Starting with macOS Sonoma and continuing in macOS Sequoia, Apple integrated an intelligent inline predictive text engine powered by machine learning. As you type in native applications such as Safari, Mail, Notes, Pages, and Messages, macOS displays ghosted grey text predicting the completion of your words and sentences. Pressing the Space bar or Tab key instantly accepts the suggested text.
While helpful for rapid everyday communication, inline text predictions can prove disruptive for coders, technical authors, journalists, and fast touch-typists who frequently use terminology, syntax, or phrasing outside standard language models. Fortunately, Apple provides a global toggle within macOS System Settings to turn off inline predictions without disabling standard spellcheck or auto-capitalisation.
Disabling Inline Predictive Text via System Settings
Follow these steps to deactivate inline predictions across all supported macOS apps:
- Click the Apple menu () in the top-left corner of your display and select System Settings.
- Scroll down the left-hand navigation sidebar and click Keyboard.
- Locate the Text Input section on the right-hand panel.
- Click the Edit… button located next to Input Sources.
- In the configuration sheet that appears, locate the option labelled Show inline predictive text.
- Toggle the switch next to Show inline predictive text to the Off position.
- Click Done to save your changes and close the panel.
Difference Between Inline Predictive Text and Auto-Correction
Disabling inline predictive text only removes the proactive grey completion suggestions while typing. It does not alter your underlying spelling safeguards unless you explicitly turn them off:
- Correct spelling automatically: Automatically replaces misspelled words with dictionary alternatives. You can leave this enabled or disabled independently inside the same Input Sources dialogue.
- Capitalise words automatically: Ensures sentences begin with capital letters without displaying predictive phrasing prompts.
- Add period with double-space: Retains standard shorthand navigation without triggering sentence completions.
Disabling Predictive Text for Multiple Keyboard Languages
If you maintain multiple input languages on your Mac (such as British English, US English, French, or German), verify that inline predictions are turned off for each configured language:
- In System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources (Edit), review the list of keyboards on the left pane.
- Select each language profile individually and confirm that Show inline predictive text is toggled off across all profiles.
- Click Done.
Your Mac will immediately cease rendering grey predictive completions across all text fields, restoring a clean and distraction-free typing environment.