Admit it – we are all so addicted to the spellcheck tools! Be it Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or any other online word processor, spellchecking tools are really helpful. It’s not that we don’t know the spelling, but we often do the typos and this is where the spell-checking tools help the most.
When we talk about online word processing services, Google Docs is certainly one of the popular free options. And yes, it comes with a built-in spellcheck tool to automatically correct misspellings and to give you suggestions for spelling and grammar.
Google Docs Spellcheck stops working
In this post, we will see what all you can do if the spellcheck stops working in Google Docs.
- Restart the device and internet connection.
- Re-enable the spellcheck
- Change the browser
- Set the Google Docs language
- Disable browser’s enhanced spellcheck
- Paste without formatting
- Remove extra languages from your browser
- Update your browser
- Clear the cache and cookies
- Rest your browser to its default state.
1] Restart the device and the internet connection
If there is any temporary glitch or error, restarting your device, your internet connection, or just hard-reloading your page might fix it. Try it before we proceed with the further fixes.
2] Re-enable the spellcheck
You might need to re-enable the spellcheck sometimes.
Click on Tools on the menu ribbon, go to Spelling and grammar and make sure the options are checked.
3] Change the browser
Try opening your Google Docs file in another browser. This could happen when you are using an outdated version of a browser or just a temporary glitch. Just try to open it in a different browser and see if this solves your problem.
4] Set the Google Docs Language
Not always but sometimes if your language is not set in Google Docs, your spellcheck might not work. You can set the language manually. See if this works.
5] Disable Browser’s Enhanced Spell-Check
Check if your browser has the Enhanced Spellcheck tool enabled. The basic version works well with the Google Docs spellcheck but the Enhanced version might encounter errors. Thus, it is better to disable the enhanced version. This is how you can disable it in Google Chrome.
Go to Google Settings > Advanced > Language > Uncheck Enhanced spellcheck.
6] Paste without formatting
If you have copied your document from somewhere and pasted it in Google Docs, the spellcheck tool might not work due to the specific formatting. Don’t worry, there is a solution to this too. While pasting the document in Google Docs, make sure you paste it without formatting.
So, if you have already pasted the document in Google Docs and your spellcheck is not working, do this:
Select all and copy the document
Right-click on a blank space in Google Docs and select Paste without formatting.
You can also use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+V.
Do this and see if your spellcheck is working now or not.
7] Remove extra languages from your browser
Having too many languages selected in your web browser can also result in this error. This happens because words are spelled differently in different languages and when there are too many languages enabled in your web browser, the Google Specllcheck might get confused and stop working. So, remove all the extra languages from your browser and see if this solves your problem.
To remove the extra languages from Google Chrome-
Go to Google Settings >Advanced >Languages.
Check if you have enabled more than one language.
Click on the three dots and remove the extra languages.
8] Update Your Browser
Using an obsolete version of a web browser leads to many issues and this certainly is the one. Using Google Docs in an outdated browser may also lead to such errors. Check if you are using an up-to-date version of the browser or not and if not, update it asap.
To check for your browser updates in Google Chrome-
Go to your Google settings and in your left panel scroll down and click on About Chrome. This will show you if you need to update your browser or you are using an up-to-date version.
You can similarly update Edge or Firefox browsers.
9] Clear the cache of your browser
When we use our browser, it saves cache and cookies from various websites and some of them might get corrupted too. Clearing the cache and cookies can fix many temporary bugs and issues like loading of a page, and formatting issues, etc. Some corrupted cookies may also result in improper loading of your Google Docs which further may result in the spellcheck error. Clear all the cache and cookies or your browser and check again if the spellcheck in Google Docs is working or not.
To clear cache and cookies in Google Chrome-
Type Clear Cache in the URL and it will directly take you to the settings. Yes, you don’t need to go via Settings now, Google Chrome actions now let you type commands in the address bar itself. 
Click on Clear browsing data.
From the dropdown, select All time and click on Clear Data. Close it and check if the Google Docs Spellcheck is working now.
Similarly, you can delete the browsing cache in the Edge browser and Firefox too.
You need to sign in again in Google Docs after you clear the browsing data.
10] Reset the browser to its default state
Well, after all the above-mentioned fixes, if your Google Spellcheck is still not working, try resetting the browser. Resetting the browser state often solves many issues. We often download and install many extensions, add-ons, and toolbars, etc and some of them might just misconfigure your browser setting result in such errors.
To reset your Chrome browser to its default state-
- Go to Google Settings >Advanced > Reset and cleanup.
- Click on Restore settings to their original defaults.
- Click on Reset settings.
This will reset your search engine, your startup page, your new tab page, and also the tabs you’ve pinned. Doing this will also disable all extensions and delete all the cookies, bookmarks and passwords saved. So, if there is any extension, toolbars, add-ons, etc are encountering with your Google Docs spellcheck, this will solve your issue.
Similarly, you can reset Firefox and Microsoft Edge browser to default settings too.
Do try these solutions and I am sure your spellcheck tool will start working.
Read next: How to get back the missing Toolbar in Google Docs.
