Turn off spell checking in Teams

[Valgardur]

Is there any way to turn off spell check in Teams chat? Currently is seems to assume English, but I use Teams to communicate with people in different languages, so turning spell check off would perhaps be the simplest solution.

[#2]

AFAIK, Spell checking relies on the language you have set up in the Teams Client

[#3]

@jcgonzalezmartin 

Thanks for a quick reply.

• But they are only for determining date and format, the second to override keyboard shortcuts.
• There is no option for spell checker.
• Even the "date and format" does not include Icelandic.
• And anyway, I would need to switch from English to Icelandic and back frequently.

To be able to turn spell checking off would be ideal.

[#4]

@Valgardur 

I totally agree that spell checking is an unwanted feature for some users, especially users that uses two languages in the chat. I see all red stuff and I don't really need it for English.
Unwanted features you cannot turn off are worse than missing features you want.

[#5 · Accepted solution]

@Valgardur - assuming you are running the Windows Teams client, you can find the responsible settings.json file in USER\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams. The file comes with 3x "spellcheckerDisabled":false which can be replaced by "spellcheckerDisabled":true - and it does what is expected from name and value.

Unfortunately Teams will overwrite the setting back to false at next program shutdown since it seems to be a dynamic settings file. But if you mostly standby/hibernate your system with open programmes including Teams, the setting remains active, of course.

To be honest, this is a terrible thing by the developers. The setting is there for a long time already, but has never been published to the GUI.

[#6]

@wolw6789 - thanks, mostly use it irregularly and for short sessions, but great to know for a longer sessions.

[#7]

@Valgardur

1. Close Teams.

2. Go to C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams\dictionaries

3. Delete any file(s) in that directory.

4. Right-click the folder and go to Properties.

5. In the Security tab, click Advanced.

6. Disable inheritance, select Remove when prompted.

7. Add, select your current machine in the new prompt(in case your corporate network is the default), and type the name "Everyone" in the text field. Let only the checkboxes for read operations be ticked. Click Apply after confirming.

8. Click the Change link where the Owner is, and in the new prompt again make sure your local PC is selected, and write the name "NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller" in the field, check the replace owners in subdirectories box. Apply. Click OK on all prompts until the folder property windows are closed.

[#8]

nice solution - thank you 😃

[#9]

great, this works, perhaps my imagination but it feels like Teams if more slower to start (1-2minutes) and stops and waits when I am typing... still worth it! Again thanks..

[#10]

@Searinox 

note that the suggested steps not necessarily can be executed if you miss the rights to do so.

Basically another agile developed thing that's nowhere near being complete.

Now let's also try to find the 24 hrs clock and ISO date format settings..

[#11]

@Valgardur Just a heads up in case you've missed it.

MC217362, Stay Informed, Published date: Jun 26, 2020

Now, Microsoft Teams users can more easily communicate using multiple languages. Users who write different messages in different languages will now see spellchecking relevant to the language they're actively using when typing a message in the Microsoft Teams desktop app.

This is a key improvement to the existing Teams Desktop Spellchecking feature, to make it "language-aware" and improve the overall Messaging compose experience for bilingual & multilingual users around the world.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 65446

When this will happen

This improvement will start rolling out at the end of June and conclude by the end of July.

Note: that "language-aware spellchecking" will initially be available for the Windows Desktop client and the General (public cloud) only.

Support for Linux and Mac Desktop clients is under active investigation. Support for customers in the M365 Government clouds (GCC, GCC-H, DoD) is also under investigation.

How this will affect your organization

Now, spellchecking in Teams Desktop (Windows client only) will better support bilingual & multilingual users who write different messages in different languages.

Spellchecking will default to the active keyboard language, and if the user switches keyboard language, spellchecking will switch to that language. If a user writes enough messages in a different language in a given Chat or Channel conversation, spellchecking will automatically switch to the relevant language (in this case, a user may see a Compose notification UI letting them confirm/revert the switch).

Note:

• Message language auto-detection occurs client-side -- no typing/writing is sent to, processed by, or stored on any web server
• This spellchecking improvement addresses some of the key UserVoice feedback about proofing in Teams; support for users writing messages in different languages is a significant request by bilingual/multilingual users and organizations

What you need to do to prepare

This is an improvement to existing spellchecking in Teams Desktop and Spellchecking itself can be toggled on/off by users in Teams App Settings > General. You may consider updating your training and documentation as appropriate.

[#12]

@ChristianBergstrom 

Thank you for the message, but for me this is far from sufficient, I switch frequently between languages and my keyboard setting is no indication. I simply want to be able to turn this off....

[#13]

@Valgardur Hello, from my understanding you'll be able to do just that as per the "Spellchecking itself can be toggled on/off by users in Teams App Settings > General." as stated under What you need to do to prepare. 

And Users who write different messages in different languages will now see spellchecking relevant to the language they're actively using when typing a message to answer your other request.

[#14]

@wolw6789 

Hi there. That path (C:\Users ...) does not exist on my computer. Not even close. I have "C:\Users\[my name]\Roaming" - and then "Intel." That's it.

There is no "AppData" or any mention of "Microsoft" or "Teams" in that directory ... or any other I can find. This is a relatively new thread, too. Has MS concocted a major reorganization of these files within Explorer?

Tom

[#15]

@Tom Alongi no need to follow up my solution. Deletion of dictionaries works better, and finally it seems that Teams has got the spell check checkbox to the settings in tab General (not sure if it works ...)

[#16]

@Tom Alongi is it possible that those directories are hidden? In the explorer there is "View" and "Hidden items", turned off by default, an often a nuisance, but sometimes necessary to enable.

[#17]

It works but for one time, it keeps coming back after restart teams. Although it will be good to disable it forever

[#18]

@ChristianBergstrom I'm a data architect and talk database-ese. I hate having 50% or more of my typed words containing an ugly, garish, red underline to let me know I misspelled words like DTID. Forcing spellcheck was one of the worst decisions made about this app. Attributes like this make Teams feel like an alpha build.

[#19]

@marineone Hello, why don't you just turn it off then?

[#20]

Hi, Christian, and thanks!

I'm actually looking for that option now because I was told MS Teams didn't have the alternative of turning off Spell Check. Can you tell me where you clipped that screenshot?

Best,
Tom