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What is document domain, and how do I change it?

Note: Document domains are available with Grammarly Pro, Grammarly Premium, Grammarly Business, and Grammarly for Education. 

About domains 

You can select the style of the document that best corresponds to the type of writing you are checking in order to get the most accurate and relevant suggestions. Grammarly Premium includes six document domains:  

  • General 
  • Academic
  • Business
  • Email
  • Creative
  • Casual

General is a good one to start with if you are unsure about which style to pick. 

All the styles apply most of Grammarly’s spelling, grammar, and punctuation checks. Below is a list that details the variations among the styles, from most to least formal:

Academic

Academic is the strictest style of writing. On top of catching grammar and punctuation issues, Grammarly will make suggestions around passive voice, contractions, and informal pronouns (I, you), and will point out unclear antecedents (e.g., sentences starting with “This is…”).

Business

The business style setting checks the text against formal writing criteria. However, unlike the Academic domain, it allows the use of some informal expressions, informal pronouns, and unclear antecedents.

General

This is the default style and uses a medium level of strictness. 

Email

The email genre is similar to the General domain and helps ensure that your email communication is engaging. In addition to catching grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes, Grammarly also points out the use of overly direct language that may sound harsh to a reader. 

Casual

Casual is designed for informal types of writing and ignores most style issues. It does not flag contractions, passive voice, informal pronouns, who-versus-whom usage, split infinitives, or run-on sentences. This style is suitable for personal communication.

Creative

This is the most permissive style. It catches grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes but allows some leeway for those who want to intentionally bend grammar rules to achieve certain effects. Creative doesn’t flag sentence fragments (missing subjects or verbs), wordy sentences, colloquialisms, informal pronouns, passive voice, incomplete comparisons, or run-on sentences.

Changing domains

To change your domain/document type in the Grammarly Editor, select Goals on the right. In the window that opens next, select the corresponding domain option:  

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Note: If you don’t see the Goals button, click Correct with Assistant first. 

You can also get customized suggestions by selecting the Intent, Audience, and Formality.

For more information about the goals feature, visit this page

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