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I know that Google Drive no longer has a standard block quote style in its built in menu.

What manual styles can one apply that would convey that what's being read is a block quote?

Changing to a highly different font (serif for sans serif body text, or vice versa) and narrowing the borders occurred to me, but they don't seem to make it look "quote-y" enough.

What else can be done as a workaround until Google reinstates a similar style?

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    "until Google reinstates a similar style" Such optimism!
    – endolith
    Commented Dec 2, 2014 at 20:09

1 Answer 1

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The formatting of a block quote depends on the style guide to which you adhere. For example, this Google Doc Template is for an MLA Style Research Paper in which block quotes are indented an inch from the left hand margin (see MLA Formatting Quotations). I know in college I was taught to indent from both the right and left hand sides and single space the block quote.

The Chicago Manual of Style says block quotes should be indented a half inch and single spaced, while APA Formatting maintains double spacing at a half inch margin. For visual effect, of course, you can change the typography, though that would not be adhering to any 'academic' style guide I'm familiar with.

Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style suggests the use of elastic leading before and after block quotations:

2.3.3 Add extra lead before and after block quotations.

“But if the leading within the block quotation differs from the leading of the main text, these blanks before and after the quotation must be elastic. They afford the only opportunity for bringing the text back into phase.” (41)

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    +1 for at least one official source, but both of those are for style environments with a ton of homogeny, so the block quote style still doesn't stand out much, as it would in most online sources (wordpress, stackexchange, wikipedia)
    – Jaydles
    Commented Jun 4, 2013 at 13:50
  • @Jaydles you're absolutely right, is there a particular source you're trying to emulate?
    – batpigandme
    Commented Jun 4, 2013 at 14:52
  • @batpigandme Hey! this quoted text you included in your answer, having yellow background, is exactly what I want to get in google slides. Mara, could you please suggest how to achieve it?
    – jangorecki
    Commented May 18, 2019 at 3:58
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    @jangorecki, that's just Stack Exchange's formatting for block quotes. You could try copying and pasting with formatting and modifying from there, or look at the CSS, but it's their design, so I'm really not sure.
    – batpigandme
    Commented May 19, 2019 at 10:11

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