Proofreading

As of Jetpack version 7.3, the Proofreading module is no longer included in Jetpack. The below information is valid only for sites running older versions of Jetpack.

Jetpack can check your spelling, grammar, and style using After the Deadline Proofreading technology.

This module can be enabled by switching on Check your spelling, style, and grammar at  Jetpack → Settings → Writing in your site’s Dashboard.

Proofreading in the Visual Editor

Click  in the Visual Editor or  in the Text Editor toolbar to check your writing.

The proofreading feature checks spelling, misused words, grammar, and style. You can tell the type of error by its color.

• Misused words and spelling errors are red
• Grammar mistakes are green
• Style suggestions are blue

You can click an error to display a menu with suggestions. Many errors have an Explain option that provides more information.

You can click Ignore suggestion to ignore a phrase once, or click Ignore always to have WordPress permanently ignore and unmark the selected word/phrase.

Proofreading in the Text Editor

Using the proofreader from the Text Editor is similar to the Visual Editor with a few differences:

1. While proofreading from the Text Editor, you will not be able to type in the editor. Click Edit Text to stop proofreading and return to the Text Editor.
2. The suggestion menu will include an Edit Selection… item at the bottom. Click this to edit the error without leaving the proofreader.

Proofreading Options

You can configure the proofreading feature by going to Users → Your Profile from the left hand menu in your dashboard.

From here you can edit the phrase ignore list and enable extra options in the proofreading feature. Make sure you click Update Profile at the bottom of the page to save your settings.

Automatically Proofread Content
You can tell WordPress to run the proofreader automatically before publishing or updating a post (or page). When enabled, this feature will ask if you really want to continue with your publish or update action when errors are present.

English Grammar and Style Options
The proofreader applies many of its grammar rules by default. These extra options find patterns of poor writing style:

• Bias language may offend or alienate different groups of readers.
• Clichés are overused phrases with little reader impact.
• Complex phrases are words or phrases with simpler every-day alternatives.
• Diacritical marks are accents and marks attached to letters in some nouns and words borrowed from other languages. This option helps restore these marks in your writing.
• A double negative is one negative phrase followed by another. The negatives cancel each other out, making the meaning hard to understand.
• A hidden verb is a verb made into a noun. These often need extra verbs to make sense.
• Jargon phrases are foreign words and phrases that only make sense to certain people.
• Passive voice obscures or omits the sentence subject. Frequent use of passive voice makes your writing hard to understand.
• Phrases to avoid are wishy-washy or indecisive phrases.
• Redundant phrases can be shortened by removing an unneeded word.

Language
After the Deadline can proofread posts written in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Ignored Phrases
You may add a phrase to the ignore list by typing it into the text field and clicking Add. Click  to remove a phrase from the ignore list. A phrase is one or more words and the ignore list is case-sensitive.

Additional Info

Can I add words to the dictionary?
No, but you can add phrases to an ignore list so they don’t show up as errors.

Do you differentiate between American, British, and Canadian English?
Not yet. For now, American, British, and Canadian variations of words are in our dictionary.

Is the proofreading feature available for languages other than English?
Yes. We provide contextual spell checking for Portuguese and Spanish. French and German have some grammar checking and contextual spell checking. We don’t detect misused words outside of English yet, but we’re working on it. We plan to offer more proofreading languages in the future.

The writing checker flagged a word as misused when it was used correctly, what happened?
The proofreading feature looks for commonly confused words and then decides, using the surrounding context, if another word is a better fit. Sometimes it gets it wrong.

The proofreading feature missed an error I made, what happened?
The proofreading feature is not a replacement for carefully reading what you write. It is a safety net meant to capture common mistakes and bring them to your attention. Finding every error is not yet possible with today’s technology.

Privacy Information

This feature is activated by default in Jetpack versions lower than 7.3. It can be deactivated any time by toggling the Check your spelling, style, and grammar setting in the Composing section from Jetpack — Settings — Writing in your dashboard.