When you’re typing in your doc, it’s strenuous to check the spelling of each and every word. It can make your writing more difficult than it has to be. Google Docs allows you to use autocorrect to make your writing process much easier. It is especially useful if you misspell a particular word frequently.
3 methods to enable autocorrect in Google Docs
- Using the Preferences option
- Customizing by adding a particular word
- By enabling Spelling and grammar check
Method 1: Using the Preferences option
This method gives you many options that you can select according to your preferences.
Step 1: Open your Google Doc.
If you already have a Google Doc, double click to open it. Otherwise, go to your Google Drive, right-click and select Google Docs.
Step 2: Click Tools.
In the main menu bar of your doc, click on Tools.
Step 3: Select Preferences.
Clicking on Tools will open a dropdown. Find Preferences and select it.
Step 4: Choose your preferences and click OK.
Selecting Preferences will open a dialog box with many options. Check the options that you’d like to have and uncheck the rest.
After finalizing your preferences, click the blue OK button. This will automatically correct your spellings. If Google Doc corrects a word, it will underline that particular word as below:
Method 2: Customizing by adding a particular word
If you want to specifically spell a word a certain way, you can add it in the Substitutions tab. It will autocorrect your word to the word you’ve substituted with.
Step 1: Select Preferences from Tools.
In your Google Doc, click Tools from the main menu bar. It will open a dropdown. Select Preferences from it.
Step 2: Go to the Substitutions tab.
Selecting Preferences will open a dialog box. Select the Substitutions tab.
Step 3: Add the word to be autocorrected.
You add a word that you want to substitute and another word to replace it with. Say, you want the word Lorem to always be autocorrected to Ipsum. Type the two words in the allotted text boxes and select the blue OK button.
Step 4: Check if the substitution works.
After clicking OK, check if the substitution works.
The word Lorem has been autocorrected to Ipsum. You can identify this by the dotted underlining of the word.
Method 3: By enabling Spelling and grammar check
This is another method to check your doc for spelling and grammar errors.
Step 1: Select Spelling and grammar check from Tools.
Click Tools from the main menu bar and select Spelling and grammar. This will open a dropdown. Click Spelling and grammar check.
Alternatively, you can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + X.
Step 2: Review the suggestion and click Accept.
When you click Spelling and grammar check, it scans through your doc. After scanning, it opens a dialog box with suggestions if there are any. You can review and accept them by clicking the blue Accept button.
If there are no suggestions, you’d see a Document looks good dialog box.
Wrapping up
No more manually scanning your doc to spell check or for grammatical errors. You now know how to enable autocorrect for your Google Docs and customize it according to your needs.