- Introduction
- Understanding System Preferences
- Viewing System Preferences
- Locking and Unlocking Preference Settings
- Changing Appearance Options
- Setting Up the Desktop
- Setting Up Screen Savers
- Setting the Date and Time
- Changing Language Options
- Changing Text Substitution Options
- Saving Energy and Managing Power
- Selecting a Startup Disk
- Changing the Way a CD or DVD Starts
- Controlling Sound
- Dictating Your Speech
- Letting Mac Do the Talking
- Setting Accessibility Options
- Having VoiceOver Read from the Screen
- Setting VoiceOver Preferences
- Using VoiceOver Commands
- Setting Ink Preferences
Changing Text Substitution Options
The Language & Text pane in System Preferences gives you options to automatically correct common spelling errors and insert symbols as you type. OS X comes with a list of common text and symbol entries you can edit or remove. You can add words and phrases that you misspell, or add often-typed words and save time by just typing their initials. You can use text substitution to quickly insert symbols. For example, you can type (c) to insert ©. You can also set options to check spelling and select text by language, and automatically change double or single quotation marks.
Set Symbol and Text Substitution Options
Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock, and then click the Language & Text icon.
Click the Text tab.
Select the Use symbol and text substitution check box to enable the automatic substitution.
Select the check boxes you want to use for symbol and text substitution.
Select language and selection settings for the following options:
- Correct Spelling. Select the Correct spelling automatically check box to enable spell checking.
- Spelling. Select Automatic by Language or a specific language to spell check.
- Word Break. Specifies how a word is highlighted when it’s double-clicked. Select Standard or a specific language.
Select Smart Quote settings when you type double or single quotation marks.
To restore setting, click Restore Defaults.
Click the Close button.
Add, Edit. or Remove a Text Substitution Entry
Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock, and then click the Language & Text icon.
Click the Text tab.
Do one of the following:
- Add. Click the Add (+) button, type a misspelled word or an abbreviation, press Tab, type the replacement text, and then press Return.
- Edit. double-click an entry, make a change, and then press Return.
- Remove. Select an entry, click Remove (-) button.
Click the Close button.
Replace Text as You Type
- To correct spelling errors or insert symbols automatically, continue typing until text substitution makes the required correction.
- Enable Correct Spelling. In the Language & Text Preferences dialog, select the Correct spelling automatically check box to enable automatic spell checking as you type.
- See examples of text substitution in the following table.
Examples of Text Substitution
Type of Correction |
If You Type |
AutoCorrect Inserts |
Common typos |
can;t |
can’t |
Common typos |
windoes |
windows |
Superscript ordinals |
2nd |
2nd |
Stacked fractions |
1/2 |
½ |
Smart quotes |
″ ″ |
” ” |
Em dashes |
Madison--a small city in Wisconsin--is a nice place to live. |
Madison—a small city in Wisconsin—is a nice place to live. |
Symbols |
(c) |
© |
Symbols |
(r) |
® |