Adblockers are affecting Google Docs: Here’s how you can fix it

Google can't fix this issue.

Google Docs (Google)

Google Docs is one of the most popular collaboration tools available online. However, a number of Google Docs users on social media and Reddit have reported facing issues layout and formatting issues over the past couple of days. Now, we know why.

Google Drive Product Manager Remy Burger has confirmed that Google Docs, Drive, Slides users are experiencing formatting issues owing to the adblockers that they have enabled in their web browsers. “If you encounter any issues with margins or paragraphs in Google Docs right now, this is due to recent changes that @getadblock / EasyList made,” he wrote in a tweet.

If you encounter any issues with margins or paragraphs in Google Docs right now, this is due to recent changes that @getadblock / EasyList made. Unfortunately it's out of our control. Either put https://t.co/YzuEBoCXg1 on the allowlist, or disable the ad blocker to get it fixed.

— Remy Burger (@RemyBurger) April 14, 2021

Android Police quoting details shared by the Google executive said that the issue lies in the changes to AdBlock's and EasyList's blocklists that are used by most adblockers.

@ricardojrsousa Thanks for flagging this! It looks like there's an issue with one of the primary filter lists in AdBlock, but the filter list authors are working on a fix as we speak. Appreciate the report!

— AdBlock (@getadblock) April 14, 2021

Sadly, Google can't fix this issue as the problem exists on the end of the adblockers. Simply said, it is on the individual adblockers to fix the issue on their end and roll out an update to the end-users.

The good news is that AdBlock has already taken a note of the issue and it is working on fixing the matter. Other companies should follow its suit soon. In the meantime, you can disable the content blockers on Drive, Docs and Slides for the issue not to manifest for you.

@ricardojrsousa Thanks for flagging this! It looks like there's an issue with one of the primary filter lists in AdBlock, but the filter list authors are working on a fix as we speak. Appreciate the report!

— AdBlock (@getadblock) April 14, 2021