macOS comes with a built-in auto-correction feature designed to fix common typos as you type. While this is helpful for everyday emails, it can become incredibly frustrating if you frequently type technical terms, coding languages, foreign names, or industry slang, as the system will constantly “fix” your correct spelling into something else entirely.
How to Turn Off Auto-Correction Globally
If you want to stop your Mac from changing your words across all applications (like Mail, Messages, and Notes), you can turn the feature off in your system settings.
- Click the Apple menu () in the top-left corner of your screen.
- Select System Settings (or System Preferences on older Macs).
- Scroll down the left sidebar and click on Keyboard.
- Look for the section labeled Text Input and click the Edit… button next to “Input Sources.” (If you are on an older version of macOS, simply click the Text tab at the top of the Keyboard window).
- Look for the toggle switch labeled Correct spelling automatically.
- Turn the switch to the Off position (so it is no longer green).
- Click Done to save your changes.
How to Turn Off Auto-Correction for a Specific App
If you like having auto-correct in your emails but hate it when you are writing documents in Pages or a specific text editor, you can disable it on a per-app basis.
- Open the specific application (for example, Notes).
- In the menu bar at the very top of your screen, click on Edit.
- Hover your mouse over Spelling and Grammar to open a sub-menu.
- Look for Correct Spelling Automatically. If there is a checkmark next to it, the feature is on. Click it once to remove the checkmark and disable the feature.
Note: Microsoft Word does not use macOS’s built-in spelling engine; it uses its own. To turn off auto-correct in Word, you must go to Word > Preferences > AutoCorrect.