How to turn off predictive text or whatever it's called on Sonoma?

[jennyp]

I'm not sure if what I'm referring to is called "predictive text", but that description is what it looks like, and I can't turn it off.

It looks like this (Sonoma 14.6.1):

Thing is, I can't seem to turn it off.

I went to System Settings... > Keyboard > Text Input > Input Sources > Edit [button] > All Input Sources and saw a slider labelled "Show inline predictive text", which I switched off; and I've rebooted a couple of times since then (and the slider is still 'off'), but the thing still happens. Maybe that's not the right place to turn it off?

Anyone know how to get rid of this annoying "feature"?

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

That looks like “check spelling” as you type. See how it’s trying to correct ter to her…

 

[jennyp]

Oh dear, really? Is that how it's done now? Such iOS-ification..

 

[zevrix]

Well it's definitely can be disabled although I'm not sure what setting exactly. Also, is it possible that it's enabled on the application level - or do you have this in all supported apps?

 

[jennyp]

No, it's not at application level: it appears on all text-editing apps, since I "upgraded" to Sonoma.

If there is a System Setting toggle, I don't know where it is. Maybe it's now baked-in to the new form of the Edit menu's 'Check Spelling While Typing' (or similarly named) selection.

 

[HDFan]

 

[jennyp]

View attachment 2409693

As I noted in my original post (above), I have "Show inline predictive text" switched off. In fact, all of the sliders in that settings pane are set to off.

 

[Fishrrman]

"As I noted in my original post (above), I have "Show inline predictive text" switched off. In fact, all of the sliders in that settings pane are set to off."

Another "Fishrrman completely stupid™" reply:
Have you tried powering down (all the way off), and then rebooting?

 

[jennyp]

"As I noted in my original post (above), I have "Show inline predictive text" switched off. In fact, all of the sliders in that settings pane are set to off."

Another "Fishrrman completely stupid™" reply:
Have you tried powering down (all the way off), and then rebooting?

Like I said above, I've rebooted, which didn't help. I'm not sure why a cold start would make any difference, but I have also shut down and rebooted, but there's no change. Looks to me like it's baked-in to Sonoma.

 

[zevrix]

Looks to me like it's baked-in to Sonoma.

It definitely can be disabled. I know because otherwise I'd be infuriated like you. Is it possible you're running some 3rd-party software that affects this feature?

Also, at what point the spelling suggestions appear? For example, in TextEdit I have 'Check Spelling While Typing' checked. If, after TextEdit marks a misspelled word, I put the cursor back into the misspelled word, I do see the same spelling suggestions list as you do. But that's an expected behavior. Or does the list appear automatically for you while you type?

 

[Fishrrman]

I'm typing this on a 2021 MacBook Pro running Sonoma.

I went to System Settings, to Keyboard.
Then clicked here:

And got this:

As you can see, I've turned everything OFF.

No predictive substitutions here any more...

 

[jennyp]

I'm typing this on a 2021 MacBook Pro running Sonoma.

I went to System Settings, to Keyboard.
Then clicked here:
View attachment 2409965
And got this:
View attachment 2409966
As you can see, I've turned everything OFF.

No predictive substitutions here any more...

I did that and I still get it. Maybe you don't have "Check Spelling While Typing" ticked. And I can see it's tied to that. With that option on, you get it; with it off, you don't. I guess it's just the new way. It's just that sometimes I have spellings that I know will be off and I forget to turn off "Check Spelling While Typing", which doesn't have a keyboard shortcut (I know, I could give it one, with System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts... > App Shortcuts). I suppose I just don't like it. No biggie.

 

[zevrix]

I suppose I just don't like it.

I think I now understand what exactly it is that you're complaining about.

On Sonoma, when "Check Spelling While Typing" is enabled and when you specifically insert the cursor inside a misspelled word, the popup with spelling suggestions appears automatically.

