Catch your mistakes with the help of these five proofreading apps

Catch your mistakes with the help of these five proofreading apps

I’ve written a lot over the years. In fact, between tech\r\narticles and fiction, I write more than five thousand words a day. For my\r\nfiction, I depend upon beta readers, editors, and proofers to see what I\r\ncannot. For everything else, I depend upon proofreading tools. You’d be\r\nsurprised just how many apps and services exist for that very purpose. But\r\nwhich tools are right for the job?

I’m going to outline my five favorite proofing tools. Out of\r\nthat list, you should find one or two to integrate into your process. With the\r\nhelp of these tools, your marketing material, correspondence, and business communications\r\nwill be far more professional.

Note: This gallery is also available as an article.

Google Docs Consistency Checker

Using this tool is one of the fastest ways to ensure a level\r\nof consistency throughout your documents. Install Consistency Checker in the\r\nsame way you install any Google Docs add-on. Once it’s installed (and with your\r\ndocument open), go to Add-ons, click Consistency Checker | Open, and then click\r\nScan (when prompted). You can then go through the various checks by clicking\r\nNext after each pass is complete.

One nice feature is that you\r\nwill be informed of how many contractions your document contains. Consistency Checker\r\nwill then remind you to change those, if you’re writing a formal document.\r\nConsistency checker is an extension of the Intelligent Editing online service and is\r\nfree.

Text-to-speech

This approach may be less than ideal, so if you have a Kindle Reader, you might want to upload a\r\n.mobi version of your document and have it read aloud. (Converting to .mobi is\r\nsimple using Calibre.)