How to Turn On Spell Check on Any Website

What is Spell Check?

Spell check turns your browser's own spell checker on for the whole page. Once it is on, misspelled words get the familiar red wavy underline as you type, and you can right-click any underlined word to see suggestions.

Spell check sets the attribute on the page body, so every text box that does not set its own value picks it up. Comment fields, forums and ticket systems often leave it unset, and those start underlining. A box where the site explicitly switched spell checking off keeps its own setting and stays off.

This is your browser's spell checker, not Helperbird's. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Who is This For?

This is helpful for:

• Anyone with dyslexia typing into a site that has spell checking switched off
• People filling in forms, comment boxes or support tickets
• Anyone writing in a language they are still learning
• People who want the red underline everywhere, without thinking about it

Two Ways to Switch It On

Spell check is not in the All features list, and the popup search will not find it. There are two ways to reach it.

A Quick actions tile. Pin Spell check to the Quick actions grid and you get a button you can click. No keyboard needed. The setting is saved, so it stays on for every page until you switch it off. The steps below cover this route. See how to use the Quick actions area for more on pinning.

The keyboard shortcut. It applies to the page you press it on and is not saved. It is covered further down this guide.

Spell check is a Pro feature. On the free plan the tile shows a diamond Pro feature badge and does nothing when clicked, and the shortcut shows an upgrade message.

Step 1: Pin Spell Check to Quick Actions

Open Helperbird from your browser's toolbar. The Quick actions grid is the first thing on the home screen.

Click the Quick actions button in the bar at the top of the popup. A window opens listing every feature you can pin, in alphabetical order.

Find Spell check in the list and click it. A green check mark appears beside it. Close the window with the Close button in the corner, or press Escape.

Step 2: Turn the Tile On

A new round button appears in the Quick actions grid. Look for the spell check icon. Hover over the button, or move to it with a screen reader, and it announces Spell check.

The caption under the button reads Grammar in the current version. That is a labeling bug, not a different feature. Trust the icon and the hover label.

Click the button to turn spell check on. It stays highlighted while spell check is running.

This setting is saved. Spell check stays on for every page you visit until you turn it off.

Step 3: Check That It Worked

Click into a text box on the page and type a word that is definitely wrong, something like teh.

If spell check is on, the word gets a red wavy underline. Right-click it and your browser offers corrections.

Turning It Off Again

Click the Spell check tile in the Quick actions grid a second time. The highlight clears and the underlines go away.

Using the Keyboard Shortcut

If you prefer keys, spell check also has a shortcut. It only works when Helperbird's shortcuts are switched on, so check that first. Open Helperbird, click the gear icon to open the Options menu, and make sure the Shortcuts toggle is on. See how to use Helperbird's keyboard shortcuts for the full list.

Click on the web page first so the page has focus, not the Helperbird menu or your browser's address bar. Then press:

• Mac: Option + 0
• Windows, Linux and Chromebook: Alt + Shift + 0

Use the 0 along the top of the keyboard. The 0 on the number pad is a different key and will not work.

The shortcut works as a toggle. Press it again to switch spell check back off.

Two things make the shortcut different from the tile:

• It applies to the page you press it on and is not saved. A new tab needs the shortcut again.
• On the free plan it shows an upgrade message rather than turning anything on.

Spell Check or Grammar: Which One?

These are two different tools and they solve different problems.

Use spell check when you are typing into a site and only want the underlines. Use Grammar when you have written a passage and want the whole thing checked over, not one word at a time.

Troubleshooting

I see two tiles with the caption Grammar. One of them is Spell check with the wrong caption, a known bug. Hover over each tile. The real Spell check tile announces Spell check and carries the spell check icon.

The tile shows a Pro feature badge, or I get an upgrade message. Spell check is a Pro feature. See Helperbird pricing.

Nothing happens when I press the shortcut. Check that the Shortcuts toggle is on in Settings, and that you clicked on the page first. If the focus is in the address bar or the Helperbird menu, the page never receives the key press.

I still get no underlines in one particular box. A few sites use their own editor that draws text rather than using a normal text box. Those cannot be spell checked by the browser at all. Word prediction and Grammar both work there instead.

The underlines are in the wrong language. The browser decides which dictionary to use, not Helperbird. Change it in your browser's own language settings.

Related Features

• Grammar - Check and correct a whole passage.
• Word prediction - Suggested words as you type, with phonetic spelling help.
• Voice typing - Dictate instead of typing.
• Keyboard shortcuts - The full list of Helperbird shortcuts.

Need Additional Help?

If you have any questions or run into any issues, please contact the Helperbird support team. You can reach us at Helperbird support. We are happy to help you get the most out of Helperbird.