In This Guide
You type a clearly wrong word in Canva and nothing happens. No red line, no suggestion. Before you assume the design is fine, work through the checks below. Most cases come down to your browser, not Canva.
Quick Answer
Canva's red underlines depend heavily on your browser's spell check, while Canva's own tool is Fix spelling in Magic Write. If the underlines are missing, turn spell check on in your browser, make sure the dictionary language is correct, and test with extensions off. If the text is inside an image or an exported file, no editor spell check can see it, so check the final file separately. The 7 steps below cover each case.
1. Turn On Your Browser's Spell Check
- Chrome: Settings → Languages → Spell check → turn it on for your language.
- Edge: Settings → Languages → turn on the spell check option.
- Firefox: Settings → General → Language → tick Check your spelling as you type.
- Safari (Mac): Edit → Spelling and Grammar → Check Spelling While Typing.
Reload your Canva tab afterwards and type a deliberate typo to test.
2. Match the Dictionary Language
If your browser's spell check is set to another language, correct English words can be marked wrong, or nothing is marked at all. In Chrome, open Settings → Languages, add English (United States) or English (United Kingdom), and choose it for spell check. If you write in British English, see our guide on switching US spelling to UK spelling.
3. Reload, Update or Try Another Browser
Refresh the page, update your browser, and open the same design in a second browser. If the red underlines appear in the second one, the cause is in the first browser's settings or extensions. This five-minute test saves a lot of guessing.
4. Rule Out Extensions
Open Canva in a private or incognito window with extensions switched off. If spell check works there, turn your extensions back on one by one. A writing assistant that is disabled for canva.com, or two writing extensions running together, can hide or double up underlines. If you use one, make sure it is enabled for the site.
5. Check That It Is Real, Editable Text
Spell check only looks at live text boxes. Words that are part of an uploaded picture, a flattened imported PDF, a logo, or an element turned into a shape are just pixels to Canva, so they are never checked. Click the words: if you can edit them like normal text, they are checked. If you only see a selection box around an image, they are not.
6. Know What Spell Checkers Skip
Even when everything works, many spell checkers deliberately skip certain text. This is where costly typos hide:
- Words in ALL CAPS, which look like acronyms (headlines and banners).
- Words that contain numbers, web addresses and hashtags.
- Names, brands and place names that are not in the dictionary. A correct word may also be underlined, so use the browser's Add to dictionary option for your brand terms.
- Real words used wrongly, such as form instead of from or their instead of there.
7. Check the Exported File Before You Publish
The most important fix has nothing to do with settings. Once you download a design as a PDF, PNG or JPG, the editor's spell check no longer applies. Read the exported file the way your audience will see it. You can zoom into the PDF yourself, or upload it to the free Spellense Design Check. It reads the text on the finished design and flags likely misspellings. It can miss text that is very small or low contrast, so do one last read-through of key lines such as headlines, prices and dates.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Answers to the most common questions are listed in the FAQ section below. For a full walk-through of Canva's spell check and the typos it misses, read How to Turn On Spell Check in Canva.
Typos Still Getting Through?
Upload the PDF, PNG or JPG you exported from Canva. Spellense reads the text on the finished design and flags likely misspellings you can fix before printing or posting.