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spellcheck (attribute)

This is an experimental technology
Because this technology's specification has not stabilized, check the compatibility table for usage in various browsers. Also note that the syntax and behavior of an experimental technology is subject to change in future versions of browsers as the specification changes.

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.

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.

You can consult this article to see a comprehensive example of the use of this attribute.

This 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 <label spellcheck>Example Label</label> is not allowed. The correct usage is <label spellcheck="true">Example Label</label>.

This attribute is merely a hint for the browser: browsers are not required to be able 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.

The default value of this attribute is browser and element-dependant:

Browser	`<html>`	`<textarea>`	`<input>`	others	Comment
Firefox	`false`	`false`	`false`	inherited	When `layout.spellcheckDefault` is `0`
	`false`	`true`	*inherited*	*inherited*	When `layout.spellcheckDefault` is `1` (default value)
	`false`	`true`	`true`	inherited	When `layout.spellcheckDefault` is `2`
Seamonkey	`false`	`false`	`false`	inherited	When `layout.spellcheckDefault` is `0`
	`false`	`true`	*inherited*	*inherited*	When `layout.spellcheckDefault` is 1 (default value)
	`false`	`true`	`true`	inherited	When `layout.spellcheckDefault` is `2`
Camino	`false`	`false`	`false`	inherited	When `layout.spellcheckDefault` is `0`
	`false`	`true`	inherited	inherited	When `layout.spellcheckDefault` is `1`
	`false`	`true`	`true`	*inherited*	When layout.spellcheckDefault is `2` (default value)
Chrome	`false`	`true`	?	inherited
Internet Explorer	`false`	`true`	?	inherited
Opera	`false`	`true`	?	inherited
Safari	`false`	`true`	?	inherited

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
WHATWG HTML Living Standard The definition of 'spellcheck' in that specification.	Living Standard	No change from latest snapshot, HTML5.1
HTML5.1 The definition of 'spellcheck' in that specification.	Recommendation	Snapshot of WHATWG HTML Living Standard, initial definition

Browser compatibility

Feature	Chrome	Firefox (Gecko)	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari
Basic support	(Yes)	2.0 (1.8.1)	(Yes)	(Yes)	(Yes)

Feature	Android	Chrome for Android	Firefox Mobile (Gecko)	IE Mobile	Opera Mobile	Safari Mobile
Basic support	No support	?	1.0 (1.8.1)	?	?	?

spellcheck (attribute)

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also