Grammarly is a tool that helps with writing and communication. While you write, Grammarly will help you with accuracy, clarity, engagement, and delivery of your writing. In addition to helping with spelling and grammar, Grammarly can help people with dyslexia, ADHD, and more.
The writing tool will work in any application you use for writing, including Outlook, Teams, and Word. If you have access to the premium version of the tool, you can receive advanced suggestions that help you improve your writing skills.
If you prefer Grammarly over Microsoft Editor, this article will help you get started using Grammarly along with providing resources for the writing tool.
Before installing the application, you will need to create a free account.
Currently, Grammarly only supports English.
Installing the Grammarly Desktop Application
To use Grammarly in desktop applications like Microsoft Word, Teams, and Outlook, you will need to download and install Grammarly for Windows.
Go to the Grammarly for Windows download page to download and install the Grammarly assistant.
If you only wish to use Grammarly with Microsoft 365 (formerly Office) applications, you can download the Grammarly for Microsoft Office assistant.
Installing the Grammarly Browser Extension
If you just want to use the Grammarly assistant in your web browser, you can go to that web browser's extension store and install Grammarly from there.
Getting Started with Grammarly
You will know Grammarly is active when you see a green "G" in the lower right corner of the text field you’re writing in. For example, if you are typing in Outlook, you will see the green Grammarly logo in the bottom right of the Outlook window.
As you start typing, you can set goals for how you want your text to sound and Grammarly will give suggestions based on those options. You can change:
- Audience: Who is this piece directed at? Are the knowledgeable about the subject you are writing about?
- Formality: Should the text sound formal, or is it meant to be more casual?
- Domain: What is the setting of the text? (academic, business, casual, etc.)
- Tone: Makes suggestions based on how you want the text to sound. (neutral, optimistic, confident, urgent, respectful, etc.)
- Intent: What are you trying to do with the text? Inform the reader, convince the reader, tell a story, etc.?
Goals
As you start typing, you can set goals for how you want your text to sound and Grammarly will give suggestions based on those options. You can change:
- Audience: Who is this piece directed at? Are the knowledgeable about the subject you are writing about?
- Formality: Should the text sound formal, or is it meant to be more casual?
- Domain: What is the setting of the text? (academic, business, casual, etc.)
- Tone: Makes suggestions based on how you want the text to sound. (neutral, optimistic, confident, urgent, respectful, etc.)
- Intent: What are you trying to do with the text? Inform the reader, convince the reader, tell a story, etc.?
Corrections
As you type, basic writing corrections will appear inline with your text. Clicking the green G allows you to open a more robust pop-up editor. From here, you can cycle through recommended corrections and access Premium corrections.
Grammarly will notify you of various corrections and suggestions as you are writing. It will also explain why it is making a suggestion to teach you good writing skills. You will see fixes for:
- spelling errors
- punctuation errors
- sentence structure suggestions
- run-on sentence suggestions
- passive voice errors
- and more
Writing Score
Grammarly will score your writing as you type. This score is based off of several factors. First, the goals you set for the text. Second, the Flesch Reading Ease Test. This second one is important to ensure your text can be read by everyone, and to be more inclusive to people with cognitive disabilities. Lastly, your vocabulary is the last factor that impacts the score.
Grammarly User Guides
Please visit the following user guides from Grammarly support for additional information on how the application works. These guides discuss features that were not covered in this article like setting up a personal dictionary.