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I would like to be able to replace a misspelled word in a Google doc with Google's recommended correction with a keyboard shortcut, instead of having to mouseover the word, right click on it, and select the corrected word.

Is there any way to do this? (I'm working on a Mac).

intotecho
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tomh
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  • I rather use browser auto-correct when possible, if you have right click on keyboard like mine, just take the cursor to the word and hit, select the suggestion from menu and hit enter. Otherwise F7 works well too but the only caveat is, if there is another error in doc it will go to it and sometimes we use words like name, acronyms which is not error but assumed as such by doc. That problem also can be solved by adding every error to dictionary. I just thought it while writing this comment!, will try it. – old-monk Feb 12 '20 at 19:46
  • actually what I mentioned above is feature of google doc which mistaken for browser feature. – old-monk Feb 12 '20 at 21:22
  • I’m voting to close this question because it seems more suited to the https://webapps.stackexchange.com/ site. – Castrohenge Oct 04 '20 at 10:43
  • And has been asked there already: https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/28229/google-docs-keyboard-shortcut-to-correct-a-misspelled-word – jan-glx Mar 04 '21 at 09:27

4 Answers4

42

As of 6/2020, the suggestion of the spell checker appears in a bubble, accepted as follows:

  • Navigate the cursor to within the misspelled word (which is underlined in red)
  • (Suggestion appears in bubble)
  • Press Tab to access the bubble
  • Press Enter to apply the suggestion.
larham1
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Miso Takacs
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  • Thanks! Can you add a bit more info about how to make the bubble show up? In my experience, you need to move the cursor *within* the underlined problem to make the bubble appear in a way that works for Tab-Enter. – larham1 Jan 15 '21 at 20:08
  • Yep, you have to first move to the affected word - but that still counts as keyboard. At least for me, the main pain point is to have to use the mouse. – Miso Takacs Jan 18 '21 at 12:17
  • Single tab still works as of 12/2021! – ssppjj Dec 12 '21 at 19:57
  • +1! Even just navigating the focus within the document using the keyboard (no mouse!) I was able to accept the spell check suggestion using Tab-Enter. thank you! – Ben Rounds Feb 14 '22 at 16:46
8

There's no keyboard shortcut for this purpose. You can see complete list of Google Docs keyboard shortcuts here or press ⌘ + / or Ctrl + / in docs window. You might use ⌘ + Shift + \ to open Context (right-click) menu but then you have to select the suggested word. That's all I can help you with!

Windows users use Ctrl + Shift + x to open context menu.

Edit:

As Dr Ankita Bali answered below, you can use F7. This does both spelling and grammar checks.

  • Hit F7
  • Press enter to replace with suggested word.
  • Press Tab and Enter to ignore the suggestion.

Note: This method iterates all over the misspelled words and grammatical errors in the document. If you want to correct specific word, you still have to use context menu.

Note for Firefox: In Firefox, F7 is used to toggle caret browsing. On prompt, you can either select checkbox for Do not show me this dialog box again. Or use Saka Key extension.

You can also configure advance settings. Type about:config in address bar. Click 'I accept the risk!'. Search for caret. Double click on accessibility.browsewithcaret_shortcut.enabled or click 'Toggle' from context menu to toggle the value. False value means disabled.

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itsmysterybox
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    This answer works great. Just to add to it, hit down arrow and enter to select suggestion. – Iaan Krynauw Oct 31 '19 at 18:17
  • Thanks it helps! I don't understand why we can't define our own shortcuts... – Pierre Jan 20 '20 at 15:15
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    ⌘+Shift+\ on Mac or Ctrl+Shift+\ on Win/Linux works perfectly Also suggested at https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/28229/google-docs-keyboard-shortcut-to-correct-a-misspelled-word – iki May 31 '21 at 21:41
  • The F7 method works, but unfortunately it doesn't stop there. After applying the correction on the current word, it then jumps to the next proposed correction in the document. This is more disruptive to workflow than taking one's hand off the keyboard and using the mouse to accept the correction. A keyboard shortcut that did nothing but accept a correction at the cursor position would not disrupt workflow and would be very handy. – Doug Leary Feb 14 '22 at 11:02
  • I'm finding that I need to press Tab and Enter to have the single suggested word accepted (replaces the incorrectly typed word) – Straff Mar 12 '23 at 23:37
7
  1. First enable compatible spreadsheet shortcuts.
  2. Then F7

Attached a screenshot here if it helps.

Community
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Dr Ankita Bali
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Per the Keyboard shortcuts for Google docs (on a Mac): holding Ctrl + ⌘, press e then p. This moves focus to the popup.

nidzieko
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