Spellcheck in Comments Box

SaraWildman

Hi! Some of my faculty have been asking about spellcheck in the comments box. Is that in the timeline?

Thanks in advance!

Jeff_F

Hello @SaraWildman you are correct - at this time, Canvas does not provide a built in spellcheck feature within comment or feedback text boxes, including areas like SpeedGrader comments or discussion replies.

The good news is that these text fields fully support the native spell check functionality of modern web browsers. Faculty and students can use browser-based spell check provided by Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari, which will flag spelling issues as they type and offer correction suggestions. This is the same spell check behavior used on most web-based forms and editors.

Because this relies on browser settings, faculty may want to confirm that spell check is enabled in their browser preferences. In practice, this has been the recommended and supported approach rather than a Canvas specific spell check roadmap item.

If spell check consistency is a concern, another approach is to compose longer comments in a tool like Word or OneNote first, then pasting the final text into Canvas once reviewed.

I hope this is of use! Best, Jeff

ps. how to enable spell check -

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Google Chrome

1. Open Chrome and click the Menu button (three dots) in the upper-right corner.
2. Select Settings.
3. In the left-hand menu, choose Languages.
4. Under Spell check, toggle Check for spelling errors when you type text on web pages to On.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Open Firefox and click the Menu button (three horizontal lines) in the upper-right corner.
2. Select Settings.
3. Scroll to the Language section.
4. Check the box next to Check your spelling as you type.

Microsoft Edge

1. Open Edge and click the Settings and More button (three dots) in the upper-right corner.
2. Select Settings.
3. Navigate to Languages.
4. Under Writing Assistance, toggle Use grammar and spell-check assistance to On.

Safari

1. Open Safari and click Edit in the top-left corner of your screen.
2. Select Spelling and Grammar.
3. Click Check Spelling While Typing.