# When do you correct your typos? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 19, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445 "2011-05-19T14:11:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/1 "2011-05-19T14:11:17Z")
I generally correct my typos immediately, as in before completing the word. Occasionally I’ll complete the sentence then go back. Assuming you notice them, when do you correct your typing errors? ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/2 "2011-05-19T14:23:45Z")
The really obvious ones I correct immediately, although when it’s something for work I always reread it before submitting/printing just to make sure I didn’t miss punctuation or a misspelled word somewhere. And then I usually do anyway. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/3 "2011-05-19T14:32:53Z")
Immmedatly ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/4 "2011-05-19T14:35:25Z")
Type type tipe ty. . . backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace . . . ype type type. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/5 "2011-05-19T14:53:30Z")
I’m always reviewing for typos. Most of them I catch immediately, some I catch when reading over the post before submission, and a rare few I catch directly after posting. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/6 "2011-05-19T16:40:13Z")
The typos caught by the spell checker get corrected immediately. Otherwise I check for typos after every sentence, and then after I look over the whole document. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/7 "2011-05-19T17:49:46Z")
Most of the typing I do is just posting to boards like the Dope. My browser has a built in spellchecker, so I’ll take note of any misspellings and correct them then. Then, I’ll preview my post to see if there are any other errors. Then I’ll correct one more time before submitting. Even then, I don’t catch everything so I try to edit before my 5 minutes are up. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/8 "2011-05-19T17:49:47Z")
Only after I’m done. IMHO, stopping to correct is a waste of time - whatever spellcheck doesn’t catch, my proofing will. Of course, I’m a terrible typeist, averaging two typos or misspellings per sentence, many of them repeated. If I stopped to fix them I’d never finish. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/9 "2011-05-19T18:10:31Z")
To paraphrase Stephen King: The first time I am writing for me, and I don’t care about typos. The second time I am typing for my reader, who probably does care. So I type the whole document, then correct. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/10 "2011-05-19T18:46:35Z")
i’m too anal to let a word, let alone a sentence, go w/o correcting, altho auto-correct catches most of it. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/11 "2011-05-19T18:46:58Z")
There are writers who edit and editors who write. I’m the latter. I babble on without regard to content but always paying very close attention to my spelling and punctuation. Then I go back and reproof the content to make sure it’s what I want to say. Which is pretty much bass-ackwards of what every writer says. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/12 "2011-05-19T19:10:57Z")
the only time i ever used to not correct everything immediately was when i was a newspaper reporter. when you’re facing a noon deadline and you get to work at 7am, sometimes getting a story to bed in time was a major hassle. i learned quickly to ‘throw something up on the word-processor’ (yes, you young whippersnappers, i said word-processor and not computer :D). that way, you’re looking at something in front of you and can start shaping your story from there. if you didn’t do that, you were looking at a blank screen and the longer you did, the harder it was to start something - anything. after i got it ‘on paper,’ then i went back and polished it up. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/13 "2011-05-20T02:53:21Z")
I usually correct my typos as soon as I see them…if not sooner. If I’m on a keyboard I’m comfortable with, I can often “feel” the typo before I see it. It’s not unusual for me to hit a wrong key, “notice” it a few keys later, press a few backspaces and keep going…without processing it consciously and visually. But the rest of the time…it’s when I see them…close enough to immediately. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/14 "2011-05-20T04:20:52Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > To paraphrase Stephen King: > > The first time I am writing for me, and I don’t care about typos. > > The second time I am typing for my reader, who probably does care. > > So I type the whole document, then correct. Odd, that. Just reading that pings my anal-retentive anxiety meter. I just can’t NOT make the correction immediately. Wonder if there’s a deeper personality trait working here…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/15 "2011-05-21T08:00:14Z")
I leave it if I’m in the zone, but otherwise go back and correct it immediately. I particularly won’t do it if I don’t immediately know what’s wrong, as I’ll take the time to figure that out later. Or, more likely, just use spell check. Oh, and there’s always the possibility that I don’t notice until backspacing would be inefficient. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-correct-your-typos/582445/16 "2011-05-21T08:06:30Z")
As soon as I see them.