How to turn spell check on or off in Notepad for Windows 11

• To enable Notepad spell check, open the settings page, turn on “Spell check,” choose the file formats the app should check for grammar mistakes, and turn on the “Autocorrect” option.
• To disable the spell check in Notepad, open the settings page and turn off “Spell check” and “Autocorrect.”

Notepad for Windows 11 can now check for spelling mistakes and correct them automatically, and in this guide, I’ll explain the steps to manage these new features.

Although the operating system has several spelling features, Microsoft has decided to build some spelling capabilities into its Notepad app. The most significant difference with the Windows spell checker is that you get more granular control to specify which file format the note-taking app can check for spelling mistakes.

Also, it only applies to certain format types and not to code files, such as “.html,” “.css,” “.htaccess,” “.json,” and “.js.” This distinction is important because otherwise, you will have wavy red underlines across the file, which is not a good experience for coders.

At the time of this writing, the spelling features are available with version 11.2402.18.0 in the latest preview of Windows 11 from the Release Preview, Beta, Dev, and Canary Channels. 

In this guide, I will outline the steps to manage the spelling feature in Notepad for Windows 11.

Configure spell check in Notepad

Notepad version 11.2402.18.0 and higher releases allow you to turn the spelling features on or off, even for specific file types, and here’s how.

Enable spell check and autocorrect

To enable the spelling features in Notepad, use these steps:

1. Open Start on Windows 11.

2. Search for Notepad and click the top result to open the app.

3. Click the Settings (gear) button from the top-right corner.

4. Turn on the “Spell check” toggle switch.

5. Click the “Spell check” setting under the “Spelling” section.

6. Turn on the spell check for each of the file formats you want Notepad to monitor, including .txt, .md, .srt and .ass, .lrc, and .lic.

   

7. Turn on the Autocorrect toggle switch to allow Notepad to correct automatically misspells.

Once you complete the steps, the note-taking app will start checking for spelling errors and correcting them automatically in the file formats you specified. Also, when a grammar error is detected, you can click, tap, or use the “Shift + F10” shortcut in the word to choose the suggested spelling.

If you’re typing a word correctly, but Notepad is marking it as incorrect, you can right-click the word, choose “Spelling,” and either select the “Ignore,” “Ignore all,” or the “Add to dictionary” option. Also, from this menu, you can also turn off spell check.

Although these features may appear independent of the ones from the operating system, as it turns out, when adding a word to the custom dictionary, you will be adding it to the Windows 11 custom dictionary available on Settings > Privacy & security > Inking & typing personalization > Custom dictionary.

However, if you want to remove a word from the custom dictionary, it’s best to be recommended to right-click the word in Notepad again and then choose “Spelling” and select the “Remove from the dictionary” option.

Disable spell check and autocorrect

To disable the spell check and auto-correction for misspelled words in Notepad, use these steps:

1. Open Start.

2. Search for Notepad and click the top result to open the app.

3. Click the Settings (gear) button from the top-right corner.

4. Turn off the “Spell check” toggle switch.

   

5. Turn off the Autocorrect toggle switch.

After you complete the steps, Notepad will no longer check for or autocorrect misspelled words.

It’s possible to have the spell checker enabled and the autocorrect feature disabled.

If the feature isn’t available, you’re not running the version of the operating system and the version of Notepad that supports these features. Also, Microsoft is rolling out this feature gradually through the Microsoft Store, and it may take some time to reach everyone.

The company isn’t saying when these features will be available in the Stable Channel. However, since they’re already in all the preview channels, it’s unlikely that Microsoft will wait until the release of version 24H2. In other words, there’s a good chance they will become available outside any major update.