Remember when your colleagues shared a Google Docs document and you had to leave convoluted passive-aggressive comments to show them that it sucks needs a bit more work? Those days are over: You can now do it with a single emoji.
We jest, of course. But it’s true, Google Docs now lets you comment on any part of a document with an emoji.
“The new emoji reactions feature provides a less formal alternative to comments to express your opinions about document content,” said Google in an official blog post.
In practice, when you highlight a part of a document in editing mode, you’ll get an emoji icon on the right; click on it, and then you can choose which emoji you want to use. The emoji will show up on the right, in the comments section. A word of caution: People do not react well when you use the :poop: emoji on their content. Don’t ask me how I know.
The emoji set on offer is updated to the latest version (Emoji 14.0), with gender-neutral options for gender-modifiable emojis. Emoji skin tone and gender preferences will be saved per individual emoji, the post says.
The feature will roll out gradually to users, and will be available to users of Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus packages. The feature will be on by default and users will not be able to disable it.
