A shortcut to create Google Docs

There is a shortcut to create a new Google Doc. I have been using this shortcut for years to a point where I don’t even think about it anymore. Recently, I saw a colleague create a doc the “standard” way. This gave me the opportunity for some knowledge sharing, which in turn prompted me to write this blog post.

The shortcut is simple: type docs.new into the address bar (and hit enter). This works on any browser. The reason is that docs.new is a valid domain, and the server simply redirects you to https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/create?usp=dot_new, which creates a new doc (provided you are logged into your Google account). I find this really delightful. It is such a simple idea, but at the same time, it’s almost genius.

In fact, this is just one example of a more general pattern. There are other .new domains, and they all create a new resource of some kind. Google owns the .new top-level domain, and one of the requirements is that upon visiting the domain, you must be directly taken to the resource generation. Google has such domains for almost any product of their Workspace offering (so sheets.new, slides.new, keep.new, cal.new, meet.new, etc.), and there are various other services that have them, like playlist.new to create a new Spotify playlist, gist.new to create a new GitHub gist, or miro.new to create a new Miro board. There are many more examples on whats.new/shortcuts/. But docs.new is the one I use by far the most.

—Written by Sebastian Jambor. Follow me on Mastodon @crepels@mastodon.social for updates on new blog posts.