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I like the autocorrect feature, but sometimes I want to revert to the word I typed. If i backspace to the word, I see an overlay with the word as I typed it, but can't figure how to revert to it without using the mouse. Any suggestion?

Agos
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5 Answers5

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After you've got the overlay with the previous, uncorrected spelling, you can press the down arrow key, then Return/Enter. This accepts the selected, uncorrected spelling.

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grg
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    This does not work for me. The only thing that works is one of the following annoying processes: (1) take my hand off the keyboard, move it to the mouse and position the cursor to the "X" and click; (2) backup an change the word back to the correct spelling. The program then seems to understand that it should not attempt to change the word, the simply underlines it with the squiggly red underline. – Jeffrey Simon Jul 09 '15 at 04:41
  • @Jeffrey If an × is shown then you haven't accepted the autocorrect suggestion yet which is not what this question and answer is concerned with. – grg Mar 24 '16 at 13:03
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    The problem with all these suggestions is that (1) they imply you are watching what you type; (2) that you type slowly. If you are used to looking at other reference material or typing fast, you get way ahead of this "see the x" process. – Jeffrey Simon Apr 12 '16 at 21:04
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    This method works, but you have to precisely position your cursor at the end of the word you want to revert. You can typically speed up movement with ⌥← (option + left arrow), which jumps one word at a time. – duozmo Jun 22 '16 at 04:01
  • @Jeffrey That's true, but I'm confused what your point is. This solution works specifically for the case you describe: when you have typed ahead and not observed the ×. Simply return to the changed word and perform the steps in this answer. – grg Apr 04 '17 at 16:26
  • When I type, the "corrected" spelling becomes permanent after typing the first character of the next word. And the corrected word is not marked. And if I was not looking at the text, there is no way to know what it has been changed other than proofing the text. Thus the cause of lots of unintended communication, in my opinion. And the way it seems you have to use this feature is to constantly watch what you are typing, and type slowly enough to perform the correction before the next word is started. So I in turn am confused by your "simply return to the changed word", as that is not possible. – Jeffrey Simon Apr 05 '17 at 17:17
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Same. I also like having auto correct, but sometimes I'm trying to write a word spelt incorrectly on purpose.

  • Pressing 'Space Bar' will correct your word.

  • If you press 'UP' on your directions, it will cancel auto-correct.

  • If you press 'Down' it will let you cycle the choices, then hit 'Space Bar' when you've selected the word you want.

N.S.
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6

⌘ Command + z for Undo will undo the auto-correct.

Allan
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Bill
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0

Since a fix for this broken MacOS feature is basically unavailable within text typing flow, my "solution" is to fix it with karabiner, or disable it altogether.

Karabiner:

  • Add a Shortcut that does the ⌘ Command + z -> RightArrow -> Space sequence for you.

Disable: System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Text -> uncheck "Correct spelling automatically". Yes, some actually useful uses of this feature die with this.

AndreasT
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-1

You can just press escape key.

brian
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