Writing high-quality content is crucial for communicating ideas effectively. However, editing and proofreading written work can be tedious and time-consuming. This is where Grammarly comes in handy.
Grammarly is an automated proofreading tool that checks for grammar, punctuation, spelling, word choice, and style errors. It’s designed to help you write clear, mistake-free text.
The good news is that Grammarly works directly within Google Docs, making it easy to improve your writing as you create documents. This integration allows you to leverage Grammarly’s robust editing features without leaving your Doc.
In this article, I’ll walk you through exactly how to use Grammarly in Google Docs to refine your writing.
Installing the Grammarly Google Docs Add-On
The first step is to install Grammarly’s add-on for Google Docs, which only takes a minute.
Here’s how to do it:
- Open Google Docs in your web browser and ensure you’re logged into your Google account.
- Click the Extensions menu in the toolbar and select Get add-ons.
- In the add-ons window, search for “Grammarly”.
- Find the listing for Grammarly for Google Docs and click + Free to install it.
- A pop-up will ask you to authorize Grammarly to work with your Google account. Click Allow.
Once the add-on finishes installing, you’ll see the Grammarly panel added to the right side of your Docs screen. This means Grammarly is now active and ready to provide writing suggestions as you type.
Using Grammarly Suggestions in Google Docs
With Grammarly installed, you can start taking advantage of its automated proofreading recommendations.
As you begin typing text into a Google Doc, Grammarly will scan your writing and highlight any issues it detects. Common mistakes like grammar errors, spelling mistakes, punctuation mistakes, repetitive words, and more will be flagged.
The highlights appear right in your text, allowing you to quickly identify areas that need editing. Hover over a highlighted section to view Grammarly’s suggestion for correcting the error.
For example, if Grammarly spots a tense error, it may suggest changing “run” to “ran” based on the context. The available fixes will update dynamically as you continue writing.
I recommend going through your text periodically and reviewing Grammarly’s flagged issues. Determine which suggestions to accept or ignore based on what makes the most sense for conveying your message accurately.
As you accept changes, the highlights will disappear, leaving you with a clean document.
Leveraging the Grammarly Panel
In addition to in-text highlights, Grammarly provides robust writing feedback through the panel on the right side of your Doc. This is where you’ll find an overview of critical metrics like:
- The number of errors detected, such as grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.
- A vocabulary enhancement score assessing your range of word choice.
- An overall readability score judging how easy your text is to understand.
Reviewing these metrics allows you to pinpoint major areas for improvement in your writing.
You can click into each category to see Grammarly’s detailed suggestions for strengthening your work. For example, in the vocabulary section, you may find recommendations for more advanced words to substitute common ones you overuse.
Spending time thoroughly evaluating this feedback can significantly enhance your writing clarity and precision.
Enabling Advanced Checks
By default, Grammarly runs essential proofreading checks as you type. However, for an even more comprehensive analysis, you can enable advanced settings.
In the Grammarly panel, toggle on options like:
- Tone detection – Checks if your writing comes across as confident, friendly, excited etc.
- Clarity-focused sentence rewrites – Suggests alternative phrasing to articulate ideas more clearly.
- Formatting consistency checks – Ensures formatting like headings, bullets, bolding, etc. is applied properly.
- Plagiarism checks – Compares your text to a database to check for copied content.
- Fluency checks – Assesses how smoothly your sentences connect ideas.
- All-inclusive writing checks – Aggregates all advanced recommendations into one in-depth review.
I recommend experimenting with these add-ons to uncover areas where your writing can improve. The premium version of Grammarly provides even more robust functionality.
Reviewing Changes and Suggestions
Once you finish drafting your document, I suggest doing one final pass through Grammarly’s proposals.
You can click the flag icon in the panel to quickly jump between highlighted sections. Carefully consider each suggestion and accept or reject edits as appropriate.
Double check that any changes you approve make sense in the broader context of your writing. Don’t blindly incorporate recommendations without understanding why they are proposed.
It can also help to switch between Grammarly’s simple view and full view for a second opinion. Simple view provides an overview, while full view displays more details about each correction.
Spending this last bit of time finalizing your draft can really polish your work before sending it out into the world.
Wrapping Up
Installing Grammarly directly in Google Docs makes it incredibly simple to write mistake-free documents. As you type, Grammarly will flag potential errors and provide suggestions to resolve issues quickly.
Leveraging the detailed feedback in the Grammarly panel can help you fine-tune your word choice, sentence structure, tone, and more. And enabling advanced checks takes your automated proofreading to the next level.
With some practice incorporating Grammarly’s recommendations over time, you’ll hone your writing skills and ability to communicate ideas clearly and effectively.
