How to Fix Grammar in Any Mac App Without Grammarly

The Problem With Grammar Checkers on Mac

If you have ever tried to fix your grammar across every application on your Mac, you know the frustration. You are drafting a message in Slack, writing notes in Apple Notes, editing a document in Pages, and composing an email in Outlook, each one is a different environment, and most grammar-checking tools only work in a handful of them.

Grammarly, the most well-known grammar checker, works primarily as a browser extension. It integrates well with web-based apps like Gmail and Google Docs in Chrome or Safari, but the moment you step outside the browser, its coverage drops. Grammarly's desktop app for Mac supports some native applications, but the list is limited. If you are writing in Xcode, Terminal, a Markdown editor, a CRM tool, or any niche application, Grammarly simply does not show up. You are left on your own.

This is a real problem for anyone who writes across multiple tools throughout the day, which is nearly everyone. Professionals jump between email clients, messaging apps, document editors, and project management tools constantly. The idea that you need a different grammar solution for each context is not just inconvenient; it breaks your workflow.

There is a better approach: a grammar checker that works in any Mac application, triggered by a single keyboard shortcut, powered by AI, and designed to stay out of your way until you need it. That tool is Wordwand.

Why Grammarly Falls Short on Mac

Grammarly is a solid product for what it does, but its architecture creates real limitations on macOS.

Browser-first design. Grammarly was built as a browser extension. Its deepest integration is with Chrome and, to a lesser extent, Safari and Firefox. If you primarily write in web apps, this works. But macOS users tend to rely heavily on native applications, Mail, Notes, Pages, Messages, and third-party apps like Ulysses, Bear, or Obsidian. Grammarly does not reach into most of these.

Limited native app support. Grammarly's Mac desktop app adds an overlay to some native apps, but support is inconsistent. It works in some text fields and not others, sometimes appearing as a floating widget that conflicts with the application's own UI. In many cases, it simply does not activate at all.

Always-on distraction. Grammarly underlines errors in real time as you type. For some writers, this is helpful. For others, it is deeply distracting, especially during a first draft when you want to get ideas down without a red underline appearing under every informal phrase. You cannot easily toggle it on and off; it is either watching you or it is not installed.

Privacy considerations. Grammarly processes your text on its servers. For users working with sensitive documents, legal contracts, medical records, internal business communications, sending every keystroke to a third-party server raises legitimate concerns.

macOS Built-In Spell Check: Better Than Nothing, But Not Enough

macOS does include a built-in spelling and grammar checker. You can find it under Edit > Spelling and Grammar in most native apps, or trigger it with Cmd + Shift + ; to jump to the next misspelled word. It handles basic typos and some straightforward grammatical errors.

However, the built-in checker has significant limitations:

• No AI-powered understanding. It relies on dictionary lookups and simple rule-based grammar checking. It will catch "teh" as a misspelling of "the," but it will not catch a misused homophone like "their" vs. "there" in context, or a sentence that is grammatically correct but awkwardly phrased.
• No tone or style adjustment. It cannot tell you that your email to a client sounds too casual, or that your Slack message to your team is unnecessarily formal. It checks rules, not intent.
• No rewriting capability. When the built-in checker flags an issue, it offers a simple replacement suggestion. It cannot restructure a clumsy sentence, tighten verbose prose, or rephrase something for clarity.
• Inconsistent across apps. Not every application on macOS integrates with the system spell checker. Electron-based apps (like Slack, VS Code, and Discord) may or may not use it, and third-party apps can opt out entirely.

For catching the occasional typo, the built-in spell checker is fine. For genuinely improving your writing, it is nowhere near sufficient.

Wordwand: Grammar Fixing That Works Everywhere

Wordwand takes a fundamentally different approach. Instead of trying to integrate with each application individually, it works at the system level using macOS accessibility features and a global keyboard shortcut. The result is simple: if you can select text in an application, Wordwand can fix it.

