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Checking spelling and grammar

You can check the spelling of text in your TextEdit documents. You can check the spelling for the entire document or a single word, or have TextEdit check your spelling as you type.

To check the spelling of a single word:

Select the word, and then choose Edit > "Spelling and Grammar" > "Show Spelling and Grammar."

To check the spelling of an entire document:

  1. Choose Edit > "Spelling and Grammar" > "Show Spelling and Grammar."

  2. If you want, change the following options:

    • To change the dictionary TextEdit uses to check spelling, choose a different dictionary from the pop-up menu.

    • To check grammar along with spelling, select the "Check grammar" checkbox.

  3. If an error is found, do one of the following:

    • If one of the suggested alternatives is correct, select it and click Change.

    • To review a definition of a suggested alternative, select it and click Define.

    • If no alternatives are listed, click Guess to see whether any possibilities appear.

    • If none of the alternatives is correct, retype the word or words and click Change.

    • If you don’t want to make a change, click Ignore.

      TextEdit will ignore the error if it occurs again in this document, but will find it in other documents.

    • If you don’t want the word to be treated as an error in any document, click Learn.

    • To continue checking without making any changes, click Find Next.

To check spelling and grammar as you type:

  1. Do one of the following to have TextEdit underline misspelled words in red and grammar errors in green:

    • To check the current document, choose Edit > "Spelling and Grammar" > Check Spelling While Typing. To check for grammar errors as well, choose Edit > "Spelling and Grammar" > Check Grammar With Spelling.

    • To check all new documents, choose TextEdit > Preferences, click New Document, and then select “Check spelling as you type.” To check grammar as well, select “Check grammar with spelling.”

  2. To correct or ignore an error, hold down the Control key as you click the error, and then choose an option from the shortcut menu:

    • To correct the error, choose one of the alternatives.

    • If you don’t want to make a change, choose Ignore Spelling or Ignore Grammar.

      TextEdit will ignore the error if it occurs again in this document, but will find it in other documents.

  3. To have TextEdit automatically correct spelling errors, do one of the following:

    • To automatically correct spelling in the current document, choose Edit > “Spelling and Grammar” > Correct Spelling Automatically.

    • To automatically correct spelling in new documents, choose TextEdit > Preferences, click New Document, and select “Correct spelling automatically.”

Related Topics

editing