How do I change my nickname or display name on Google Docs?

Question

How do I set a different display name to show on in the revision history of a Google Docs document?

When I look at the revision history of a shared document that I've edited, all my edits are showing up as having been done by the username on my Google login email, which I want to change.

How can I change the nickname or display name Google Docs uses to label my edits?

For example, if I log into Google as [email protected], all my revisions show up as having been performed by jd1234, when I really want my co-editors to see "John Doe."

I've already tried setting a nickname on my Google+ account, and that didn't work.

Answer 1

• Go to https://www.google.com/dashboard/
• Select "Edit personal information"
• Change the "Nickname" field to what you want to appear in Google Docs
• Click "Save"

Note: it will take some time for the change to propagate. For me it took about 10 minutes, your mileage may vary.

Note2: I have tested this carefully, and this worked for me at the time this was written. However later on Google has made changes to Google Docs transitioning it to Google Drive. After this, the following anonymous comment has been received: "Google Account and Google Docs are independent of each other. This change has no effect." I'm suspecting that the author of the comment means Google Drive here, not Google Docs, and that the method above may no longer work.

Answer 2

This is not currently possible. The Google Product forums are full of people complaining about this, too.

If you don't have a Google+ profile, it looks like it takes your Name from your profile information at https://myaccount.google.com/privacy#personalinfo

However, if you do have a G+ profile, it looks like it took your name from your G+ profile, but changing the name on your G+ profile now doesn't change the name used in Docs.

This would seem to be an oversight on Google's part, but certainly the solution in the currently accepted answer no longer works. Personal information isn't editable from the Google Dashboard.