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 doesnโt 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 youโre using brand names or niche terms that havenโt made their way into macOSโ dictionary yet.
Autocorrectโs slip-ups have become so infamous that theyโve spawned an entire website dedicated to sharing some of the most hilarious, embarrassing, or just downright bizarre autocorrect fails. However, autocorrectโs mistakes arenโt always easy to laugh at, as they can result in you sending something completely inappropriate to someone whoโs unlikely to see the funny side.
If youโre frustrated with macOSโ autocorrect service, then in this article Iโll be covering all the different ways that you can customise autocorrect, so that it works better for you.
Iโll 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 whoโs unhappy with their typing speed or who spends a lot of their time typing and wants to increase their word count per hour. Itโs also useful if youโve fallen into the bad habit of using textspeak everywhere, and need an extra layer of security to make sure it doesnโt infiltrate your work emails or important documents.
Accessing the autocorrect options
You can access all of macOSโ autocorrect settings in the โKeyboardโ menu:
- Click the โAppleโ logo in your Macโs menu bar.
- Select โSystem preferences.โ
- Choose โKeyboard.โ
- Select the โTextโ 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 youโre typing in your second language, or maybe itโs the exact opposite and youโre worried youโll be unable to spot any mistakes introduced by autocorrect when youโre typing in your second language.
To restrict autocorrect to text written in a certain language, open the โSpelling: Automatic by Languageโ dropdown, and select this language from the list.
2. Automatic capitalisation
Autocorrect isnโt 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 โCapitalize words automaticallyโ checkbox.
3. Create your own shorthand
Although it might be stretching the definition of โautocorrect,โ you can use macOSโ autocorrect service to create shorthand for inserting longer pieces of text. For example, every time you type โbrb,โ autocorrect can step in and automatically expand this to โbe right back.โ
To start using autocorrect in this way:
- Click the little โ+โ icon (where the cursor is positioned in the following screenshot).
- In the โReplaceโ column, type the abbreviation, for example if you want macOS to automatically substitute โidkโ for โI donโt know,โ then you should enter โidkโ in this column.
- Press the โTabโ key to move to the โWithโ column. Type the fully-expanded version of the word or phrase in question.
- Save your shortcut, by pressing the โTabโ key.
- Rinse and repeat for every abbreviation that you want autocorrect to expand automatically.
To change any of the text youโve entered into the โReplaceโ or โWithโ 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 โ-โ 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 wonโt try to correct your spelling mistakes or typos, but itโll still underline these errors (assuming you havenโt disabled macOSโ spell checker), so you can correct them yourself.
To disable autocorrect, deselect the โCorrect spelling automaticallyโ checkbox.
If disabling autocorrect just makes you realise how bad you are at spelling, or that you make more typos than youโd thought humanly possible, then you can re-enable autocorrect by re-selecting the โCorrect spelling automaticallyโ checkbox.
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