26 comments

  • Marc EdwardsMarc Edwards, over 4 years ago

    All native Cocoa Mac apps have access to the built-in macOS spell checker, dictionary and thesaurus.

    Having said that, it seems like the Show Spelling and Grammar feature doesn’t work in Sketch? Photoshop and Illustrator have good spell checkers.

    7 points
    • Nikola DurkanNikola Durkan, over 4 years ago

      Yeah I've sent this as a feature request to Sketch. Haven't heard from them about it. A very appreciates addition since english is not my primary language. Not that I'm that great at spelling in my primary language either.

      0 points
      • Marc EdwardsMarc Edwards, over 4 years ago

        The current state of spell checking in design tools:

        • ✅ Illustrator: Spell checking using Adobe’s dictionary.
        • ✅ Photoshop: Spell checking using Adobe’s dictionary.
        • ✅ Affinity Designer: Spell checking using Affinity’s dictionary.
        • ❎ Sketch: Spell checking using the macOS feature, but very, VERY broken. Basically unusable.
        • ❎ Figma: No spell checking.
        • ❎ InVision Studio: No spell checking.
        • ❎ XD: No spell checking.
        12 points
    • Eliot SlevinEliot Slevin, over 4 years ago

      The issue is if it's not inline, it won't use it until it's too late.

      When you've got a 50-page document, with hundreds of text layers, you don't need a window which steps through each error one at a time, including lorem ipsum. I just need it inline so I fix it as I do it D:

      3 points
      • Marc EdwardsMarc Edwards, over 4 years ago

        I agree. I also far prefer spell check to happen as you type, paste and edit. It sounds like we’re lucky to have anything at all in our tools.

        0 points
  • Billy MitchellBilly Mitchell, over 4 years ago

    I'm a dyslexic designer. I have struggled in the workplace to gain respect when typos slip through that non-dyslexics think are careless mistakes.

    I use Grammarly with the Chrome plugin. It integrates with almost all web text fields and has a robust contextual spellcheck. I think it integrates with some apps also. I find it frustrating that in many design programs you have to enable spellcheck in the settings menu or it does not exist at all. Nothing annoys me more than polishing a design and then finding out a word is misspelled.

    I've found that Google search does a good job of correcting your spelling in a contextual way. It would be awesome for someone to developed an app that allowed short phrases to be corrected from the "did you mean..." output.

    6 points
    • Scott ThomasScott Thomas, over 4 years ago

      I feel you 100%.

      My peers would always make fun of my spelling mistakes. I also tend to drop words and add it in my head when I read it even out loud. I never knew my problem, until my mid 20's with a doctor. It transition to work and I am very self conscious about it.It takes me around 20min to write 2-3 line emails. Luckily, I become more upfront with it with our clients. I just flat out say, "Sorry I am dyslexic, you may see some mistakes time to time. We try catch them the best we during these quick turn arounds." Usually, I have project manager or content manager proof read or just review it.

      3 points
    • Richard Quay, over 4 years ago

      Yes about google search! I also use Alfred "spell" and "say" to check and make sure I am actually using the right word.

      2 points
    • John PJohn P, over 4 years ago

      Use a plain text editor with spellcheck built, write all and I mean all your copy in that then copy+paste it into your work.

      I'm not dyslexic and have pretty good spelling but even I do this when working in software without spellcheck. Not worth the risk to do it any other way.

      No real excuse not to work this way and I'm always frustrated when I receive .ai files from designers in their 30s full of 12th grade spelling errors.

      0 points
  • neuemage com, over 4 years ago

    Im dyslexic but Shifting the burden of learning grammar to the software, not a very good way to deal with it.

    1 point
  • John PJohn P, over 4 years ago

    Am I going crazy or did Sketch used to use OSX Spellcheck way back in version 2 (as in it showed the red underlines in all text boxes) or something and at some point they broke it and never fixed it?

    Pretty appalled that they would drop the ball like that.

    Not to mention the embarrassing spelling error filled documents I get from every Illustrator user I know.

    Oh and don't get me started on how no electron app seems to do OSX spellcheck right either, FFS we're taking steps backwards at this point.

    1 point
  • Vipul. MishraVipul. Mishra, over 4 years ago

    Hi Eliot, you pointed out a very valid struggle. Not direct answer but, I'm building a Copy/design collaboration tool - Scribble - which can leverage in-browser spell check for copy review. Would love to hear what you think. https://www.canvasflip.com/visual-inspector/scribble

    1 point
  • Mattias HMattias H, over 4 years ago

    I have used this plugin in the past: https://github.com/Tallwave/sketch-spellcheck-all-layers

    But it has not been updated in over a year.

    0 points