In this article, I will show you how you can enable spell check in Microsoft Edge using group policy (GPO), registry, and Intune. You can also manually turn on the spellcheck in the Microsoft Edge browser when required.
The Spell Check feature in Microsoft Edge helps you to correct misspelled words before sending a message, and in this guide, you’ll learn the steps to configure the feature.
For most users, no special steps are required to set up spell checking, meaning the Edge spell check will automatically inherit your preferred language settings from Windows. In case the spell check is disabled, or you find Microsoft Edge spell check not working, you can manually turn on the feature.
What is Microsoft Edge Spell Check?
The Microsoft Edge spell check helps you correct misspelled words before sending a message. Beginning with Edge version 83, the new spellcheck functionality is now accessible in Microsoft Edge. It has also been made available on the stable channel.
Previously, on Windows, Microsoft Edge and other Chromium browsers used open-source proofing tools for spell checking. Moving to Windows Spellcheck has numerous benefits, including support for additional languages and dialects, a shared custom dictionary, and better support for URLs, acronyms, and email addresses.
Spell Check Extensions for Microsoft Edge
There are many spell check extensions available for Microsoft Edge that can provide comprehensive feedback on spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, and writing style. Most of these Edge extensions are third-party extensions; hence, before installing them, go through the user reviews first.
You can visit the Microsoft Edge add-on store page and use the search box to find your desired spell checker. You may install multiple spell checkers, but that’s not recommended.
Spell Checking API for Microsoft Edge
Using the Windows spell check API, developers can use the spell checker’s capabilities to verify text, receive suggestions, and maintain user dictionaries and preferences. Additionally, developers can produce spell checkers that are integrated as providers into the framework for checking spelling.
The Spell Checking API is designed for use by professional C/C++ developers of Windows Component Object Model (COM) apps. The Spell Checking API is not supported for use in a Windows or ASP.NET service. For more information, read Spell checking API reference guide.
1. Manually Turn on Spell Check in Microsoft Edge
To manually enable the spell checker on Microsoft Edge, follow these steps:
- Launch the Microsoft Edge browser on your computer.
- In the top-right corner, click the three horizontal dots, and then choose Settings from the drop-down menu.
- On the Settings screen, click on Languages.
- Under the “Check spelling” section, turn on Enable spellcheck for the languages that you want Microsoft Edge to check spelling while you’re typing.
2. Enable Spell Check in Microsoft Edge using Group Policy
In an Active Directory setup, you can enable spell check in Microsoft Edge using group policy. The GPO method should be used when you want to enable Spell check for Microsoft Edge on multiple computers.
Let’s see the steps to turn on the Microsoft Edge spellcheck using GPO. On your Windows Server, open the Group Policy Management Console. You can perform this step either on your domain controller or a member server installed with GPMC console.
You can create a new Group policy object and then link the Group Policy Object to an Active Directory container or site, or apply it to individual systems. Alternate method is to use the create a GPO and apply it to the entire domain.
In the GPMC console, expand Domains. Right-click your domain and select Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here. Specify the GPO name as “Enable Microsoft Edge Spell Check” and click OK.
Right-click the GPO and select Edit. This will launch Group Policy Management Editor where you can define the settings to configure spell check for Microsoft Edge. In the Group Policy Management Editor, navigate to Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Edge.
Note: To configure Microsoft Edge with GPO, you must install administrative templates. Use this guide to download and import Microsoft Edge ADMX templates into Active Directory.
From the list of policy settings, right-click Enable Spellcheck and select Edit.
The configurations for enable spellcheck policy for Edge are as follows:
- If you enable or don’t configure this policy, the user can use spellcheck.
- If you disable this policy, the user can’t use spellcheck and the ‘SpellcheckLanguage’ (Enable specific spellcheck languages) and ‘SpellcheckLanguageBlocklist’ (Force disable spellcheck languages) policies are also disabled.
For Enable spellcheck, select Enabled and click Apply and OK. With this setting, you turn on spell check in Microsoft Edge for multiple devices using GPO.
Disable Microsoft Edge Spell Check using Group Policy
If you want to disable the Spell check feature for Microsoft Edge using Group Policy, follow these steps:
- Launch Group Policy Management Editor.
- Navigate to Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Edge.
- Right-click Enable Spellcheck policy setting and select Edit. Click Disabled and then click Apply and OK.
- The spell check feature is now disabled for Microsoft Edge browser.
3. Use Intune Policy to Enable Spell Check for Microsoft Edge
Using Intune, you can turn on Spell Check for Microsoft Edge using Configuration Profiles. The Intune Catalog settings allow you to define the settings to enable or disable Microsoft Edge spell check on Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices.
Let’s see how you can enable Spell Check for Microsoft Edge using Intune.
- First sign-in to the Intune Portal (Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center). Go to Devices > Windows > Configuration Profiles. Select Create Profile.
- When you create a profile in Intune, you specify the Platform and Profile Type. In this example, select the Platform as Windows 10 and later and Profile Type as Settings Catalog. Click Create.
- On Create Profile Basics tab in Intune portal, enter the name of the profile to “Turn on spell check with Intune“. Enter a brief description about the profile and click Next.
On the Configuration Settings tab, we will use settings catalog in Intune to define the settings to configure Microsoft Edge spell check. Select +Add Settings.
The Settings picker window gives you an option to search for the correct keywords or terms related to settings. Enter the search term as “spellcheck” and click Search button. From the list of search results, click the Microsoft Edge and then select the Setting name – Enable spellcheck.
If you enable or don’t configure this policy, the user can use spellcheck. If you disable this policy, the user can’t use spellcheck and the ‘SpellcheckLanguage’ (Enable specific spellcheck languages) and ‘SpellcheckLanguageBlocklist’ (Force disable spellcheck languages) policies are also disabled.
By default, the Enable Spellcheck setting is set to “Disabled“. Turn on the slider to Enabled which now turns on the Enable spellcheck feature. Click Next to continue.
On the Assignments tab, click Add Groups to include the group of devices on which you want to enable spellcheck for Edge . Click Next to continue. Scope tags are optional, but you may define them if required. I am going to skip and click Next. On the Review + Create tab, take a final look at the settings that you defined so far. If it’s all good, click Create.
After you create the policy, a notification will appear automatically in the top right-hand corner with a message. Policy Created – “Turn on spell check with Intune” created successfully. The policy is also shown in the Configuration profiles list along with other profiles.
After you deploy the policy, the assigned groups will receive the profile settings once the devices check-in with the Intune service. To monitor the Intune policy assignment, from the list of Configuration Profiles, select the policy and here you can check the device and user check in status. If you click View Report, additional details are displayed.
Once the devices receive the policy settings from Intune, log in to one of the devices and launch Microsoft Edge browser. Now you go to browser settings and select Languages to verify if the spell check is enabled.
4. Enable Spellcheck for Microsoft Edge using Registry
You can enable Microsoft Edge spellcheck using the registry on individual computers. Introducing changes to the Windows registry should be done with caution and ensure you back up the registry before making the changes.
On your Windows computer, right-click Start and select Run. Type regedit in the run command box and press the enter key. This will launch the registry editor where you can perform registry edits.
In the registry editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Edge. Right Click Edge and select New > DWORD (32-Bit) Value.
Enter the name as ‘SpellCheckEnabled‘, enter the value as 1.
- SpellCheckEnabled = 0, the Spell check is disabled.
- SpellCheckEnabled = 1, the Spell check is enabled.
Great Article