Google Sheets Spell Check: A Quick Guide (3 Simple Ways)

Sumit Bansal

Last updated January 5, 2024

Fact Checked By Jim Markus

There’s a simple way to spell check in Google Sheets. Below, I’ll show you where to find it and how to make the most of it. Note that this differs from word processors, which usually spell check your work as you type. Thankfully, there is a Google Sheets spell check function.

My guide shows where to find spell check, how to change typos, and spreadsheet add-ons to help you avoid mistakes. I’ll even discuss how to check grammar in Google Sheets.

Table of Contents

How to Spell Check on Google Sheets

While many programs have a red underline for typos, you’ll need to run a specific task to check spelling in Google Sheets.

Note that you can check your whole document or just select cell ranges for misspelled words. So if you’re asking how to spell check Google Sheets only in a specific range, you just need to select that first. Otherwise, it defaults to the entire document.

Suppose you open a new Google Sheets tab and have a list of items as shown below. Maybe you used ChatGPT in the spreadsheet to develop this data and want to use spell check for accuracy. Perfect. Here’s what it might look like at the start:

There are several misspellings here. So how do you correct them?

This is the quickest way to run spellcheck in Google Sheets:

Select the data on which you want to run spell check
Click the Tools option in the menu
Click on Spelling
Click on ‘Spell check’

The above steps will run the spell check in Google Sheets, and you will see it open as a separate pop-up box in the top right part of the sheet.

In the dialogue box, the spell check tool will give you one or more suggested spelling options for the spelling errors it finds. This will of course, depend on the language that Google Sheets is set to. However, the spell check tool won’t mark words in British as spelling errors if you’re using American English. But if you write a spelling error, it will give you the spelling for the default language.

Coming across the same typo over and over? Click that little arrow next to the “change” button and choose “change all” to make the same update to all of the misspelled words.

Accessing Spell Check in the Mobile App

There’s no tools menu in the mobile application for Google Sheets. The best way to spell check is still with the full interface. You can still do this on your phone, but you’ll have to do it in a browser window instead of with the Sheets app.

Here’s the menu where you’d expect to see it. It has the “Find and replace” option, but it doesn’t have a spell-check option. (Note that I have dark mode enabled).

That’s ok! There’s still a way to check for typos on a mobile device. You just can’t use the Sheets app.

Spell Check a Spreadsheet on Your Phone

Once you open your spreadsheet in a browser window, you’ll want to choose to view the desktop version of the site. That might make it more difficult to view, but it’s the only way to get that spell check in Google Sheets on a mobile device.

Copy the link to your spreadsheet.
Open a browser window on your phone.
Choose the “desktop site” option from your browser settings.

Here’s what the desktop view looks like on an android device.

After that, you’ll have all the same options as you do on a desktop. Just go to the tools menu and select “spell check”.

Google Sheets Spell Check Shortcut for Keyboards

Although there is no way to add the spell check option to the toolbar in Google Sheets, thankfully, there is a keyboard shortcut you can use to run spell-check.

But before you can use the keyboard shortcut, you need to enable one small setting – enable compatible shortcuts option (one-time thing). Below are the steps to enable compatible shortcuts and how to turn on spell check in Google Sheets with them

Click the Help option in the menu
Click on the Keyboard shortcuts option

In the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box that opens, enable the ‘Enable compatible spreadsheet shortcuts‘ option.

Once you have done this, you can use the keyboard shortcut F7 to run spell-check in Google Sheets:

Understanding Spell Check on Google Sheets – Options

When you run a spell check in Google Sheets, you have a couple of options. These are the only things it allows you to do, but they’re pretty powerful. You’ll even be able to modify your spell check settings with one of the functions.

Change

You can change the misspelled word with a suggestion. If the suggestion is incorrect, you can also enter the correct spelling. You can also do this for each cell one by one or apply this change all in one go.

Ignore

If the spell check has highlighted something that is not a misspelled word, you can ignore it. You can also choose the ‘Ignore all’ option to ignore all the instances of this word.

When you choose to ignore, it usually applies to the entire sheet or the whole selection. If you choose to ignore by accident, one way to remove it is to clear the caches for Google Docs in your browser settings.

Add to Dictionary

If spell check highlights a correct word and you plan to use it later as well, it’s best to add it to the personal dictionary. This could be useful when you’re using people’s names or company names that are flagged as misspelled words by Google Sheets.

If you have added a word to the dictionary and want to remove it, a prompt usually appears after adding the word with the option to undo it. If you’re ok adding the word, you can just dismiss the prompt. Otherwise, you can undo it.

How to Check Spelling in Google Sheets With an Add-On

To get better and more easily tackled spell-checking in Google Sheets, you can install an add-on. One thing about using addons to check spelling in Google Sheets is that they come with extra features such as the ability to check grammar as well.

So if you’re looking for how to check grammar in Google Sheets, this is your best bet.

To install an add-on:

Navigate to Extensions>Add-ons>Get add-ons
Type in spell checker in the pop up window
Download in install the Scribens Spell Checker and Grammar for Google Sheets

Then, to use this software:

Highlight the cells you want to check
Navigate to Extensions>Spell checker and Grammar checker by Scribens>Check
Click Start Correcting
Click the appropriate selections from the suggestions

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Does Spell Check Not Work in Google Sheets?

It does work, but you have to do it manually on the cells. It doesn’t do it automatically because spreadsheets often contain characters that are not dictionary-recognized words, such as shorthand, etc. So, if you want to use spelling check Google Sheets, you have to highlight the cells manually and navigate to Tools>Spelling>Spell check

Does Google Sheets Have Auto Correct?

No, it doesn’t. You must spell check through the Tools menu because autocorrect would change too many important entries in a spreadsheet.

How Do I Spell Check and Grammar in Google Spreadsheet?

You can check spelling through the built-in spell checker in the Tools menu. Grammar on the other hand, requires you to install an add-on such as the free Scribens one

Learn More About Google Sheets

Google Sheet spelling check is a useful tool that helps you check spelling to avoid spelling mistakes in your spreadsheet. You can use spell check through the tool menu, with a keyboard shortcut or by using an addon. So this is all you need to know about using Google Sheets spell check.

I hope you found this tutorial useful, but don’t let that stop your learning. We have plenty of other Google Sheets tips and tricks to maximize your skills. You might be interested in our article on how to get the Word Count in Google Sheets.

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