Grammarly for Windows and Mac doesn’t appear in Microsoft Word

Note: We recently introduced a new experience to Grammarly for Windows that lets you switch from the widget to a tab that appears on the edge of your screen. If Grammarly no longer appears, this may be why.

To switch back to the widget, find the Grammarly icon in the system tray, right-click it, choose Settings, and turn off the Use docked chat launcher option:

To learn more about the new experience, see this article: Grammarly for Windows and Grammarly for Mac user guide

Grammarly for Windows supports the following versions of Microsoft Office:

• Microsoft Office 2016 and newer
• Microsoft Office 365 (installed/updated after February 2020)

To check the details of your Microsoft Office version, follow the instructions in this Microsoft Support article. If you are running an older version of Microsoft Office 2016, we suggest installing the latest updates before proceeding.

If you use Microsoft Office 2016 or newer and still experience this issue, please follow the steps below:

1. Check if Grammarly was turned off for any websites or apps:
   1. Find the Grammarly icon in the system tray (located in the lower-right corner of your screen near the system tray clock). Click it and choose Settings:
      
   2. If the Grammarly icon is not present in your system tray, click Type here to search next to the Start menu, type in “Grammarly,” and launch the Grammarly app. Alternatively, double-click the Grammarly thumbnail on your desktop. Then, select Settings in the window that appears on your screen:
      
   3. Select the Block List tab. If Grammarly is deactivated for certain websites or apps, the list of such websites and apps will appear in this tab.
2. Restart Grammarly:
   1. Find and click the Grammarly icon in the system tray (located in the lower-right corner of your screen), and choose Quit Grammarly:
      
   2. Click Type here to search next to the Start menu, type in “Grammarly,” and launch the Grammarly app. Alternatively, double-click the Grammarly thumbnail on your desktop.
3. Restart the app or refresh the website where you are currently editing your text.
4. If this didn’t help, please contact Support. To expedite the resolution of the issue, we recommend that you retrieve and attach the Grammarly for Windows logs and a video recorded while retrieving them.

The floating Grammarly icon was replaced by the Grammarly tab on the right edge of your screen. If you can’t find the Grammarly tab on your screen when hovering over the right edge of your screen, please click the Grammarly icon in the menu bar and ensure that Turn off Grammarly tab is not selected:

If it is selected, we recommend clicking it again to deselect it. This will re-enable the Grammarly tab on your screen.

Additionally, please make sure that you have only one Microsoft Office document open. If you open two documents simultaneously, Grammarly for Mac will launch in only one of them.

Moreover, Grammarly doesn’t work in Microsoft Word when the Outline, Draft, or Web layout is selected. If one of those options is selected, follow these steps to change the setting:

1. In your Microsoft Word menu, select View.
2. Select Print Layout:
   

If the above steps don’t apply, please follow the steps below:

1. Check if Grammarly is turned off for any websites or apps:
   1. Find the Grammarly icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen, and click Settings:
      
       
   2. If there’s no Grammarly icon in your system menu bar, open Launchpad and select Grammarly Desktop. Alternatively, open Finder, select Applications in the Finder sidebar, and double-click Grammarly Desktop. Then, click Settings in the window that appears on your screen:
      
   3. Select the Block List tab. If Grammarly is deactivated for certain websites or apps, the list of those websites and apps will appear under Blocked by you or Blocked by admin. Make sure the app or site you’re trying to use is not listed.
2. Restart Grammarly:
3. Find and click the Grammarly button in the menu bar located at the top of your screen, and choose Quit:
   
4. Open Launchpad and select Grammarly Desktop. Alternatively, open Finder, select Applications in the Finder sidebar, and double-click Grammarly Desktop.
5. Restart the app or refresh the website where you are currently editing your text.