docs

Google Docs via Google Workspace CLI

Use gws docs to create and manage Google Docs from the command line.

Common Operations

Create Documents

# Create a new document
gws docs create --title "Meeting Notes"

# Create with initial content
gws docs create --title "Project Plan" --body "Initial project outline"

Read Documents

# Get document content
gws docs get <document-id>

# Get as JSON
gws docs get <document-id> --format json

# Get document metadata
gws docs get <document-id> --metadata

Update Documents

# Append text to a document
gws docs update <document-id> --append "New section content"

# Insert text at a specific index
gws docs update <document-id> --insert "Header text" --index 1

Batch Updates

The Docs API supports batch updates for complex document modifications:

# Apply batch updates via JSON
gws docs batchUpdate <document-id> --requests '[
  {
    "insertText": {
      "location": {"index": 1},
      "text": "New Title\n"
    }
  },
  {
    "updateTextStyle": {
      "range": {"startIndex": 1, "endIndex": 10},
      "textStyle": {"bold": true},
      "fields": "bold"
    }
  }
]'

Export Documents

# Export via Drive API as PDF
gws drive files export <document-id> --mime-type "application/pdf" --output ./doc.pdf

# Export as plain text
gws drive files export <document-id> --mime-type "text/plain" --output ./doc.txt

# Export as DOCX
gws drive files export <document-id> --mime-type "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document" --output ./doc.docx

Working with Document Structure

Google Docs uses a structured model with:

• Body containing structural elements
• Paragraphs with text runs
• Tables with rows and cells
• Lists with nesting levels

Use --format json to inspect document structure:

gws docs get <document-id> --format json | jq '.body.content'

Tips

• Document IDs can be found in the URL: docs.google.com/document/d/<DOCUMENT_ID>/edit
• Use gws drive files list to find documents by name
• Combine with gws drive for file management (move, share, delete)