Microsoft Editor checks text while a person writes in supported browser fields, Word, or Outlook. It marks possible spelling and grammar errors, then can add suggestions about clarity, formality, concision, or vocabulary when the signed-in account includes those refinements. Microsoft Editor acts on the words in the current text field or document. It does not rewrite the source page, publish a correction, or decide that a suggestion is factually right. The writer must open the underline and accept, ignore, or replace the proposed wording.
Read the underline
Microsoft Editor uses different proofing categories to separate misspellings from grammar and style suggestions. Selecting an underlined phrase opens the available correction and the option to ignore it. Ignore skips one grammar suggestion, while Ignore All can stop repeated spelling marks for the same term. This is useful for names and specialist vocabulary, but it can also hide a real repeated error until the ignore state changes.
The browser extension checks text typed into supported web fields. It can work in webmail, social posts, and forms, but Microsoft describes coverage as most websites rather than every field on every site. An editor built with a custom canvas, a protected input, or its own proofing layer may not expose text in the same way. A missing underline therefore does not prove that Microsoft Editor checked the passage.
Set proofing languages
Microsoft Editor can use up to three proofing languages configured in its settings. That choice applies across websites. It does not simply adopt the language of each page, so a person who writes an English message on a French site can keep English proofing active. Mixed-language text still creates friction when a word belongs to a language outside the selected set or when one spelling exists in several dictionaries.
Language support also differs by check type. A language may have spelling coverage without the same grammar or refinement set as another language. Switching on several languages helps with multilingual writing, but it can make a misspelling look valid when the word exists in another selected dictionary. The suggestion card remains a review step rather than an automatic authority.
Choose local or cloud
Microsoft Editor is a connected experience in its main browser mode. Edge sends typed text to a Microsoft cloud service for spelling and grammar processing, and Microsoft states that this text is deleted after processing. Basic spellcheck is a separate Edge setting that performs only local spelling checks and sends no text to that cloud service.
Text prediction has another data rule. When prediction is enabled, typed characters and proposed text can remain cached for a limited period for service quality and performance work. Prediction is available only in selected languages and regions. A person who needs local-only processing must choose Basic spellcheck and give up the connected grammar, style, and prediction path rather than assuming every Editor feature stays on the device.
Know the account tier
Signing in with a Microsoft account gives the browser extension basic spelling and grammar checks. A qualifying Microsoft 365 account adds refinements beyond those basics. Microsoft Editor can therefore show different categories to two people using the same browser and language. Reinstalling the extension does not add a refinement tied to the account subscription.
The product also appears inside several Microsoft writing surfaces, but the controls are not identical. A browser underline opens a compact suggestion card, while Word can collect issues in an Editor pane and move through categories. Ignoring a suggestion in one writing context should not be confused with changing the document’s language, adding a term to every dictionary, or proving that the sentence needs no further factual review.
Keep editorial control
Microsoft Editor judges patterns in text, not the truth of a claim or the intent behind a sentence. It can propose a concise phrase that removes a needed qualification, or prefer a formal construction that does not fit the audience. Accepting every card can therefore change meaning while reducing visible marks. The final decision belongs with the writer, especially for legal terms, technical instructions, quoted speech, and deliberate informal language.
