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By default, the results of running M-x ispell-buffer in org-mode are very disappointing.

  1. Ispell looks inside :PROPERTY: drawers, which commonly contain things like 

    :ID:       797495bd-581b-4a42-883b-c2a55a08f08a

  2. It tries to correct org statements! For instance, it complains about the SRC in

    #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp

  3. It goes inside org-blocks. I suppose this might be useful for blocks like #+BEGIN_QUOTE, but in source code blocks that’s just silly.

Is there a package that fixes all this?

I’d love to spell-check my writing but the amount of false-positives I’m getting makes it unfeasible.

If it matters, the OS's spell checker is aspell.

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9
  • There is a flyspell predicate for org-mode (check (get 'org-mode 'flyspell-mode-predicate)), but I'm not sure how that could be generalised for ispell-buffer.
    – legoscia
    Commented Sep 29, 2014 at 13:03
  • @legoscia Ispell has a variable called ispell-parser, so flyspell's predicate might work well there with a wrapper around it.
    – Malabarba
    Commented Sep 29, 2014 at 13:11
  • 1
    I use flyspell and hunspell and I don't see that behavior. Anything in lines with #+ or in source code blocks is not spell-checked. But normal text under headings is checked. I have these in my flyspell setup: (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode), (add-hook 'org-mode-hook 'turn-on-flyspell)
    – Kaushal Modi
    Commented Sep 29, 2014 at 13:40
  • @kaushalmodi Yeah, flyspell is smarter than ispell. Unfortunately, flyspell is a little demanding for my laptops processing power :(. It's not unusable, but it's a little annoying, which is why I was trying ispell.
    – Malabarba
    Commented Sep 29, 2014 at 13:44
  • 3
    Have you seen Can I prevent ispell from checking source blocks? in orgmode.org/worg/org-faq.html ?
    – rvf0068
    Commented Oct 10, 2014 at 1:55

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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As rvf0068 suggested, ispell can be configured to skip over regions that match regexes. For example, to skip over :PROPERTIES: and :LOGBOOK: drawers as well as SRC blocks, you could put this in your .emacs file:

(add-to-list 'ispell-skip-region-alist '(":\\(PROPERTIES\\|LOGBOOK\\):" . ":END:"))
(add-to-list 'ispell-skip-region-alist '("#\\+BEGIN_SRC" . "#\\+END_SRC"))

(I'm new to StackExchange, so if I've broken etiquette or rules by expanding on rvf0068's answer please let me know.)

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5
9

If you use flyspell instead, see How does one use flyspell in org buffers without flyspell triggering on tangled code blocks?

Please note: ispell-skip-region-alist is NOT used by flyspell.

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