How to Get Grammarly in Word on Windows, Mac, and the Web

To get Grammarly in Microsoft Word, install Grammarly’s desktop app: Grammarly for Windows on a PC or Grammarly for Mac on a Mac, then sign in and open Word. You no longer add a separate Word add-in. Grammarly says its older Office add-in for Windows is being retired and its Word add-in for Mac has been discontinued, so the desktop app is the supported route. The same app also covers Word for the web on Windows 10 or later and macOS 11 or later.

A free Grammarly account works in Word. Paid plans add extra features, but you don’t need one to get spelling and grammar suggestions.

Before you install: check the requirements

Grammarly’s support pages list these conditions for Word:

• Windows: Windows 10 or 11, with Microsoft Office 2016 or newer, or a Microsoft 365 version of Office installed or updated after February 2020.
• Mac: macOS 11 or newer on an Apple silicon Mac or an Intel Mac from 2018 or later.
• Word for the web: the Windows or Mac desktop app installed on the computer you use to open Word in your browser.

If your computer is older than this, see the options for older computers near the end of this guide.

Get Grammarly in Word on Windows

1. Close Word so it can pick up Grammarly the next time it opens.
2. Go to Grammarly’s download page for Windows and download Grammarly for Windows.
3. Open the downloaded file and follow the prompts to finish the installation.
4. Sign in with your Grammarly account, or create a free one, when the app asks. The Grammarly icon then appears in the system tray at the lower-right corner of the screen.
5. Open Word and click in a document. Look for the Grammarly tab on the right edge of the screen; hover over the edge if you don’t see it right away.
6. Start typing or open an existing file. Grammarly underlines issues and shows a list of suggestions for the text near your cursor. Click a suggestion to accept it.

Still have the old add-in? If you see a Grammarly for Microsoft Office Suite entry in Windows’ installed apps list, that is the add-in being retired. It will not get security or feature updates, so move to Grammarly for Windows. To remove it, open Settings > Apps, find Grammarly for Microsoft Office Suite in the list, and choose Uninstall.

Get Grammarly in Word on a Mac

1. Download Grammarly for Mac from Grammarly’s website.
2. Open the downloaded file and follow the on-screen prompts to install it.
3. Sign in or create an account. If macOS asks you to grant permissions so Grammarly can read and edit text in other apps, allow them, or Grammarly can’t work in Word.
4. Check that the Grammarly icon appears in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
5. Open Word and switch to View > Print Layout if the document is in Draft, Outline, or Web Layout.
6. Click in the document and start typing. Use the Grammarly tab at the right edge of the screen or the menu bar icon to see suggestions.

Grammarly recommends keeping only one Word document open while you work with it on a Mac.

Use Grammarly in Word for the web

With Grammarly for Windows or Mac running, open your document at Office.com in your browser and start typing. Grammarly suggestions should appear as you write.

If you see a message that Grammarly can’t be used in Word Online, the browser extension is trying to handle the page instead. Click the Grammarly icon in your browser toolbar and turn off Check text with browser extension, then reload the document. Grammarly explains this in its Word Online support article.

If Grammarly doesn’t show up in Word

1. Restart the computer, then open Word again.
2. Make sure Word isn’t blocked. Open Grammarly’s Settings from the tray icon (Windows) or menu bar icon (Mac), select the Block list tab, and remove Word if it’s listed.
3. Quit Grammarly, start it again, and then reopen your Word document.
4. On Windows, update Office. Older builds of Office 2016 may not work with the app.
5. On a Mac, make sure Turn off Grammarly tab isn’t selected in the menu bar icon, and that the Grammarly item is allowed under System Settings > Menu Bar. It may be listed as Grammarly Desktop or Superhuman Apps Manager.

If it still doesn’t appear, Grammarly keeps a detailed checklist in its guide for when Grammarly doesn’t appear in Microsoft Word.

Options for older computers

If your Windows, macOS, or Office version is too old for the desktop app, you can still check a Word document with Grammarly in two ways:

• Upload or paste the document into the Grammarly Editor at app.grammarly.com, fix the issues, and copy the text back.
• Use the Grammarly browser extension for Chrome, Safari, Edge, or Firefox for writing you do on websites.

Common questions

How do I turn Grammarly off in Word?

On a Mac, click the Grammarly icon in the menu bar and choose to turn it off for an hour or until you turn it back on. On either system, you can add Word to the Block list in Grammarly’s settings to stop it in Word only.

Will Grammarly replace Word’s own spelling and grammar checks?

No. Word’s Editor keeps running alongside Grammarly, so you may see both sets of underlines. If that feels cluttered, you can turn off Word’s Editor underlines, or turn Word’s spell check back on later if you uninstall Grammarly.

Can Grammarly check a Word document for plagiarism?

Grammarly’s plagiarism check needs a paid plan. Word has its own option too; see our guide to checking a Word document for plagiarism.

If you only need a readability score, Word can also check the reading level of a document without an add-in.

Matt Wilmont

Matt has been writing about Microsoft Windows and other Microsoft products since the days of Windows XP. He spends much of his time writing for sites like WindowBrain.com