Pages; Mail; Safari - Can I make "automatic by language" a default setting?

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Level 1

9 points

Pages; Mail; Safari - Can I make "automatic by language" a default setting?

I have iWork (Pages, Numbers etc) set to British English and with French as a second language. But there is no option to use both together, you have to choose one over the other. I frequently need both in the same document so, ideally I want to make "automatic by language" the default setting. As things stand, I have to select Edit, scroll down and down to Spelling and Grammar, select "Show Spelling and Grammar" then select "automatic by language" EVERY time I need to use French (several times a day). The same with Safari: if I want to write on a French site or to a French friend on social media, same problem, same procedure. Ditto with Mail. If Apple haven't allowed for the many people who are bilingual, trilingual or learning foreign languages without making them go through this cumbersome procedure for every new or re-opened document, it's about time this issue was addressed! My chat with an Apple Support adviser got me nowhere yet he agreed that this is an important issue. He wondered if there is any software available to help. Have any of you wonderfully clever and helpful people found a way round this problem or discovered available software? Sadly, the advisor's suggestion to provide feedback to "feedback.apple.com" met with a blank - page unavailable!

It would be very useful to be able to do the same with the iPad if that isn't asking too much.

MacBook Pro 13″, 10.15

Posted on Jun 27, 2020 11:49 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

118,424 points

Jun 28, 2020 2:33 AM in response to Max Roberts

Max Roberts wrote: ideally I want to make "automatic by language" the default setting.

If you go to system preferences/keyboard/text/spelling and set that to "automatic" (after going to "setup" at the bottom of the list and checking the boxes for English and French), don't the apps also have "automatic" as their default?

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Answer 2

Max Roberts Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 27, 2020 12:21 PM in response to VikingOSX

Yes, many thanks. I have submitted feedback to both Pages and also re Safari and Mail. As you are evidently an expert, perhaps you could guide me through making a shortcut to this "automatic by language" setting. I have never set up a shortcut of my own.

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Answer 3

Jun 27, 2020 1:29 PM in response to Max Roberts

There is no means to create a short cut to Automatic by Language in Pages because it is not a menu item, but a selection on a Show Spelling and Grammar panel. Same limitation is true for the Spelling selection on the Text panel of the System Preferences : Keyboard entity.

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Answer 4

Max Roberts Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 28, 2020 3:43 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Tom, I'm sure you've helped me before. I did as you suggested and tried in all places: Pages, Mail, Safari and yes, I am able to read my documents in the languages I wrote them and to write in either language.

I can't thank you enough for saving me a lot of extra time! I hope this exchange will help others who have encountered the same frustration!

Je vous remercie avec reconnaissance! J'espère que vous passeras une belle journée!

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Answer 5

Jun 27, 2020 12:07 PM in response to Max Roberts

Mail and Safari do not have this application menu Provide Feedback menu item, but you can send feedback directly to the product teams at Mail, and Safari. The general Apple feedback page is here.