How to Use Proofread Bot to Check Grammar and Spelling

Updated

Proofread Bot checks grammar and spelling directly in the field you are typing in — Gmail, Messenger, or any web form — and lets you accept or ignore each fix without leaving the page. To use it, install the browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, or Edge) or the separate Google Docs add-on, then trigger a check on the focused field with a right-click or Alt+Shift+P. If you would rather not install anything, open the standalone web editor at /app and paste or write your text there.

Install the right tool for where you write

Proofread Bot ships as three separate surfaces, and they do not overlap. Pick based on where your text lives:

Where you write What to install Notes
Gmail, Messenger, web forms Browser extension Available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge
Google Docs Google Docs add-on The Chrome extension does not run inside Docs, so the add-on is required
Anywhere else / quick one-off checks Standalone web editor at /app No install; paste or write directly
Mobile Android and iOS tools Listed alongside the web editor

The key gotcha: if you spend your day in Google Docs, installing the Chrome extension alone will not help you there. You need the Docs add-on as a separate install.

Check grammar in a browser field

This is the workflow the extension is built around — in-place checking of whatever input field currently has focus.

  1. Install the extension for your browser (Chrome, Firefox, or Edge).
  2. Click into the field you are writing in — a Gmail compose window, a Messenger text box, or any form on a web page. The field must have focus for the check to target it.
  3. Trigger the check with either a right-click or the keyboard shortcut Alt+Shift+P.
  4. Read the result. Issues are marked with orange underlines in the text.
  5. Act on each flag — accept the suggested fix or ignore it. Both happen in place, so you never leave the page or copy text into another tool.

The expected result is a corrected field with no orange underlines remaining for the issues you chose to accept.

Common sticking points

  • Nothing happens on trigger. The extension checks the focused field, so click into the text box first. If focus is elsewhere on the page, there is nothing for it to check.
  • You are in Google Docs and see no underlines. The Chrome extension does not operate in Docs. Switch to the Docs add-on.
  • You want to skip a suggestion. Ignoring is a first-class action, not a workaround — use it for intentional style choices the checker flags.

Use the standalone web editor

When you are not writing inside a browser field — a document, an email draft you will paste elsewhere, or text you simply want to clean up — the /app editor is the direct route.

  1. Open the web editor at /app.
  2. Paste your text or write directly in the workspace.
  3. Review the grammar, spelling, and proofreading flags it raises.
  4. Apply the corrections and copy the cleaned text back to wherever you need it.

This path also works on Android and iOS, so it covers phone and tablet writing that the desktop extension does not reach.

What it checks, and where it stops

Proofread Bot covers grammar and spelling with in-place fixes across the surfaces above. It is a proofreading and correction tool, not a full editing pass — the site's own writing guidance draws a line between proofreading (catching surface errors) and editing (restructuring and rewriting), and the tool sits on the proofreading side of that line.

So the practical division of labor is: use Proofread Bot to catch the typos and grammar slips in text you have already written, and handle larger structural or stylistic rewriting yourself. For a resume, cover letter, or manuscript, that means running the checker as a final pass after the content is settled — a single typo is exactly the kind of thing it is built to catch before you hit submit.