Rather than trying to do all formatting manually, it is recommended that you:
- Customize your template (from the default normal template) to follow APA style, and:
- Use styles to format Headings (rather than just applying character properties such as bolding or italicizing);
- Create an automatic Table of Contents that can be dynamically updated as needed; and
- Use page and section breaks rather than manually inserting spaces.
Using Google Docs is not recommended for formatting your dissertation.