Does Windows Have Autocorrect? Turn It On and Add Your Own

Yes. Windows 10 and Windows 11 both have a setting called Autocorrect misspelled words, which fixes common typos as you type in apps that use the Windows spell checker. It has no screen for adding your own entries, and Office and Notepad use their own autocorrect with separate switches. For your own words, phrases and shortcuts in every app, you need a different tool.

Where the switch is

The setting sits on the Typing page in Settings. A Microsoft Q&A answer gives both paths, and Microsoft’s guide to text suggestions in Windows confirms where the Typing page is in each version.

The same page has Highlight misspelled words, which underlines errors without changing them, and the switch for word suggestions on a physical keyboard. Suggestions are a different feature: they offer the next word, and you choose whether to take it.

What it fixes, and in which apps

Windows autocorrect fixes common misspellings from its own list. Microsoft’s policy documentation describes the option as controlling “whether or not errors in typed text will be automatically corrected”. You don’t choose what goes on that list.

It works where an app uses the spell checker built into Windows. Microsoft says that since Windows 8, spell checking is built into edit controls, but some apps bring their own. Two common ones have separate switches:

• Word and Outlook use Office’s own AutoCorrect. In Word it is under File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options; in classic Outlook, under File > Options > Mail > Editor Options > Proofing. Microsoft explains how to add or remove AutoCorrect entries there.
• Notepad in Windows 11 has its own Spell check and Autocorrect switches in its settings, introduced in the 2024 Notepad update.

So if text still changes after you turn the Windows switch off, look at the settings of the app you are typing in.

If the switch is missing or greyed out

If the switch is missing, check your language. Microsoft says the availability of this setting “is dependent on supported languages being enabled”. Open Settings > Time & language > Language & region, select the three dots next to your language and choose Language options. Check that Basic typing is installed. Microsoft’s list of language features puts spell checking and text prediction in this Basic component, and not every language has them.

If it is greyed out on a work or school PC, an administrator may have applied the policy Turn off autocorrect misspelled words, which locks the option off. The same documentation lists a matching policy for highlighting. If you need it on, ask IT.

Adding your own corrections

Settings has no list to edit. You have three options, and they work in different places.

Windows’ own AutoCorrect file

For developers, Microsoft documents per-user dictionary files under %AppData%\Microsoft\Spelling\<language tag>, for example en-US. The file default.acl holds AutoCorrect pairs, one per line, written as wrong|right. The files must be UTF-16 LE text with a byte order mark.

Microsoft documents the format, not which apps apply the list. If you want to try it, copy the folder somewhere safe first, add one pair you can test, save the file in the same encoding, and check the result in an app that underlines misspellings. If nothing changes, delete your line or restore the backup and use one of the options below.

Office AutoCorrect

Inside Word and Outlook, Office AutoCorrect is the simplest choice. Add a pair under Replace and With, and Microsoft says the list applies across all the Office programs that support AutoCorrect. It stays inside Office, though. The guide to using Word AutoCorrect shortcuts outside Office shows how to move the entries you rely on.

A text expander for every app

A text expander works one level below the app. You define a trigger, type it anywhere, and the expander replaces it with your saved text. Text Replacements does this in Windows 10 and 11 desktop apps: type ;addr, press Space, Tab or Enter, and your full address appears. You can also try it on a typo you keep making: save teh as a trigger with the as the replacement, then test it in the apps you use.

A text expander is not a spell checker. It only replaces triggers you have defined. Give phrase shortcuts a prefix such as a semicolon, so they never fire in the middle of ordinary writing. The guide to naming text shortcuts explains why.

The longer answer to why Windows still has no system-wide list is in why Windows has no system text replacement.

Frequently asked questions