Remove bad autocorrect suggestion

Question

Level 1

11 points

Remove bad autocorrect suggestion

OS X 10.12.6.

I have a word that is auto-correcting to the wrong thing; I'm assuming because I accepted the bad version at some point. (What OS X is trying to autocorrect it to isn't a word.) I have searched here and the web for how to remove one, and the things I found said to right-click on the word and choose "Unlearn Spelling". One of the posts I found said that needed to be done in TextEdit, as other apps don't all implement the "Unlearn Spelling" menu item.

I have no "Unlearn Spelling" when right-clicking on the word in TextEdit. I have "Look Up <word>", "Search with DuckDuckGo", Cut/Copy/Paste, the Share sub-menu, and the various standard Font/Spelling and Grammar/Substitutions/etc. sub-menus.

The word isn't in the Text autocorrect list in Settings/Keyboard/Text.

My LocalDictionary in ~/Library/Spelling is empty.

Choosing the X when autocorrect comes up leaves the word correct for that one entry, but the next time it's typed the same wrong autocorrect pops up again.

So, on Sierra, how do we get rid of an autocorrect suggestion?

iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Nov 27, 2017 9:29 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 27, 2017 9:33 AM in response to vr8ce

Hey, vr8ce.

(System Preferences > Keyboard > Text)

The easiest way I can think of off the top of my head it to open System Preferences, click Keyboard, and then head to the Text tab.

Click the '+' icon towards the bottom left and put the word in both columns.

In other words, put the word EXAMPLE in the 'Replace' column and also put the same word in the 'With' column.

What this will do is set it so that whenever you type that word, it will stay as that word.

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Answer 2

Nov 27, 2017 9:43 AM in response to vr8ce

No worries. I've done some more research and found this link:

macos - Can I disable auto-correction of a single word on OS X? - Ask Different

One of the responses answer your question better than I did. Here it is:

"When typing the word, right-click it and choose Spelling & Grammar → Show Spelling and Grammar. This will bring up a window similar to the one below. It should say that the word was not found in the spelling dictionary.

Click Learn to teach the word to the current dictionary." - grgarside

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Answer 3

vr8ce Author

Level 1

11 points

Nov 27, 2017 9:57 AM in response to Brazilian.Waffle

That does appear to have worked, but I'm surprised that one didn't show up on my searches. I guess I need to work on my search-fu.

(Although, for clarity, it doesn't sound like this actually removed the suggestion, either. It sounds like it overrode it by telling it that the original word was correct. It's less of a hack than autocorrecting the autocorrection, but not as good as "Unlearn spelling". But I can live with it, and so marked it as the answer.)

Thanks for going the extra mile!

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Answer 4

vr8ce Author

Level 1

11 points

Nov 27, 2017 9:38 AM in response to Brazilian.Waffle

Sorry, I know how to workaround the problem. I want to fix the problem, not autocorrect the autocorrection. I want to actually remove the bad autocorrect suggestion.

Thanks.

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