Spell-Check
Choose Tools > Spelling (Home > Spelling is also an option for Windows users).
The Spelling dialogue appears and checking begins with the first misspelled word highlighted and a list of suggestions to correct the error.
When the spell-checker encounters a misspelled or unknown word, that word is highlighted in the script and the word appears in the Misspelled Word area in the Spelling dialogue, along with a list of possible alternatives. The first item in the Suggestions list appears in the Change To text field. In this example, the spell-checker has found “Majetic” as a misspelled word:
To accept the suggestion "Majestic" and continue spell-checking, confirm that “Majestic” is in the Change To field (if not, choose it from the Suggestions field) and then click Replace (or choose another option):
To substitute an alternate word:
- Select a word from the Suggestions list or type another word in the Change to box. It appears in the Change To text field;
- Click Replace. If there may be more than one instance of the misspelled word in the script, click Replace All.
Alternately:
Double-click a suggested word. The new word replaces the misspelled word in the script and spell-checking continues.
To instruct the spell-checker to learn a word, click Learn. The word in the Misspelled Word area is added to the computer’s user dictionary and spell-checking resumes.
To disregard the word considered misspelled and continue, click Ignore.
To disregard all instances of that word in the document. click Ignore All.
When the spell-checker reaches the end of the script, it asks if the search should continue from the beginning of the script. If the spell-checking was started in the middle of the script, when the spell-check reaches the end of the script it may be continued from the top of the script. Click Yes to continue.
When the entire script has been checked, a message indicates that the whole script has been checked. Click OK to close the Spelling dialogue.
Spell-checking with the Contextual Menu
Access spell-checker functionality from a context menu.
- Right-click or Control + click on a misspelled word and the context menu appears:
- Select the correct word
- or -
- Select any of the alternative words
- or -
- Choose to have the spell-checker ignore or learn the word
- or -
- Make the correction manually by typing directly into the script.
Spelling Options
Go to Tools > Spelling and click the Options tab to view spelling options:
Language Popup Menu
Choose a different foreign-language spell-check.
Check Capitalization
When this option is checked, the spell-checker checks for correct capitalization of words. In this example, the spell-checker flags the word “she” as incorrectly not capitalized.
Right-click or Control + click on the word to display the context menu, which has a command to capitalize this word:
Check Repeated Words
If this option is checked, the spell-checker looks for duplicate occurrences of words and flags them as repeated. In this example, the second and erroneous "out" is flagged.
Right-click or Control + click on the word to display the context menu, which has a command to delete the second instance of this word:
Automatic Spell-Checking
If this option is checked, the spell-checker automatically scans the script and underlines in red any misspelled words.
Grammar Checking
Final Draft does not have a built-in grammar checker, but it does have support for Grammarly grammar checking software:
Does Final Draft work with Grammarly?
For tips on better spelling and grammar read the following article: