Autocorrect can save you the embarrassment of sending a typo to your boss, by detecting every time you make a spelling mistake, and correcting it for you automatically.
This sounds great, but autocorrect doesnβt always get it right. Sometimes it may change your typo to completely the wrong word, and occasionally it may even misidentify a perfectly-legitimate word as a spelling mistake, for example if youβre using brand names or niche terms that havenβt made their way into macOSβ dictionary yet.
Autocorrectβs slip-ups have become so infamous that theyβve spawned an entire website dedicated to sharing some of the most hilarious, embarrassing, or just downright bizarre autocorrect fails. However, autocorrectβs mistakes arenβt always easy to laugh at, as they can result in you sending something completely inappropriate to someone whoβs unlikely to see the funny side.
If youβre frustrated with macOSβ autocorrect service, then in this article Iβll be covering all the different ways that you can customise autocorrect, so that it works better for you.
Iβll also show how to use autocorrect to create your own shorthand, so that every time you type your favourite abbreviation, macOS will step in and automatically substitute that abbreviation for the fully-expanded equivalent. This is perfect for anyone whoβs unhappy with their typing speed or who spends a lot of their time typing and wants to increase their word count per hour. Itβs also useful if youβve fallen into the bad habit of using textspeak everywhere, and need an extra layer of security to make sure it doesnβt infiltrate your work emails or important documents.
Accessing the autocorrect options
You can access all of macOSβ autocorrect settings in the βKeyboardβ menu:
- Click the βAppleβ logo in your Macβs menu bar.
- Select βSystem preferences.β
- Choose βKeyboard.β
- Select the βTextβ tab.
At this point, you can make the following changes:
1. Autocorrect based on language
If you regularly switch between languages, then you may want to use autocorrect for a specific language only. Perhaps you only need the helping hand of autocorrect when youβre typing in your second language, or maybe itβs the exact opposite and youβre worried youβll be unable to spot any mistakes introduced by autocorrect when youβre typing in your second language.
To restrict autocorrect to text written in a certain language, open the βSpelling: Automatic by Languageβ dropdown, and select this language from the list.
2. Automatic capitalisation
Autocorrect isnβt limited to identifying spelling mistakes and typos; it can also capitalise words for you automatically, including names, locations, and if you ever forget to capitalise the first letter after a full stop.
You can toggle this automatic capitalisation on and off, using the βCapitalize words automaticallyβ checkbox.
3. Create your own shorthand
Although it might be stretching the definition of βautocorrect,β you can use macOSβ autocorrect service to create shorthand for inserting longer pieces of text. For example, every time you type βbrb,β autocorrect can step in and automatically expand this to βbe right back.β
To start using autocorrect in this way:
- Click the little β+β icon (where the cursor is positioned in the following screenshot).
- In the βReplaceβ column, type the abbreviation, for example if you want macOS to automatically substitute βidkβ for βI donβt know,β then you should enter βidkβ in this column.
- Press the βTabβ key to move to the βWithβ column. Type the fully-expanded version of the word or phrase in question.
- Save your shortcut, by pressing the βTabβ key.
- Rinse and repeat for every abbreviation that you want autocorrect to expand automatically.
To change any of the text youβve entered into the βReplaceβ or βWithβ column, simply double-click the text to make it editable, and then make your changes as required.
To remove an item from this list, select it and then click the little β-β button that appears towards the bottom of this window.
4. Disable autocorrect
If autocorrect has become more of a hindrance than a help, then you may want to try disabling autocorrect to see whether life really is better without it.
With autocorrect disabled, macOS wonβt try to correct your spelling mistakes or typos, but itβll still underline these errors (assuming you havenβt disabled macOSβ spell checker), so you can correct them yourself.
To disable autocorrect, deselect the βCorrect spelling automaticallyβ checkbox.
If disabling autocorrect just makes you realise how bad you are at spelling, or that you make more typos than youβd thought humanly possible, then you can re-enable autocorrect by re-selecting the βCorrect spelling automaticallyβ checkbox.
Before you go
After spending over 20 years working with Macs, both old and new, theres a tool I think would be useful to every Mac owner who is experiencing performance issues.
CleanMyMac is highest rated all-round cleaning app for the Mac, it can quickly diagnose and solve a whole plethora of common (but sometimes tedious to fix) issues at the click of a button. It also just happens to resolve many of the issues covered in the speed up section of this site, so Download CleanMyMac to get your Mac back up to speed today.

Add Comment