Disable spellcheck and autocorrect in Notes forever

Question

I've googled plenty of guides about disabling spelling and grammar in mac's Notes, and while unchecking the items in the edit menu works fine for the note I'm currently on, it turns back on for each new note and requires me manually disabling it each time.

I would like it to never check spelling and grammar in Notes, and not substitute incorrect spellings (not swapping out for smart quotes and the like would be a bonus). Is there some way to permanently disable these features for just the one app?

To be clear I don't want to disable it system-wide, only in Notes.

I think you can set up one note the way you like it and then Window → Use as Default will make the new notes use the same settings. — Reid, Nov 05 '20 at 21:28

score 84 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 21 '18 at 20:24

84

Edit>Spelling and Grammar>Correct Spelling Automatically

This worked for me. It is sometimes unclickable, if that is the case click a note and write something in this. This action will make it clickable.

answered Sep 21 '18 at 20:24

Esqarrouth

1,372

I'm 3 years late but while it looks like this answer is popular, OP mentioned this solution didn't work in their original question: "unchecking the items in the edit menu works fine for the note I'm currently on, it turns back on for each new note". This is certainly the recommended method, but it shouldn't be the accepted answer @Dunc since OP already said it didn't work for them. – grg Mar 07 '21 at 18:44
Seems to be working fine now (I'm on Big Sur). Unchecking Edit>Spelling and Grammar>Correct Spelling Automatically, no matter what note I have open when changing the setting, the setting is kept when opening other notes or when creating new ones. – MrCroft Jun 30 '21 at 06:58

score 28 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 26 '17 at 13:15

28

Autocorrect is controlled by the NSAutomaticSpellingCorrectionEnabled key. You can set this in the Notes app preferences for it to apply consistently.

defaults write com.apple.notes NSAutomaticSpellingCorrectionEnabled -bool false

Reset with defaults delete com.apple.notes NSAutomaticSpellingCorrectionEnabled.

answered Jul 26 '17 at 13:15

grg

201,078

2

mac noob here; where do I go to input that setting? – Alex Jul 26 '17 at 14:07
@Alex You can use the Terminal.app in /Applications/Utilities (or use Spotlight to search for it). – grg Jul 26 '17 at 14:43
6

This didn't work. – Esqarrouth Sep 21 '18 at 20:18
2

Resets after quitting Notes. – d0g Nov 25 '18 at 13:29

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 23 '22 at 04:41

4

In Notes Version 4.8 --> Right Click on Notes --> Spelling and Gramma --> Correct spelling Automatically

answered Mar 23 '22 at 04:41

superup

141
2

This should definitely be the accepted answer as of 1/1/2024 – Sparrow1029 Jan 01 '24 at 19:12

Disable spellcheck and autocorrect in Notes forever

3 Answers3