The Google Docs widget shows a Google Doc inside a dashboard. Think of the team's policy document open in a panel beside the records it governs. You paste the document's link into the widget, and the dashboard shows the current text.

Here is the test: is the content a Google Doc that people should read beside their records? If yes, add this widget. For a page from any other site, use the Webpage widget.

Example: a Vendor Management solution. The Security lead keeps the vendor policy in a Google Doc shared with view-only access. On the Vendor risk overview dashboard, a Google Docs widget titled Vendor policy shows it beside the register. Security edits the document in Google, and the dashboard shows the latest text the next time it loads.

The Vendor risk overview in View mode with the vendor policy document in a Google Docs widget beside the register.

The widget lands at the top left of the dashboard as a small block, with its title above the content. Hover over it and drag the pill on its right edge or its bottom edge to resize it; the width snaps to the dashboard's four-column grid. The dashboard saves on its own. There is no Save button.

The settings sit on the right of the window under two headings, Heading and Settings. Each collapses with the chevron at its right. The window's header holds a gear that shows or hides the settings, a three-dot More Options menu (Highlight Color, Duplicate Widget and Collapsed by Default) and an X. Close with the X after a change and the window asks whether you want to exit without saving. Its buttons are Exit Without Saving and Save Changes.

Title is the text shown above the widget on the dashboard. It is prefilled with the widget's name, so change it to what the content is, such as Vendor policy. Description is a switch, off to start. Turn it on and a text box appears with a small toolbar: bold, italic, underline, text color, highlight, link, bullet list and numbered list. Two tabs set where the description shows. As A Tooltip puts it behind an info icon next to the title. Below The Title shows it under the title, and is selected to start.

The link to the document, pasted into the box marked Paste URL. The helper under it reads "Paste a link to a Google Doc in the text box above." Paste the full link. Type something that is not a link and a red line appears under the box: The URL needs to start with https://. Add Widget stays enabled, so check the preview before you add. Paste the full link. The widget frames it exactly as you paste it. The widget reads the document from the link each time the dashboard loads, so edits made in Google show here without any change to the widget.

The Google Docs window: the preview on the left, the General tab with Heading and the Embed URL box on the right, and Add Widget at the foot.

The widget shows what Google lets the viewer see. Share the document before you add it. These steps happen in Google, not in SmartSuite.

A member who opens the dashboard sees the document only if the Google sharing setting gives them access. A document shared with specific people shows nothing to anyone else.

Solution Managers and members with Full Access add, change and remove widgets on a public dashboard. The owner of a private dashboard does the same on it. Every member who can open the dashboard sees the widget. What they see inside it is decided by the document's sharing in Google, not by SmartSuite. A dashboard shared by link shows everything on it to anyone with the link, this widget included. See Dashboard Settings and Public Dashboard Sharing.

In View mode the widget shows its title and the document as Google renders it, inside a frame on the dashboard. Members scroll and read inside the frame. With Edit access in Google they can type in it as well, and the change is saved in the document. Hover over the widget and a full screen icon and a three-dot menu appear at its top right.

The live mobile guide lists the Google Docs widget as supported in the SmartSuite mobile app; see Mobile Dashboard Widgets: Supported Features and Limitations Guide.

In Edit mode, hover over the widget. A strip appears with a drag handle (Drag Widget), Move Up, Move Down, Edit and a three-dot More Options menu. Select Edit to reopen the window, change the link or the title and select Save Changes. Drag the handle to move the widget; a dashed placeholder shows where it will land. Duplicating and deleting are in the More Options menu, and the delete prompt names the widget; see Managing Widgets.

Last verified 30 Oct 2026.