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How can I use the full screen width in Google Docs? Since the latest revision, it appears that a fixed-width display is all that's available. If I'm not printing, I have no reason to see a paper-size fixed-width view.

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    I totally agree that they should have a way to have a non-tree-killing writing, but I've hopefully given you an answer for the closest you can get. – Rebecca Dessonville Sep 7 '12 at 13:48
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There isn't a way to make a document full screen, but you can get close.

Go to File → Page Setup and set it up like the following.

  • Change Portrait to Landscape
  • Change Margins to 0
  • Change Paper size to A3

Google Document Page Setup Menu

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  • Good find! Not perfect, but much better. – SomeGuy Sep 7 '12 at 14:47
  • A3 seems too big, Using A4 worked better for me. – Outlier Sep 18 '20 at 15:57
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Not sure when this happened, but today I discovered Docs now has a fit option under the Zoom drop-down menu...

enter image description here

..which works exactly like you want! enter image description here

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  • This is technically an upwards zoom webapps.stackexchange.com/a/70788/10579 so stuff like font shape, table borders, images, etc are pixelated and looks horrible. – Pacerier Dec 10 '14 at 12:53
  • "Horrible" is in the eye of the beholder. For me this method is preferable because it will print on 8.5x11 paper without any extra steps. I can deal with slightly less crisp fonts. – Alex Shroyer Dec 10 '14 at 18:05
  • any idea how to set that by default? – JinSnow Nov 14 '15 at 8:21
  • not sure how horrible is horrible, but I guess if you're making google docs that you're going to eventually print... then definitely don't modify your page size! – Dan Rosenstark Jun 7 '16 at 19:16
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I have also been looking for a solution to this problem, and although it would be preferable to have a 'fit to width' option I have managed to find a reasonable fix on the mac at least. The pinch zoom function on a mac book pro (or View > Zoom in) will enable you to make your doc fill the screen. Presumably Chrome on windows also has a zoom in option.

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    I just tried it on my Chrome Browser. This solution is much better. – Jacob Jan Tuinstra Apr 13 '13 at 13:28
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Adding on to Dez's answer, if you need a better solution choose Legal 8.5" × 14" instead of A3 11.69" × 16.54":

                                               File → Page Setup

enter image description here

Legal 8.5" × 14" gives you the best width to height ratio (1.64705882353 width per height) out of the 11 possible options:

enter image description here

Also, some has suggested "Fit Zooming":

enter image description here

But you do not want to do this because zooming will make the document look extremely ugly. The pixels will get muddled just like how images reek foulness when zoomed upwards.

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Try these settings:

  • Just once for all docs:
    • View: Print layout: unchecked
  • For each doc:
    • File: Page setup:
      • Orientation: Landscape
      • Paper size: Tabloid (11" x 17") (or Legal (8.5" x 14") for 15" displays)
    • Zoom: Fit or 100%, etc.

If the pragmatic goal is to maximize the usable width, the noted settings together contribute to this effect. If you're not sufficiently satisfied, you can decrease the margins.

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