This, indeed, is a new behavior. Prior to this, we had to right-click the word to see spelling suggestions.

My main system is still Ventura. So I'm not sure how annoying this behavior in reality is. After all, you do have to intentionally insert the cursor into a misspelled word to invoke this popup. So I'm sure some users will find it useful because usually the main reason for this action is to see the spelling suggestions.

Plus, as I'm sure you know, it's not some kind of system-wide setting (even though Apple represents it as such, misleadingly). This setting only affects an undefined number of certain Cocoa apps that conform to a specific protocol. I personally don't use any of such apps extensively.

Regardless, I do understand that it can be annoying.

 

[Adora]

I have Sequoia since a while now. But am 99,9% sure I also never saw this before anywhere in Sonoma. Those are my settings.

 

[Adora]

I found this picture. It seems only to exist on Touch Bar MacBooks.

Maybe if it's turned off for the Touch Bar, it's also gone everywhere. At least the option doesn't exist anywhere if there is no Touch Bar.

 

[jennyp]

I'm using Sonoma 14.7 (23H124) on an M2 MacBook Pro.

I think it's ill-thought design. In a document I may have typed a sentence containing, "by the Council of Agde in the year 506." If my (very busy) cursor happens to rest on the word "Agde", the system doesn't recognise the word, so up pops the list of alternative suggestions, and if I'm not very careful I might inadvertently click one of the suggestions without realising it—easily done when typing a long document; then only later do I realise (if I spot it) that the sentence now reads, "by the Council of Ague in the year 506" or somesuch.

You have to be ready to hit the escape key whenever you see the suggestions. But if I turned off spell-checking to prevent me having to do that, I wouldn't see the red underlining on mis-spelled words, which has served me well since forever to alert me to spelling errors.

It doesn't happen on every app, I notice. It doesn't on this Safari textarea (even though Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Check Spelling While Typing" is selected (and I do see the red underline on the word "Agde"). But it does on Nisus Writer Pro, TextEdit, etc., etc.

On such apps I think I should be able to choose between the pop-ups and the good ol' red underlines separately. A case of UI GRATIA UI without the option to disable separately from the old style.

 

[zevrix]

On such apps I think I should be able to choose between the pop-ups and the good ol' red underlines separately. A case of UI GRATIA UI without the option to disable separately from the old style.

Yes, I agree.

The writing scenario you describe clearly demonstrates that the new spelling suggestions implementation can be counterproductive and also outright lead to mistakes that can be easily missed.

 

[Adora]

I'm using Sonoma 14.7 (23H124) on an M2 MacBook Pro.

I think it's ill-thought design. In a document I may have typed a sentence containing, "by the Council of Agde in the year 506." If my (very busy) cursor happens to rest on the word "Agde", the system doesn't recognise the word, so up pops the list of alternative suggestions, and if I'm not very careful I might inadvertently click one of the suggestions without realising it—easily done when typing a long document; then only later do I realise (if I spot it) that the sentence now reads, "by the Council of Ague in the year 506" or somesuch.

You have to be ready to hit the escape key whenever you see the suggestions. But if I turned off spell-checking to prevent me having to do that, I wouldn't see the red underlining on mis-spelled words, which has served me well since forever to alert me to spelling errors.

It doesn't happen on every app, I notice. It doesn't on this Safari textarea (even though Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Check Spelling While Typing" is selected (and I do see the red underline on the word "Agde"). But it does on Nisus Writer Pro, TextEdit, etc., etc.

On such apps I think I should be able to choose between the pop-ups and the good ol' red underlines separately. A case of UI GRATIA UI without the option to disable separately from the old style.

That's really strange. I only get predictions directly in the text with grayed out words (that's the inline prediction) and have to press Enter to confirm them and red underlined words if mistyped. I never saw this from your screenshot anywhere.

Is this maybe an Accessibility feature? I didn't find anything yet.

What apps do you use where this is happening? Maybe it's an option in the app?