spellcheck

The spellcheck global attribute is an enumerated attribute defines whether the element may be checked for spelling errors.

It may have the following values:

  • true, which indicates that the element should be, if possible, checked for spelling errors;
  • false, which indicates that the element should not be checked for spelling errors.

Note: The spellcheck attribute is an enumerated one and not a Boolean one. This means that the explicit usage of one of the values true or false is mandatory, and that a shorthand like <textarea spellcheck></textarea> is not allowed. The correct usage is <textarea spellcheck="true"></textarea>.

If this attribute is not set, its default value is element-type and browser-defined. This default value may also be inherited, which means that the element content will be checked for spelling errors only if its nearest ancestor has a spellcheck state of true.

This attribute is merely a hint for the browser: browsers are not required to check for spelling errors. Typically non-editable elements are not checked for spelling errors, even if the spellcheck attribute is set to true and the browser supports spellchecking.

Specifications

Specification
HTML Standard
# attr-spellcheck

Browser compatibility

Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHub
desktopmobile
ChromeEdgeFirefoxInternet ExplorerOperaSafariWebView AndroidChrome AndroidFirefox for AndroidOpera AndroidSafari on iOSSamsung Internet
spellcheck
Full support
Full support

See also