Spelling, and teaching the app a word
The Pages view of the script editor checks your spelling as you type, underlining what it does not recognise. It is built to stay quiet about the things a screenplay is full of that no dictionary knows.
What is checked, and what is not
- Prose is checked: action lines, dialogue, parentheticals.
- Scene headings, character names and transitions are not. "INT. HARDWARE STORE - DAY" and "CUT TO:" are conventions, not sentences; underlining them would redden most of the page.
- Your cast and your locations are already known. Every character's name and every location's name is taught to the checker when the page opens, so "Vance" is not a mistake in a script about Mara Vance.
- Made-up compounds are fine: "blood-stained", "pitch-black", "dry-swallows" are ordinary English that no dictionary lists whole, so each half is checked instead.
Fixing a word
Right-click an underlined word. The menu lists likely corrections; pick one and it replaces the word. Arrow keys and Enter work too.
Teaching it a word
The same menu ends with Add "word" to dictionary. Choose it and the word stops being underlined — for the whole project, on every computer, and for everyone who works on it. That is the right home for an invented brand, a place that is not a Location, a minor character who only ever appears in prose, or a plain word the dictionary happens not to have ("duffel", "corkboard").
Changed your mind? Right-click the word again and choose Remove "word" from dictionary.
For a minor character, there is a better answer
If the name keeps coming up, make them a Character. Then the checker learns the name automatically, their lines are counted, and a rename reaches every mention — none of which a dictionary entry can do.
The Script view is different
The Script view uses your browser's own spell-checker, the same one that underlines words in any web form. It cannot be taught by the app, so a word you add on the Pages view may still be underlined there. Your browser usually has its own "add to dictionary" for that, which is per browser rather than per project.