How To: Turn Off Autocorrect in Mac OS X

While the Mac’s autocorrect feature can come in handy for many users, its automatic correction of what it thinks are misspelled words and typos can be a bit aggravating, depending on the type of text entry you’re doing. If you’re like me, and you find the feature a bit frustrating at times, you can quickly disable the feature with just a few clicks.

Turning Off Autocorrect in Mac OS X El Capitan, Yosemite, and Mavericks

1. Click on the Apple Menu in the upper left corner of the Mac Desktop, and then click on “System Preferences…” in the menu that appears.
   
2. In the System Preferences window, click the “Keyboard” icon.
3. In the “Keyboard” dialog, click the “Text” tab.
4. Click the box next to “Correct spelling automatically.” This will clear the checkmark in the checkbox, and will turn off autocorrect.
5. To turn autocorrect back on, simply repeat the above steps.

Turning Off Autocorrect in Mac OS X Mountain Lion and Lion

In Mac OS X Mountain Lion and Lion, the spot to turn off autocorrect is in a different location, but the steps are similar. While most of our readers are likely on a newer version of OS X, we didn’t want to leave out owners of older systems.

1. Click on the Apple Menu in the upper left corner of the Mac Desktop, and then click on “System Preferences…” in the menu that appears.
2. In the System Preferences window, click the “Language & Text” icon.
3. In the “Language & Text” dialog, click the “Text” tab.
4. Click the box next to “Correct spelling automatically.” This will clear the checkmark in the checkbox, and will turn off autocorrect.
5. To turn autocorrect back on, simply repeat the above steps.

I find that for some types of writing, the autocorrect option makes a great tool to protect against my fat fingering of everyday words and terminology. While other times I find it gets in the way, so I was pleased to find out toggling the feature on and off only took a few steps.

Thanks to OS X Daily for the original tip.