I know that Google Docs has a variable feature where you can create variables and they get replaced with their actual values in the document.
I was wondering if there’s a way to modify these variables when you use them in your document. Like can you create variables that depend on other variables or change how they display?
For example, let’s say I have a variable called companyName and I want to show it backwards somewhere in my document. Is there a way to reverse the text of that variable when it gets inserted? Or maybe I want to make one variable that automatically updates based on another variable’s value?
Does Google Docs have any built-in functions or methods to transform variables like this?
yeah i dont think theres a way to do that natively. tried setting up something similar last month and hit the same wall - variables are just dumb placeholders basically. maybe google apps script could work but thats getting pretty complicated for what sounds like a simple task.
Unfortunately, Google Docs variables are pretty basic and don’t support transformations or dependencies like you’re describing. I’ve worked with them extensively for document templates, and they’re essentially just static placeholders that get replaced with whatever value you assign to them. There’s no built-in functionality to reverse text, perform calculations, or create dynamic relationships between variables. If you need that kind of logic, you’d have to look into Google Apps Script to programmatically manipulate the document content, but that’s a much more complex solution than the native variable system. The variables feature is really designed for simple substitution rather than data manipulation.
I ran into this exact limitation when building client proposal templates last year. Google Docs variables are frustratingly static - they don’t support any kind of modification or transformation functions. What I ended up doing was creating duplicate variables for different formats I needed. So instead of trying to transform one variable, I just maintained separate ones like clientName and clientNameUpper and updated both manually. It’s not elegant but it works for basic formatting needs. The variable system really wasn’t designed with programming logic in mind, just simple find-and-replace functionality. If you absolutely need dynamic transformations, you’re looking at Apps Script territory which defeats the simplicity that makes variables useful in the first place.