Turning off predictive text

I tried writing this morning and I found a "new" feature in my writing app, which is current Scrivener. All of a sudden, Scrivener had predictive text. This is a feature that is sometimes useful when you are writing a text or email on your phone. It helps you write something quickly when your reply is generic like "sounds great" or "see you at 1pm". It is a horrible feature if you are trying to write something specific or using writing as a way to express yourself.

As often happens when my muse is driving my words, I had words in my thoughts that I just need to get out on the page. Unfortunately, this predictive text kept showing me other words, which just caused me to muddle what I was trying to write. It got in the way of me getting my first draft written.

It turns out this wasn't a feature of Scrivener, rather it was related to a new update to my Mac that happened overnight. It wasn't just Scrivener. The predictive text appeared in any app I tried to use.

I didn't make it through my first paragraph before I had to turn this feature off. Fortunately, I'm not the first writer to have found this feature frustrating. Initially, I only turned off the inline predictive text, but I found that the automatically correct spelling had the same problem. I'd be midway through typing a word and it would pop up with words it thought I might want to be typing. I had to turn it off too.

To turn this feature off, on a mac:

1. Open Apple menu >> System Settings >> Keyboard

2. Scroll down to Text Input

3. Under Input Sources, click Edit

4. Under All Input Sources, turn off Show inline predictive text.

I also turn off Correct spelling automatically.

I have all the features disabled. I can turn on the various options, such as smart quotes within my word processing software, such as MS Word, if I and when I want it. I don't need it to be on for everything that I do.

I've created this quick YouTube video to show you how to turn it off.