The spellcheck global attribute is an enumerated attribute defines whether the element may be checked for spelling errors.
It may have the following values:
true, which indicates that the element should be, if possible, checked for spelling errors;false, which indicates that the element should not be checked for spelling errors.
Note: The spellcheck attribute is an enumerated one and not a Boolean one. This means that the explicit usage of one of the values true or false is mandatory, and that a shorthand like <textarea spellcheck></textarea> is not allowed. The correct usage is <textarea spellcheck="true"></textarea>.
If this attribute is not set, its default value is element-type and browser-defined. This default value may also be inherited, which means that the element content will be checked for spelling errors only if its nearest ancestor has a spellcheck state of true.
This attribute is merely a hint for the browser: browsers are not required to check for spelling errors. Typically non-editable elements are not checked for spelling errors, even if the spellcheck attribute is set to true and the browser supports spellchecking.
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| HTML Living Standard The definition of 'spellcheck' in that specification. |
Living Standard | No change from latest snapshot, HTML 5.1 |
| HTML 5.1 The definition of 'spellcheck' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Snapshot of HTML Living Standard, initial definition |
Browser compatibility
| Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
spellcheck | Chrome Full support 9 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support Yes | IE Full support 11 | Opera Full support Yes | Safari Full support Yes | WebView Android Full support 47 | Chrome Android Full support 47 | Firefox Android Full support 57 | Opera Android Full support 37 | Safari iOS Full support 9.3 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
See also
- All global attributes.