Private Writing AssistantDoes a grammar checker work offline?
A grammar checker that runs in the cloud needs an internet connection for every check, because each one is a request to a server. One that runs on your device keeps working offline. Private Writing Assistant is the second kind: once Chrome has downloaded its built-in model, checking and rewriting work without a connection.
Why cloud checkers stop when the connection does
A cloud checker sends your text to its servers and waits for the suggestions to come back. Without a connection, nothing comes back: the underlines stop appearing and your text goes unchecked, often without any warning. On a slow or patchy connection, suggestions arrive late or not at all, which is almost worse, because you can't tell a clean sentence from an unchecked one.
What works offline in Private Writing Assistant
Checking and rewriting run on your computer with Chrome Built-in AI, so they don't need a connection:
- Spelling and grammar underlines as you type, in all 101 languages.
- One-click fixes, and Fix all for a whole text box or a Google Docs page.
- Rewrite, in all eight styles.
Of course, the page you're writing in has to work offline too. A text box that's already open keeps working; a web app that needs the internet to save your text won't save it, whatever the checker does.
What still needs a connection
- The model download, once. It's a few gigabytes, Chrome needs an unmetered connection for it, and checking starts by itself when it's done.
- Installing and updating the extension from the Chrome Web Store.
- Sending feedback through the “Send feedback” form, if you choose to.
None of these involve the text you check.
Test it yourself
- Open a page with a text box, for example a draft email, and let the extension finish its first check.
- Switch off Wi-Fi or turn on airplane mode.
- Type a sentence with a mistake in it.
I recieved you're message yesterday.
I received your message yesterday.
The underlines appear as usual: one for the misspelled “recieved”, one for “you're”, which is a real word in the wrong place and needs the whole sentence to spot. Click one and the fix works. It's also the simplest proof that the check happens on your computer: with no connection, there's nowhere else it could happen.
Why offline matters even when you're online
Most of the time you'll have a connection. Offline support still tells you two useful things. First, the checker doesn't depend on the quality of your network, so it behaves the same in a train, a hotel or an office that blocks outside services. Second, it's a test you can run yourself instead of taking a privacy promise on trust.
If your computer can't run Chrome Built-in AI yet, Will it run on my computer? explains each requirement and how to check it.
Add Private Writing Assistant to Chrome for spelling, grammar and rewriting that keep working on a plane. The FAQ answers the rest.
