Spellcheck fails to suggest corrections on MacOS

Bug reports
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1

Steps to reproduce

  1. Open sandbox vault.
  2. Open “Start Here” note.
  3. Anywhere in the note, type the misspelled word “constnats”.
  4. Obsidian marks the misspelled word with a red-squiggle. Right click the word, and see that no suggestions are offered.

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide? [Y/N]

Yes

Expected result

Obsidian should suggest “constants” as a correction. This is the behaviour of other word processing programs on the same computer (e.g., Word, Textedit).

Actual result

Obsidian gives no suggestions.

Environment

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: v1.5.11
Installer version: v1.5.11
Operating system: Darwin Kernel Version 23.3.0: Wed Dec 20 21:30:44 PST 2023; root:xnu-10002.81.5~7/RELEASE_ARM64_T6000 23.3.0
Login status: not logged in
Insider build toggle: off
Live preview: on
Base theme: adapt to system
Community theme: none
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: on

RECOMMENDATIONS:
none

Additional information

“Constnats” is just one example - this happens with many misspelled words.

Obsidian for iOS does not have this problem - it either autocorrects misspelled words or makes useful suggestions.

2

can you post a screen recording of this not working in the sandbox vault? thanks

3

Thanks for the reply, @WhiteNoise. I’ve tried to upload it as a zipped m4v, please let me know if this format works or if you prefer a different format.

constnats.m4v.zip (490.2 KB)

4

ok, and it works in textmate?

Does it happen with all words or just some?

5

@Whitenoise, it only happens on some words. For many words, Obsidian gives a good suggestion. I don’t have a list of “bad” words, but I will start to build one if it helps.

I don’t use TextMate but I just downloaded it. That program doesn’t even recognize “constnats” as a misspelled word.

6

Sorry, I meant textedit.

7

Yes, in TextEdit it works correctly, suggesting two reasonable options.

Screenshot 2024-03-20 at 19.29.06
Screenshot 2024-03-20 at 19.29.061228×1428 128 KB

8

I am experiencing the same issue and it is incredibly frustrating.

9

I have this issue too, I don’t have suggestions in obsidian on Mac at all, “no suggestions” always, just red underlined words. On iOS it works good.

10

Same issue here! Would this also have to do something with Electron and its/the native macOS Autocorrect features?

11

Same issue here. Seems intermittent though (i.e. not always happening)

12

Example from my vault: the word ‘technical’ is just missing a single letter (n in this case)

CleanShot 2024-08-31 at 13.42.58

In the sandbox, there’s no underline or acknowledgement of the same spelling error

CleanShot 2024-08-31 at 13.45.49
CleanShot 2024-08-31 at 13.45.49759×292 2.48 KB

13

I’m also having the same issue. Its quite frustrating. The only thing that I have an issue with, working on obsidian.

14

I have the same problem in Polish. Extremely frustrating.

To properly spellcheck a text I need to copy&paste it to a different program to do spellchecking. Kind of defeats the purpose of a text editor…

Spellcheck in different languages works fine in different editors on my MacOS.

Screenshot 2025-05-06 at 10.01.27
Screenshot 2025-05-06 at 10.01.27600×218 25.8 KB

15

I have the same problem in Polish. Agree, extremely frustrating.

Also doesn’t correct automatically worlds like MacOS is doing in any text editor.

16

The spellchecker on Mac uses/follows the OS spellchecker (or it should).

Please, open Chrome (or any Chrome Based Browser, not Safari) and go on this page. Now input a misspelled text and trigger the context menu. Do you see the correct spelling suggested?

This is a separate issue.

17

I have the same issue. Really annoying.

18

I have the same issue with all languages that I use.

19

Please, open Chrome (or any Chrome Based Browser, not Safari) and go on this page. Now input a misspelled text and trigger the context menu. Do you see the correct spelling suggested?

20

@WhiteNoise I’m experiencing the same spellcheck issue in Obsidian 1.12.7. I went to the Chrome page you suggested and it works as expected.