How to humanize AI text in Google Docs

Step by step

1. Name a version of the document first (next section). It takes ten seconds and makes everything below reversible.
2. Select one section: a paragraph or two, up to 200 words on the free plan. Leave headings and tables out of the selection.
3. Copy it with Ctrl + C (⌘ + C on a Mac).
4. Paste it into the box here and click Continue in Humaniser.
5. Click Humanize, check it with Detect AI if you like, and copy the result.
6. Back in Docs, the original section should still be selected. Press Ctrl + Shift + V (⌘ + Shift + V on a Mac) to paste the new version over it without formatting.
7. Reread the paragraph in place, against the sentences around it, and put back any bold or links.

From the Docs app on a phone

The same workflow runs from the Google Docs app. Open the document, touch and hold a word in the section you want, drag the handles to cover it and copy it, then follow the steps for copying on a phone. Google documents Compare documents (below) for a computer, so leave that check until you're at one.

Name a version first

Google Docs saves versions as you type, but Google notes that revisions "may occasionally be merged". A named version isn't merged, so it's a reliable point to come back to.

1. At the top right of the document, click Last edit, the version history icon.
2. Pick the most recent version in the list.
3. Click More next to it and choose Name this version. Something like "Before humanizing" is enough.

Google allows up to 40 named versions per document, and you need edit permission on a file to browse its earlier versions.

What to select

Humaniser rewrites prose. It does best with a run of ordinary sentences, and it can't do much with a table cell or a heading. Here is how a typical section of a report splits up:

If you sent the two paragraphs, select the same two paragraphs when you paste back, and nothing else in the section moves.

Keep headings, lists and links

Only plain words and line breaks travel to Humaniser and back, so plan to reapply formatting at the end. Google Docs' own shortcuts make it quick:

• Headings: Ctrl + Alt + 1 or 2 (⌘ + Option + 1 on a Mac).
• Links: select the words and press Ctrl + K (⌘ + K).
• Matching a style: click in a neighboring paragraph and copy its formatting with Ctrl + Alt + C (⌘ + Option + C), then select the new text and paste that formatting with Ctrl + Alt + V (⌘ + Option + V).

The page on keeping formatting when you humanize lists exactly what survives and what doesn't, including stray markdown symbols from AI chats.

Check every change with Compare documents

Compare documents puts every word Humaniser changed in front of you as a suggested edit, in a new document, without touching your original or your working copy. It needs two documents, so set one aside before you start:

1. Before you humanize anything, choose File > Make a copy and call the copy "Original".
2. Humanize sections in your working document as described above.
3. Open the "Original" copy and choose Tools > Compare documents.
4. Pick your working document as the one to compare against, then click Compare and Open.

Google then creates a third document that, in its own words, "shows the differences as suggested edits". They are attributed to your name unless you type a different label first. Read the suggestions for numbers, names and dates before anything else, because those are the changes you can't afford. Google notes that column layout and table column widths aren't compared, which doesn't matter here: a plain-text paste never changes them.

Long documents: one section at a time

The free plan humanizes 3 runs a day of up to 200 words, so a long document is a job for several sittings. Spend the free runs where readers look hardest: the opening paragraph, the conclusion and any section that was pasted straight from an AI chat. Leave sections you wrote yourself as they are.

If the document began life as a PDF, fix its line breaks before you send anything. The steps for PDFs you opened with Google Docs show what to look for.

Add-ons or copy and paste?

Add-ons and extensions work inside Docs or Chrome, which is convenient. The trade-off is access: they ask for permissions when you install them, and some ask to see and edit all of your documents, not just the one you have open.

Copying and pasting is a few more clicks, but it shares only the paragraph you selected, only when you choose to. It also works the same way in Microsoft Word, where you paste back with Keep Text Only and check the result with Track Changes or Compare. When you're ready, paste your first section on the home page.