Google Docs: Add Line Numbers

"Okay, students," the teacher called, rising from her chair, "Please look at the poem on the screen and then count...um, let's see...1, 2, 3, um...4, 5, 6, yeah, six lines down. Yes, that's it! Can you look at the sixth line down?"

If this has ever been you, then there is an awesome new extension that can help streamline your directions for studying literature!

The, aptly named extension, Line Numbers for Google Docs will, unsurprisingly, add numbers to lines of text in a Google Doc! There shall be no more counting or confusion about which line of text for which you are referring.

Here's all you need to do.

1. Click this link: Line Numbers for Google Docs

2. Click 'Add to Chrome'

3. Open a new Google Doc by clicking this link: docs.new

4. Copy and paste text from the desired teaching material

5. That's it! You've got it!

But, wait, nothing can be that easy, right? No, of course, it can't.

The extension will count all lines of text as a line. This includes titles, authors, and whatever description you may have included at the top. To get around this annoying little hiccup, add a header and paste the title and author's name there.

Also, the extension by default adds numbers every five lines. If you want to have more frequent numberings, click the extension icon and select how frequently you want the numbers to show up. Just in case you're getting a little fresh here, the number you choose has to be an integer greater than 0.

One more issue is that numbers won't display on a shared document on someone else's device unless they also add the extension.

Finally, when you install the extension it will happily add numbers to all Google docs you open. This is not necessarily helpful. To turn it off, click the line numbers icon and toggle the switch to 'Off' (it will turn gray).

So, maybe this extension isn't perfect, but it sure beats counting lines. "Let's see, there's one couplet, ah...ah...ah! Two! Two couplets..."