How to turn off the predictive text feature in Gmail, or add predictive text personalization

Gmail's Smart Compose feature can help you type emails faster as it offers suggestions for words and phrases as you type. The predictive text is "powered by machine learning," according to Google. To accept a text suggestion, you simply press the tab key or the right arrow key. This predictive text feature is turned on

2020-09-11T18:54:00Z
  • You can turn off the predictive text feature in Gmail, known as Smart Compose, if you don't want suggested text to appear as you type. 
  • To accept a predictive text suggestion, press the tab key, or the right arrow key.
  • To turn off predictive text, go to your Gmail settings.

Gmail's Smart Compose feature can help you type emails faster as it offers suggestions for words and phrases as you type. The predictive text is "powered by machine learning," according to Google. 

To accept a text suggestion, you simply press the tab key or the right arrow key. This predictive text feature is turned on by default, but you can turn it off with just a few clicks. Here's how it's done.

How to turn off predictive text in Gmail

Since Smart Compose is a Google account-level setting, turning off this feature on a desktop will also turn it off for all other devices where your account is signed in (like your phone or tablet).

1. On your computer, go to your Gmail inbox.

2. In the top right corner, click the "Settings" icon, which looks like a gear.

Select the "Settings" icon. Abigail Abesamis Demarest/Business Insider

3. Click "See all settings."

In the "Settings" pop-up, select "See all settings." Abigail Abesamis Demarest/Business Insider

4. Navigate to the "General" tab, then scroll down to "Smart Compose."

In the "General" tab, scroll down to the "Smart Compose" section. Abigail Abesamis Demarest/Business Insider

5. Select "Writing suggestions off." 

6. You'll get a notification on the bottom left of the screen that "Your preferences have been saved." If you don't, scroll down and click "Save Changes."

How to turn custom suggestions in Gmail on or off

Gmail's predictive text feature automatically offers suggestions that are based on your writing style. It's called Smart Compose personalization and can also be turned on or off (with "on" as the default option). When personalization is off and predictive text is on, Gmail will offer generic text suggestions as you type.

1. On your computer, go to your Gmail inbox.

2. In the top right corner, click the "Settings" icon, which looks like a gear.

3. Click "See all settings."

4. Navigate to the "General" tab, then scroll down to "Smart Compose personalization."

In the "General" tab, go to the "Smart Compose personalization" section. Abigail Abesamis Demarest/Business Insider

5. Select "Personalization off."

6. You'll get a notification on the bottom left of the screen that "Your preferences have been saved." If you don't, scroll down and click "Save Changes."

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spanAbigail Abesamis Demarest is a contributing writer for Insider based in New York. She loves a good glazed donut and nerdy deep dives into the science of food and how it's made. /span Abigail Abesamis Demarest Abigail Abesamis Demarest is a contributing writer for Insider based in New York. She loves a good glazed donut and nerdy deep dives into the science of food and how it's made.  Read more Read less

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