It’s very easy to get your spelling checked while you’re typing in macOS. However, this feature can range from awesome to annoying – it works just fine in an attempt to automatically correct typos and misspellings, because it instantly compares your words against an extensive dictionary. The appreciation of this feature is highly subjective though, because how effective it is depends on how you type, how accurate you are and how often you might type untypical words.
It might be autocorrect’s erroneous corrections of British English words into American English words or vice versa, or other such reasons that could drive you nuts. If you regularly encounter unwanted auto-edits, it’s because the language priority has been set to a certain language and that prompts macOS to inaccurately correct the spelling to the prioritized language.
The good news is – whether you enjoy it or find it annoying – autocorrect can be disabled very quickly.
Disable autocorrect in macOS High Sierra or earlier OS up to OS X Mavericks
In macOS 10.13 High Sierra, 10.12 Sierra, OS X 10.11 El Capitan, 10.0 Yosemite, and OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the feature is located in the same place. In earlier versions of OS X the location of autocorrect may be different, but you’ll likely find it under Language & Text options.
- From the Apple menu launch System Preferences.
- Click on Keyboard.
- Choose the “Text” tab.
- Uncheck the box next to “Correct spelling automatically”.
Disable Autocorrect in an Application
You don’t have to disable autocorrect system-wide if it’s only in one application where it annoys the most, because this feature can still be highly useful in most situations.
- In the app you’d like to disable autocorrect, click on the Edit menu.
- Select Spelling and Grammar.
- Uncheck “Correct Spelling Automatically”.
- If it’s off, then the checkmark won’t be shown.
How to optimize your Mac’s language use
István F.
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