your Google account, you will end up with a light mode google docs on the desktop. However, there are a few workarounds to enable the dark mode on Google docs and they are as follows.

Using Google Docs Dark Mode Extension

1. Head to the chrome extension store and in the search bar at the top search for Google Docs dark mode and press enter.
   
2. Now, from the list of extensions from the search results, locate the extension which is offered by the developer named Ivan Hidalgo and select it.
   
3. On opening the extension’s page, click on the Add the Chrome button that should be located next to the extension’s name on the screen.
   
4. Google Chrome will show you a pop-up dialogue box asking for the confirmation to add the particular extension to your browser, tap on the button Add extension, another pop-up will show up that confirms that the extension you were trying to install has been successfully installed.
   
5. Next, to access the extension you need to click on the tiny icon of the extension located next to the address bar.
   
6. You can also pin the extension next to the address bar by clicking on the puzzle-shaped icon next to the address bar.
   
7. Then click on the pin-shaped icon next to the Google Docs Dark Mode extension from the list of all the extensions installed on your browser.
   
8. Next, you need to go to the docs.google.com website and under the Start a new document select Blank so that Docs open a fresh document.
   
9. The dark mode should have been applied automatically to the new document that you just opened on Google Docs.
   
10. If you wish to turn off the dark mode on google docs, you can turn it off by going to the Google Docs extension icon next to the address bar.
    
11. You will see a pop-up box that shows a few options for the extension.
    
12. There will be 2 switches, one is for switching between dark and light mode.
    
13. The second switch is for switching the light and dark mode for the document and not the whole website.
    
14. This is the easiest method of all to enable the dark mode on Google Docs, however, there is a big caveat with this. You will be required to permit the google Docs Dark Mode extension to read and change your data on Google Docs website. This can be unsettling for a lot of users who won’t be trusting the devs, and also if you have any confidential data on Google Docs. Then, in that case, you should avoid using the extension and proceed with the next method.

Forcing Dark Mode for All Websites on Google Chrome

First, you need to open the Chrome browser on your computer and then go to Chrome’s experimental features page. You can go to the page by typing the URL below.

chrome://flags

Then, in the next search box which is at the top of the experiment page, you can type Force Dark mode.

Once you see the Force dark mode for web contents option from the sech result, you can click on the drop-down menu adjacent to it and then select Enabled from the available options.

Google Chrome will then give you a prompt at the bottom to relaunch the Chrome browser. Make sure to save all your files and documents before you restart them.

Once Chrome has restarted, you will see that all of the websites will have a black background and white text, this includes Google Docs and sheets as well.

Do note that the chrome feature flags aren’t profile specific, so they will be applied across the browser regardless of the profile you are using.

Enabling Dark Mode in Google Docs on Firefox

1. Head to the Firefox browser on your computer and then click on the Menu button located at the top right corner of the screen.
   
2. Now, from the drop-down menu, click on the Add-ons and themes option.
   
3. Next, in the search bar which should be at the top of your screen, type Dark reader and press enter.
   
4. From the search results, select the very first extension that you see, it should be Dark Reader by the developer called Alexander Shutau.
   
5. Next, from the box with basic information about the extension you need to click on the Add to Firefox button to add the particular extension to your browser.
6. The Dark Reader will ask permission to access your data on all of the websites. Click on the Add button.
   
7. From the top-right corner of your screen, you will be notified with a pop-up that the Dark Reader extension has been added to your Firefox browser. Click on Okay to hide the notification.
   
8. If you want to switch it back to light mode, then you can access the Dark Reader by going back to the Add-ons and themes option from the Menu. Alternatively, you can also access the add-ons by pressing the shortcut key combination from the key which is Ctrl + Shift + A.
9. Head to the Extensions tab from the left side of your screen. The selected tab should be highlighted in blue colour.
10. Now, under the manage your Extensions option, you will find a switch next to the Dark reader extension. Simply click on it to flip and switch to disable dark mode.
11. Another way through which you can disable the dark mode is by clicking on the Dark reader icon located next to the address bar. The moment you enable dark mode, the extension will automatically be pinned to the address bar.
12. Finally, in the Dark Read add-on menu, you can click on Off from the top right corner to disable dark mode.
    

Enable Dark Mode in Google Docs on Microsoft Edge

Since Microsoft Edge is based on the chromium-browser, most of the settings are very much similar to chrome only. The same is the case for enabling the dark mode for Google docs, you can enable it similarly as you did it on google chrome.

Using Google Docs Dark Mode Extension

1. Head to Microsoft Edge and then go to http://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons. From the search bar at the top-left corner of the screen, you need to search Google Docs Dark Mode and hit enter.
2. Now, from the search results, you can click on the name of the first extension to fetch more info about the extension.
3. Once inside the page of that particular tension, click on the get button next to the add-on’s name. It should be on the right side of the screen.
4. The extension will then ask for permission to read and change your data on Google Docs. If you agree to it then you can click on “Add Extension” button from the confirmation box.
5. Once the extension is installed, a pop-up will appear notifying you about the successful installation.
6. Once you have installed it, go to docs.google.com and you should see that the Google Docs is running in dark mode automatically. This is because of the extension we just installed.
7. If you wish to disable the dark mode, you can simply click on the Google Docs dark mode extension icon located on top adjacent to the address bar of the browser. It gets pinned automatically whenever the Google docs is running in dark mode.
8. On clicking the icon, a drop-down menu will appear, from that drop-down, you can disable the dark mode, by flipping and turning off the second switch.

There are some privacy issues while using the third-party extensions as these extensions need permission to access and change the colouring of the page and text, so there can be some trust issues. We advise you not to use such types of extensions if you usually use google docs to open any kind of confidential information. Instead, follow our next method that would be more helpful for you.

Forcing Dark Mode on Microsoft Edge

As mentioned earlier, Microsoft Edge is based on chromium, so most of the settings and features are very similar well this one is no exception. You can force edge to use dark mode on every website using this experimental feature.

1. Just, go to the Edge’s experimental features page by typing edge://flags in the address bar.
2. Then from the search bar of the experimental features page, type Dark mode.
3. from the search results, click on the Force Dark Mode for Web contents option and then select Enabled.
4. To apply the changes, you will have to restart the Edge browser, so make sure to save any unsaved files or work on Microsoft Edge, and a pop-up should appear at the bottom of the page asking to restart.
5. That’s it after the restart all of your webpages should open in dark mode.

Enabling Dark Mode in Google Docs on Mobile Devices

On the other hand, enabling dark mode for Google Docs on mobile devices is fairly easy when compared to desktops. All you need to do is just open the Google Docs app and then click on the menu (three-lined hamburger) from the top left corner of the screen.

1. Tap on Settings from the menu options.
   
2. Now, you need to click on the Theme option.
   
3. On the next screen, you can change the theme to Dark mode. A blue tick should appear next to the option that you have selected.

That’s it, enabling this option will force Google Docs to run in dark mode on your mobile device regardless of whether it is on iOS or Android or your mobile device’s theme.