Word prediction (also called word completion or predictive text) is a digital support tool that helps with both spelling and typing. As you start typing the first few letters of a word, a list of predicted words will appear. Select the intended word to help you spell the word correctly and reduce the number of keystrokes while typing.
Microsoft offers a word prediction feature through the Windows operating system. And Google has a word prediction feature built into the free version of Gmail and the paid version of Google Docs.
The benefits of word prediction:
- Reduces the mental load of spelling; select the intended word from a list of choices
- Decreases the number of keystrokes while typing; therefore, may increase typing speed
Begin by logging into your free Microsoft account and free Google account.
Microsoft: Text suggestions in Windows
“Text suggestions” in Windows 10 and 11 is a word prediction feature that works in text fields on your Windows computer. For example, you can use it in Word, Notepad, search bars, and more.
Turn on text suggestions
- Open the Settings for the Windows operating system.
- Type “text suggestions” in the search bar.
- Select “Show text suggestions as I type on the hardware keyboard.”
- In the Typing settings page, scroll down to the Hardware Keyboard section and enable “Show text suggestions as I type.”
- You may also choose to enable Multilingual text suggestions.
- Close settings.
Microsoft Support Article: Enable text suggestions in Windows
Use text suggestions in Word
- Open a Word document.
- Start typing a few letters. A text suggestion box with 3 word choices will appear.
- Once your intended word appears in the list, use the arrow keys and the enter key to select the word.
- Add a space after the word. The text suggestion box will appear again with predictions for the next word or words.
- Continue typing and using the text suggestions as needed.
Google: Smart Compose in Gmail
The Smart Compose feature in Gmail offers predictive writing suggestions as you type an email message. The suggestion may be a word or two or an entire phrase or sentence.
Turn on writing suggestions
- Open Gmail.
- Select Settings in the top right corner.
- Click See All Settings.
- Under the General tab, scroll down to Smart Compose. Enable “Writing suggestions on.”
Use the writing suggestions
- To test the Smart Compose feature in Gmail, type “Hi” and a space.
- Gmail will use the name of the person in the To address line to predict the next word. The predicted word will be in grey letters.
- To use the suggestion, press the right arrow key to move the cursor to the end of the word.
- Smart Compose also offers typical responses for email replies. You can either click the suggested sentence with your mouse or use the tab and enter keys to select the desired response.
Note: Smart Compose is available in Google Docs, if you have a subscription. Currently, it is not available in the free version. Reference the article on the Google blog: Google Workspace Updates: Smart Compose in Google Docs now generally available or the Google Help article Use Smart Compose in Google Docs.
Apple: Typing Suggestions on Touch Bar of MacBooks
If you use a MacBook with a touch bar (a control strip above the number row on the keyboard), you can enable typing suggestions a.k.a. word prediction.
- When typing in a word processing document, press the keyboard icon on the touch bar of your MacBook.
- As you need assistance with spelling or grammar, look down at the keyboard touch bar at the word prediction choices displayed on the screen.
- Touch the desired word to see it appear in your document.
Apple Support article: Use the Touch Bar on Mac, look under the heading Typing Suggestions
Tip: Word prediction is also included in on-screen keyboards.
Additional assistance with spelling and writing conventions
- Capitalization autocorrect and checkers
- Spelling and grammer autocorrect and checkers
- Speech recognition
- Text-to-speech to hear words spoken to listen for errors
- Peer review using a comment feature or suggested edits feature
- Digital dictionary
Additional typing tricks and tips
- Dictation tool to transcribe spoken words into typed text
- Abbreviation expansion to reduce keystrokes
- Keyboard shortcuts to save time and energy
- Modify key activation to assist with typing
Resource
Co:Writer – Subscription based word prediction software. Co:Writer offers more comprehensive vocabulary support than free word prediction applications. It can predict words that are being spelled phonetically or inventively, includes topic dictionaries to predict words on a certain subject, and allows words to be spoken aloud to help with word selection.
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