HomeWinBuzzer NewsMicrosoft Wants Chromium Browsers to Use Windows’ Default Spellchecker

Microsoft Wants Chromium Browsers to Use Windows’ Default Spellchecker

A new Chromium commit from Microsoft provides browser users on Windows with the choice of using the platform’s default spellchecker.

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One of the best things to come of 's decision to base its Edge browser on the rendering platform is cross development. Microsoft can create ideas for Chromium, which could then arrive on Edge and 's own Chrome browser. In reverse, additions made to Chrome could also arrive on Edge.

One new tool that Microsoft engineers are working on for Chromium is a change to the current spellchecking tool. Currently, Chromium uses Hunspell, but in a commit, Microsoft proposes using its own Windows spellchecker:

“This CL aims to implement windows spellchecker integration in Chromium project, so that user can switch to use windows spellchecker or hunspell spellchecker at run time.

“We need to implement platform agnostic interfaces to integrate windows spellchecker into Chromium. We also need to refactor some code to enable runtime switch between Windows spellchecker and hunspell spellchecker.”

As this explains, Microsoft does not want to outright replace the Hunspell default. Instead, the company wants Windows users to see another option for spellchecking. When typing, users would see a choice of which tool to use.

“Use the Windows OS spellchecker” is now a part of Chromium builds running through Canary development branch. However, it only seems to be in Canary for and not for Microsoft Edge.

Development

Of course, is still in preview following its release earlier this year. Microsoft has recently introduced the Canary branch to Windows 7 and Windows 8, alongside the Developer channel.

“Delivering the next version of Microsoft Edge to all supported versions of Windows is part of our goal to improve the web browsing experience for our customers on every device, and to empower developers to build great experiences with less fragmentation,” the company said.

Luke Jones
Luke Jones
Luke has been writing about all things tech for more than five years. He is following Microsoft closely to bring you the latest news about Windows, Office, Azure, Skype, HoloLens and all the rest of their products.

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