Mac Software

How can I get my Mac to autocorrect typos?

person typing on Mac keyboard
Typos be gone! Get the Mac to autocorrect errors

Have you played the game Mincecraft? No? Me neither, but it’s what I regularly type out when I’m talking about Minecraft. And as a writer for BTQ, I regularly refer to WiFi, whereas the correct term is Wi-Fi (according to the Wi-Fi Alliance at least). Wouldn’t it be great if your Mac could just autocorrect typos for you? Of course, the fact that I’m asking the question means it can, no special apps required.

Time needed: 2 minutes

How to set up a Mac to automatically correct mis-spellings

  1. Open up System Preference on your Mac

    Now head into the Keyboard option and then click on the Text tab.Screenshot of the "Text" tab in Mac settings

  2. Add your spelling correction

    Click the + button in the bottom-left of the screen. This will open up the fields on the left: first, the “Replace” field and then “With”. In the first one, type the misspelling, in the second type the correct word. Press Enter to add this to the list.Screenshot of the "Text" tab in Mac settings

  3. All done! Now try it out

    From now, writing that first word will cause it to be auto-corrected to the second. As you can see from the screenshots above, I have a number of names of co-workers and customers set up, whose names are difficult to type out without assistance.

Whilst we’re on the subject of eradicating mistakes, click here to find out where the Delete key is on a Mac!

About the author

David Artiss

Works for Automattic Inc., the company behind WordPress.com and Tumblr. Tech geek, international speaker and occasional PC Pro podcaster. Lover of Lego and video games.

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