How to Use the Personal Dictionary to Stop Google Docs from Flagging Your Name as a Typo

Google Docs contains an aggressive spell-checker that constantly monitors your document for errors. While this is incredibly helpful for catching typos, it becomes infuriating if you have a unique last name, or if your company uses a specific brand name that is not in the standard English dictionary. Google Docs will constantly underline your name in jagged red ink, visually ruining your document. To permanently stop this behavior, you must add the word to your Personal Dictionary.

What is the Personal Dictionary?

The Personal Dictionary is a cloud-synced database tied directly to your specific Google Account. Any word you add to this dictionary will instantly become “valid” across every single Google Docs file you ever create, and the red underline will permanently disappear.

How to Add Words Manually

The fastest way to fix the problem is to add the word the moment Google flags it.

1. Open your Google Docs document.
2. Locate the word (like your last name) that currently has the jagged red underline beneath it.
3. Right-click directly on the underlined word.
4. A small menu will appear. Look for the option labeled Add “[Word]” to personal dictionary (it usually has a small plus-sign icon next to it).
5. Click that option.

The exact millisecond you click it, the red line will vanish. Furthermore, Google Docs will never flag that specific spelling as a typo again, even if you open a completely blank document.

How to Manage Your Dictionary List

If you accidentally added a typo to the dictionary, or if you want to bulk-add a massive list of company product names before you start typing a report, you can manage the list directly.

1. In the top menu bar of Google Docs, click on Tools.
2. Select Spelling and grammar from the dropdown menu.
3. Click on Personal dictionary.
4. A new window will open showing every word you have ever saved.

From this menu, you can manually type new words into the “Add a new word” box at the top, or you can hover your mouse over an existing word and click the tiny trash can icon to delete it from the database.