Here is what makes this approach powerful:

• Universal compatibility. Wordwand works in every Mac application, native apps, Electron apps, web browsers, IDEs, email clients, messaging platforms, note-taking apps, and anything else. If the app lets you select and replace text, Wordwand works there.
• On-demand, not always-on. Wordwand does not watch you type. It activates only when you invoke it. This means zero distraction during drafting and instant help when you are ready to polish.
• AI-powered intelligence. Wordwand uses large language models to understand context, not just rules. It catches errors that rule-based checkers miss, and it can rephrase awkward sentences, not just flag them.
• Privacy-conscious design. Your text is processed only when you explicitly trigger the tool, and only the selected text is sent, not everything you type.

Step-by-Step: How to Fix Grammar With Wordwand

Getting started takes less than two minutes. Here is the complete process.

Step 1: Download and Install Wordwand

Visit wordwand.co and download Wordwand for Mac. The app requires macOS 13.0 (Ventura) or later. Install it by dragging the app to your Applications folder, then launch it.

During the initial setup, Wordwand will ask for Accessibility permissions. This is what allows it to read selected text and replace it with corrected text in any application. Grant the permission when prompted, without it, the core functionality will not work.

Step 2: Set Your Keyboard Shortcut

Once Wordwand is running, you can configure your preferred global keyboard shortcut. This is the shortcut you will press whenever you want to invoke Wordwand, from any application. Many users choose something like Ctrl + Space or Cmd + Shift + W, but you can set it to whatever feels natural and does not conflict with your existing shortcuts.

Step 3: Select the Text You Want to Fix

Navigate to any application where you have written text that needs grammar correction. Highlight the text you want to fix using your mouse or keyboard. This can be a single sentence, a full paragraph, or an entire document's worth of text.

Step 4: Press Your Keyboard Shortcut

With the text selected, press the keyboard shortcut you configured in Step 2. Wordwand's action menu will appear, showing you a list of available actions.

Step 5: Choose "Fix Grammar"

From the action menu, select Fix Grammar. Wordwand will send the selected text to its AI engine for analysis.

Step 6: Review and Accept the Corrected Text

Within a second or two, Wordwand will replace your selected text with the corrected version. Spelling errors are fixed, punctuation is corrected, grammar mistakes are resolved, and awkward phrasing is smoothed out, all while preserving your original meaning and voice.

If you are not satisfied with the result, a simple Cmd + Z (undo) will revert to your original text instantly.

That is the entire workflow: select, shortcut, choose action, done. No browser extensions. No floating widgets. No switching applications. It works the same way whether you are in Safari, Slack, Apple Mail, VS Code, Notion, or any other app.

Beyond Grammar: Advanced Writing Features

While fixing grammar is one of Wordwand's most-used features, the same shortcut gives you access to a suite of other writing tools. Once you build the muscle memory of selecting text and pressing your shortcut, these become equally effortless.

Tone Adjustment

Sometimes your grammar is fine, but your tone is not right for the audience. Wordwand can adjust the tone of any text:

• Formal: Turn a casual message into professional business language. "Hey, just wanted to check in on that thing" becomes "I wanted to follow up regarding the matter we discussed."
• Casual: Soften overly stiff language for a friendlier audience. "Please be advised that your request has been received" becomes "Got your request, we are on it."
• Concise: Strip away unnecessary words and get to the point. Ideal for busy readers who do not want to wade through verbose prose.

Tone adjustment is particularly valuable when you are writing to different audiences in quick succession, an email to a client, a Slack message to a teammate, and a note to yourself, all within a few minutes.

Translation

Need to reply to an email in French? Working with a colleague who writes in Spanish? Wordwand can translate selected text to and from over 40 languages. The same workflow applies: select the text, press your shortcut, and choose your target language. The translated text replaces the original in place.

Combining Actions

One of Wordwand's most powerful patterns is combining actions sequentially. For example, you might receive a message in German, translate it to English, and then adjust the tone to match your company's voice, all without leaving the app you are working in. Each action takes a few seconds, and the text is updated in place each time.

Text Generation

Wordwand is not limited to transforming existing text. You can also type a brief prompt, select it, and ask Wordwand to generate text from scratch. Need a polite decline email? Type "write a polite decline for a meeting invitation," select it, and let Wordwand generate the full response. This works in any text field, in any application.

