How-To Geek
Quick Tip: Spell Check Firefox Text Input Fields
We’ve all seen misspelled article titles (especially on Digg.com) Doesn’t Firefox have built-in spell checking?
The reason why article titles and search terms aren’t included in the spell checker is because Firefox only enables the spell checking on textarea fields, not text input fields. Lucky there’s a quick fix for this.
To change this setting, just type about:config into the Firefox address bar, and then filter by this:
layout.spellcheckDefault
Just double-click on the item in the list and change the value to 2, as shown. No restart needed.
No more typos in search terms!
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Comments (14)
Programmer by day, geek by night, The Geek, also known as Lowell Heddings, spends all his free time bringing you fresh geekery on a daily basis. You can follow him on Google+ if you'd like.
- Published 05/30/07
I like your tip, it is very easy for me to understand. Great site! Love, Mom
Wow, nice one. I always wondered about that. Thanks.
Hey thanks for that… been putting off upgrading to 2 because I’d noticed that the spellcheck only covered the textarea on another computer, and my extension checked em all…
But I bit the bullet and did it, so you just saved me from ripping out my hair. :)
I found that using this option can lag the browser on some computers if there are a lot of textfields on one page; although, I haven’t tested it in a while, so it is possible it has changed since then.
Hmm, I just did that and it was already set to 2. and it doesn’t spellcheck. Well, it does down here, but not up in the toolbar . . . PC, Windows 2000, whatever the latest firefox on their site is (wiped my computer a couple days ago (ouch) but techie hubby tried lots o stuff first, over a period of time).
You can also simply right-click text fields that you want to check and select “spell check this field”.
Does it do this by itself in Firefox 3?
Awesome Tip. Thanks for sharing. I was getting tired of right-clicking to spell check input fields.
Thanks a lot. I did not know about that “about:config” you can type in firefox address bar. But i am glad i know now. I taught i have to write out some code by myself to enable automatic spell check in input fields, but it’s solved now.
Thanks again!
Grant you just made yourself something to do with it,
I’ve just been sitting around waiting for something to happen.,
Thanks, Great tip! :) Not computer savvy but your instruction where precise.
Bravo.
Thank you,
Jewelz
This is a very useful tip – I always enable it on any Firefox I use!
Yes – but in version 3.6 this made no difference in the UK – reason was you need to add a GB English dictionary – then hey presto – it works fine