Paperpile's Google Docs integration is so simple that most users need no introduction — just create a new document and start writing!

For those who like to be prepared, here is an overview of the main features and tips for collaborating on academic documents with Paperpile and Google Docs.

If you are having trouble with the Google Docs plug-in, see also Troubleshooting: Google Docs for tips on how to solve the most common issues.

Insert a citation

To insert a citation, either click the P button in the toolbar or use the keyboard shortcut shift-⌘-P (Mac) or Ctrl-Alt-P (Windows and Linux) to open the citation window:

Start typing to search within your library. Paperpile will search within the title, keywords, abstract… and other fields of all references in your library:

Choose a result and add it to the current citation:

To add another item, just start searching again. Or, click on any of the blue citation tags to edit advanced options. When you have finished creating a citation, click Add citation to add it to your document.

The citation is inserted into the Google Doc as a link with a placeholder text, e.g. (Crow and Kimura 1970).

Note that this is not the final formatted citation; clicking directly on a citation tag opens up a panel with details and more advanced options:

The upper part of the panel shows a familiar overview of the citation metadata with a link to open the item in Paperpile.

Below that are three advanced citation options:

• Location/page numbers: Choose from a range of location types to use when citing a specific page, chapter, or book from within a larger work. Example: (Crow and Kimura 1970, page 5).
• Prefix/suffix: Add arbitrary text to be included before or after the inline citation. Examples: (see also Crow and Kimura 1970) and (Crow and Kimura 1970 and others).