OS X

How to dismiss and choose an Autocorrect suggestions on the Mac just using the keyboard

crazy ones autocorrect

Autocorrect in OS X is a polarising feature; some users love it, while others abhor it. One of the reasons it is so disliked is it’s uncanny ability to mess up, often turning a small and innocuous spelling mistake (or brand name) into something entirely different, rendering what you have written completely incomprehensible.

Another common cause of frustration is the suggestion feature, which forces you to stop typing and click the tiny X to dismiss it. Recently after searching online for an answer to this I discovered many sites incorrectly stating that the Escape key dismisses the suggestions. While this may have worked prior to El Capitan, it certainly is no longer the case.

You will be pleased to know however, that it is still possible to dismiss and even choose from multiple suggestions by simply using your arrow keys, see below:

simple up arrowTo dismiss suggestions

select a suggestion autocorrectTo select a suggestion

choose a suggestion autocorrectTo choose suggestion


If you still would rather not use autocorrect take a look at: How to Disable Automatic Spelling Correction in Mail and Safari

About the author

Chris

I've been a passionate evangelist for Apple and the Macintosh throughout my working life, my first love was a Quadra 605 working with a small creative agency in the south of Norfolk UK in the mid 1990's, I later progressed to other roles in other Macintosh dominated industries, first as a Senior graphic designer at a small printing company and then a production manager at Guardian Media Group. As the publishing and printing sector wained I moved into Internet Marketing and in 2006 co-founded blurtit.com which grew to become one the top 200 visited sites in the US (according to Quantcast), at its peak receiving over 15 million visits per month. For the last ten years I have worked as an Affiliate and Consultant to many different business and start ups, my key skill set being online marketing, on page monetisation, landing page optimisation and traffic generation, if you would like to hire me or discuss your current project please reach out to me here.

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