How to disable auto-capitalization on Mac

macOS automatically capitalizes the first letter after a period and a space. It's a sensible default for prose — but it fights you constantly when you're writing code, poetry, command-line arguments, lowercase variable names, or informal messages where sentence case isn't what you want.

When auto-capitalization gets in the way

The feature triggers reliably whenever macOS sees a period (or other sentence-ending punctuation) followed by a space, then a new word. That pattern comes up in a lot of places that have nothing to do with English sentences:

• Code and terminal commands. Many programming conventions use lowercase: snake_case variables, lowercase module names, kebab-case filenames. If you type a method call ending with . and start the next line, macOS capitalizes it.
• Poetry and creative writing. Lowercase line starts are a deliberate stylistic choice in a lot of poetry. Auto-capitalization forces you into a constant battle of pressing Shift after every line break or manually fixing the letter afterward.
• Messaging and notes. In quick informal messages — "ok. sounds good. let me know" — macOS capitalizes "Sounds" and "Let", which looks weirdly formal for the context.
• Version numbers and filenames. Typing v1.2.3 or config.local.env in a text field can trigger unexpected capitalization on the character after each dot, depending on what follows.
• Command-line flags and option names. If you draft a shell command in a Notes or TextEdit window before pasting it into Terminal, capitalization errors can produce commands that silently fail or match the wrong flag.

Turn it off in System Settings (macOS 13 Ventura and later)

The setting lives in the same Keyboard panel as autocorrect and smart quotes:

1. Open System Settings (Apple menu → System Settings).
2. Click Keyboard in the sidebar.
3. Next to "Text Input", click Edit…
4. Uncheck "Capitalize words automatically". On some macOS 13–15 builds this label reads "Capitalize sentences automatically" — it's the same setting.
5. Click Done.

The change applies immediately in most apps. If you're in the middle of typing in an app and don't see the change, quit the app and reopen it.

On macOS 12 Monterey and earlier, the path is System Preferences → Keyboard → Text, and the checkbox is directly visible in the list — no Edit button required.

Turn it off with a Terminal command

One line in Terminal covers the global preference:

# disable automatic sentence capitalization
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticCapitalizationEnabled -bool false

After running this, quit and reopen any app where you want the change to take effect. Some apps cache the preference at launch and won't pick it up until they restart.

To turn auto-capitalization back on:

# restore automatic sentence capitalization
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticCapitalizationEnabled -bool true

To remove the override entirely and let macOS fall back to its built-in default (which is enabled):

# delete the override key — macOS default is on
defaults delete NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticCapitalizationEnabled

How to re-enable auto-capitalization

Go back to System Settings → Keyboard → Text Input → Edit and re-check the "Capitalize words automatically" box. Or run the -bool true Terminal command above and relaunch your apps. It's the same two steps in reverse.

Does this affect all apps?

The global setting controls any app that uses Apple's native text input system — which is most of them: Notes, Mail, Messages, TextEdit, Safari's address bar and form fields, Pages, Reminders, Calendar, and so on.

Apps that handle their own text input are not affected:

• VS Code (Electron) and most web-based tools do their own text handling. The macOS preference has no effect inside them.
• Xcode manages capitalization for its code editor independently. Commit message fields and other standard text fields inside Xcode do follow the system setting.
• Word and Google Docs (in a browser) both have their own AutoCorrect or autocapitalize controls. Turn them off in each app's settings if needed.

If you turn auto-capitalization off globally but still want it in one app — say Pages for long-form writing — Pages doesn't yet offer a per-app override for this specific setting. In that case, leaving the global setting on and manually pressing Delete to undo the capitalization (immediately after it happens) is the workaround most writers use.

Related text substitution settings

Auto-capitalization sits alongside several other substitution features in the same panel. If you're already in there tweaking, it's worth reviewing the full list: autocorrect, smart quotes, smart dashes, and double-space-to-period. Disabling the ones that get in your way is independent for each — you don't have to turn them all off or leave them all on.