Google Docs is where a large share of technical collaboration starts: specs, drafts, internal docs, and blog posts all begin in a Doc. Its built-in spell check is free, automatic, and good at ordinary typos. Here is a neutral look at where that convenience stops when the document contains code.
What the Built-in Checker Covers
- Ordinary spelling mistakes and obvious agreement errors
- "Did you mean" suggestions as you type, no setup required
- Personal dictionary additions, so product names stop being flagged
Where It Stops
Docs' checker is tuned for prose, and developer documents are rarely pure prose:
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Identifiers and commands:
useAuthState,docker compose up -d, and snake_case flags either get flagged or need to be added to the dictionary one by one - Code blocks: pasted code inside a Doc is checked like text unless you format it as code - and once you do, grammar checking stops inside it
- Grammar depth: subtle issues like tense drift in docs or dangling modifiers get missed; the engine prioritizes obvious errors over depth
The Common Workflow Gap
The usual pattern: draft in Google Docs, then move the text to a repository, README, or blog. The Doc-stage check covers prose typos; everything code-adjacent is unchecked until a reviewer squints at it. A code-aware checker such as Lint runs in the browser on the final text - free tier of 5 checks a day, no signup - and skips code by design, closing that gap without changing your Doc workflow.
Bottom line: for a pure-prose internal memo, Google Docs is enough. For anything that will end up in a repo with code blocks in it, add one code-aware pass before merge.
Try Lint's grammar checker - built for text that contains code.
