How to Import a Google Doc Into WordPress for Free

You wrote the post in Google Docs. It looks right there. Getting it into WordPress should not mean an hour of fixing headings and re-uploading every picture.

The free DocxToPost plugin now takes a Google Docs link directly. Paste it, check the preview, publish. Here is how, and what to expect.

Why copy-paste is the slow way

Pasting from Google Docs into the WordPress editor carries Google's styling along with your words. Headings often arrive as bold paragraphs, so the post loses the structure search engines read. Tables come through as a mess or not at all. And images stay pointed at Google's servers, so they break later when the document's sharing changes.

You can read the full breakdown of what goes wrong and the other ways people do this. The short version: the fix is to import the document, not paste it.

How to import a Google Doc into WordPress for free

1. Share the document. In Google Docs, click Share. Under General access, choose Anyone with the link. Viewer is enough.
2. Copy the link. Copy the address from your browser while the document is open.
3. Paste it into DocxToPost. In WordPress, open DocxToPost, choose the Google Docs link tab, paste the link and click Convert & Preview.
4. Check the preview and publish. Set the post type, categories, tags and status, then publish or save a draft.

Behind the scenes the plugin asks Google for the document as a Word file and imports it exactly the way it imports a .docx upload. That is why the result matches what you would get from a careful download and upload, minus the download and upload.

Once the post is published you can set the document's sharing back to Restricted. The post does not depend on it.

What comes across

• Headings as real Heading blocks, so the post keeps its structure.
• Lists, including nested ones.
• Tables, with header rows.
• Images, uploaded to your Media Library and placed in the post. Pick one as the featured image on the preview screen.
• Bold, italic, links and the rest of the everyday formatting.

If the link is wrong you get told which way: a Google Sheet, a Slides deck or a Drive file each get their own message instead of a generic failure. If your host blocks outgoing connections, the message says so and suggests the download-and-upload route instead.

When you need more than one at a time

The free plugin imports one document at a time, with no limit on how many. If you publish from Google Docs every week, DocxToWP Pro adds:

• Choose from Google Drive. Pick private documents straight from your Drive, without changing their sharing.
• Several at once. Select a batch in the Drive picker, or paste a list of links, and bulk import them with a review step first.
• Re-import to update. Edit the document in Google Docs, import it again, and the same post is updated instead of a new one being made.

The setup guide for Google Docs in Pro walks through the Drive picker.

Questions people ask

Is importing a Google Doc into WordPress really free?

Yes. Importing from a Google Docs link is in the free DocxToPost plugin on WordPress.org from version 1.4.0, with no limit on how many documents you import, one at a time.

Does the Google Doc have to be public?

It has to be shared as Anyone with the link, which is not the same as public: it is not listed or searchable, and nobody finds it without the link. Viewer access is enough, and you can set it back to Restricted once the post is published.

Do the images come across?

Yes. Every image in the document is uploaded to your WordPress Media Library and placed in the post, so the post does not depend on Google afterwards.

Can I import private Google Docs without sharing them?

Not in the free plugin. DocxToWP Pro adds Choose from Google Drive, which lets you pick private documents, several at once, after signing in with Google.

What does the plugin send to Google?

Only a request for the document you pasted, by its id. Nothing about your site or your other content is sent, and nothing is sent at all unless you use the Google Docs link tab.

The short version

Share the doc as Anyone with the link. Paste the link into DocxToPost's Google Docs link tab. Check the preview. Publish.

Get DocxToPost free on WordPress.org