How to Turn Off Auto-Correction on Windows 11

Stop Microsoft from Changing Your Words

Auto-correction is an incredibly useful feature on a smartphone, where typing on a tiny glass keyboard frequently results in misspelled words and accidental keystrokes. However, on a desktop computer or laptop with a full-sized physical keyboard, auto-correction is often more frustrating than helpful.

If you are a fast typist, a programmer writing code, or someone who frequently uses industry-specific jargon, Windows 11’s built-in spell checker will constantly interfere with your work. It will aggressively change names it doesn’t recognise, alter technical terms, and insert apostrophes where they do not belong. By the time you look up at your screen, an entire sentence might have been rewritten into something completely nonsensical.

Fortunately, Microsoft allows you to disable this feature at the system level. Turning off auto-correction in Windows 11 will stop the operating system from actively changing your words, though it will leave the helpful red squiggly lines underneath misspelled words so you can fix genuine typos manually.

How to Turn Off Auto-Correction

This setting is buried slightly deeper in Windows 11 than it was in older operating systems, but it only takes a few clicks to disable it permanently.

1. Click the Start button on your taskbar (the Windows icon).
2. Click on the Settings app (the gear icon). Alternatively, press the Windows Key + I on your keyboard to open Settings instantly.
3. In the left-hand sidebar of the Settings window, click on Time & language.
4. On the right side of the window, click on Typing.
5. Look for the section labelled “Autocorrect misspelled words”.
6. Click the toggle switch next to it to turn it Off.

From this moment forward, Windows will completely stop altering your text as you type. You can type names, code, and slang without the operating system interfering.

How to Turn Off the Red Squiggly Lines (Highlighting)

If you disabled auto-correction but are still annoyed by the red squiggly lines appearing underneath every technical term or foreign name you type, you can disable the spell checker entirely.

1. Go back to Settings > Time & language > Typing.
2. Look for the option directly below Autocorrect, labelled Highlight misspelled words.
3. Click the toggle switch next to it to turn it Off.

With both settings disabled, Windows will treat whatever you type as completely correct, offering no interference or visual warnings.

Why Did Microsoft Word Not Change?

It is crucial to understand that Windows 11’s system-level typing settings only apply to native Windows apps (like Notepad, Mail, and Microsoft Edge) and apps downloaded from the Microsoft Store.

Heavyweight desktop applications like Microsoft Word, Google Chrome, and Slack have their own built-in, independent spell-checking engines. If you turn off auto-correction in Windows 11 Settings, Microsoft Word will continue to autocorrect your documents because it ignores the operating system’s rules.

If you want to stop Microsoft Word from changing your text, you must disable the feature inside Word itself:

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Click File in the top left corner, then click Options at the very bottom left.
3. Click on Proofing in the left sidebar.
4. Click the AutoCorrect Options… button.
5. Uncheck the box that says Replace text as you type and click OK.

You must repeat this specific process for any third-party application that refuses to respect the Windows 11 system settings.