3

In Google Documents, how can I have misspelled words auto-corrected to the first suggestion?

For instance let's suppose the user writes helo world in Google Documents. Then without any action from user, it should automatically change to hello world.

I am hoping for solutions using scripts or add-ons.

1
  • maybe there are other products rather than google doc than has this functionality ?
    – Sadegh
    Jul 29, 2016 at 16:00

1 Answer 1

4
+25

In the menu, Tools > Preferences you have Automatic substitution (make sure it's checked). There you can enter words you want to have automatically changed.

This would mainly be used for common misspellings, as it requires you to enter all the corrections yourself. I don't think there's a auto-correct function as on your phone, which automatically chooses the spelling it believes is correct.

If you misspell a word, you can right-click it and choose "Always correct to [correction]", helps speeding up the process somewhat.

As of now it does not seem to work with multiple words, so adding "helo world" doesn't work. It will only recognize single words. So changing "helo" to "hello" will work.

Note that it's case insensitive. The replacement will have the same case as the original word ("Helo" > "Hello", "HELO" > "HELLO", etc)

You can read more at the support article. There you can read about "Spelling suggestions" and "Autocorrection" as different things (you'd want the combination).

4
  • The question was about to autocorrect to first google suggestion however, your answer is partially fine as it gives me an idea to import dictionary. As you said, maybe an approach is to Always correct to [correction] until you end up with a fine dictionary !
    – Sadegh
    Oct 19, 2016 at 8:35
  • Yeah, I believe that's the closest to it you can come right now. Oct 19, 2016 at 8:36
  • Could be nice if there is a solution using scripts/ add-ons
    – Sadegh
    Oct 19, 2016 at 8:36
  • 1
    I did a quick search for add-ons before answering and didn't find anything. I believe scripting would take quite some time. Their reference doesn't mention autocorrect or suggestions, so I believe you'd have to script the entire thing by yourself. Oct 19, 2016 at 8:41

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.