Real-World Scenarios

To illustrate how this works in practice, here are some common situations where Wordwand eliminates friction.

Fixing Grammar in Slack

You have just typed a quick message to your team: "I dont think we should procede with the launch until we've recieved confirmation from legal." Before hitting Enter, you select the message, press your Wordwand shortcut, and choose Fix Grammar. The message is instantly corrected to: "I don't think we should proceed with the launch until we've received confirmation from legal." You send it confidently.

Polishing an Email in Apple Mail

You have drafted a long email to a client, but you are not sure if the grammar holds up across several paragraphs. Select the entire email body, trigger Wordwand, and choose Fix Grammar. Every error is caught and corrected in one pass.

Editing in Google Docs

Even though Google Docs has its own grammar suggestions, they can be slow to appear and easy to miss. With Wordwand, you can select any section of your document and run a grammar fix immediately. It works in the browser just as well as in native apps.

Writing in Notes or Bear

Apple Notes and apps like Bear are popular for quick writing, but neither has robust grammar-checking built in. Wordwand fills this gap seamlessly. Select your notes, press the shortcut, fix grammar, and move on.

Cleaning Up Code Comments in VS Code

Developers write prose too, commit messages, code comments, documentation, pull request descriptions. These often contain typos and grammatical errors that slip past linters. Select the comment, trigger Wordwand, and get clean, professional text without leaving your editor.

Messaging in WhatsApp or Discord

Desktop versions of messaging apps rarely have grammar checking. With Wordwand, you can fix grammar in any messaging app before you hit send, ensuring clear and polished communication.

Tips for Getting the Best Results

While Wordwand is straightforward to use, a few practices will help you get the most out of it.

Select complete sentences. Wordwand's AI works best when it has full sentences to analyze. Selecting sentence fragments may produce less accurate corrections because the model has less context to work with.

Use Fix Grammar for correctness, Tone for style. If your writing is grammatically correct but too informal (or too formal), do not use Fix Grammar, use the Tone adjustment feature instead. Fix Grammar focuses on correctness: spelling, punctuation, subject-verb agreement, and sentence structure. Tone focuses on how it sounds.

Review before accepting. Wordwand is highly accurate, but no AI tool is infallible. For important documents, legal text, published articles, client-facing communications, take a moment to read the corrected text before moving on. Remember that Cmd + Z is always available to undo.

Combine with translation for multilingual workflows. If you regularly communicate in multiple languages, get into the habit of writing in your strongest language first, then using Wordwand to translate. You will produce more natural, accurate text than if you try to draft directly in a weaker language.

Use text generation for repetitive writing. If you find yourself writing the same types of messages repeatedly, meeting follow-ups, status updates, polite declines, use Wordwand's text generation to create a starting draft, then customize as needed. This is faster than writing from scratch each time.

Keep your shortcut simple. The value of Wordwand scales with how often you use it. Choose a keyboard shortcut that is easy to reach and easy to remember. The less friction there is to invoke it, the more naturally it will fit into your workflow.

How Wordwand Compares

Feature	macOS Spell Check	Grammarly	Wordwand
Works in any Mac app	Partial	Limited	Yes
AI-powered corrections	No	Yes	Yes
Tone adjustment	No	Limited	Yes
Translation	No	19 languages	Yes (40+ languages)
Text generation	No	Limited	Yes
On-demand (not always-on)	No	No	Yes
No browser extension needed	Yes	No	Yes
Free tier available	Yes	Yes	Yes

The Bottom Line

Fixing grammar on a Mac should not require a browser extension, a subscription to a service that watches everything you type, or acceptance that some apps simply will not be covered. Wordwand solves the problem at the right level of abstraction: a single keyboard shortcut that works in any application, powered by AI that understands context and nuance, and designed to stay invisible until you need it.

Whether you are a professional polishing client emails, a student cleaning up an essay, a developer writing documentation, or anyone who types on a Mac and wants their words to be clear and correct, the workflow is the same: select, shortcut, fix.