Mac text replacement not working in Chrome: how to fix it
Chrome on Mac supports macOS Text Replacements, but a menu toggle, the website you're on or the field type can stop them. What to check, and what to use.
The short answer
Chrome for Mac does support macOS Text Replacements, so start with Chrome's own menu: Edit > Substitutions > Text Replacement must have a checkmark. If it does and a shortcut still won't expand, the website is usually the cause. Sites can switch the feature off for their fields, and some web editors handle typing in their own way. For those sites you need a text expander that works outside the browser, such as Espanso or Raycast.
Check the toggle in Chrome's Edit menu
Apple's guide says you turn text replacement on or off per app: "In a document, choose Edit > Substitutions, then choose Text Replacement." A checkmark means it's on. Chrome has this menu. You can see it in Chrome's Mac menu source code, where the Substitutions submenu holds Smart Quotes, Smart Dashes and Text Replacement.
- Click into any text field in Chrome.
- Open Edit > Substitutions in the menu bar.
- If Text Replacement has no checkmark, click it.
- If it already has one, click it twice to switch it off and on again.
That last step sounds silly, but Adam Engst at TidBITS found the toggle switched off in two apps, Mimestream and Arc, and never worked out why. In the TidBITS thread he suggests toggling it off and on if it's already checked, and one reader said a plain restart fixed Safari.
Test in a plain field first
Before you blame Chrome, find out whether the problem is the browser or one website. Type a shortcut you know works, like Apple's built-in omw, followed by a space. Try it in a plain form field such as a search box or a simple contact form.
- If it expands there but not on the site you care about, the site is the problem. Read the next section.
- If it fails everywhere in Chrome but works in TextEdit or Notes, recheck the Edit menu toggle and quit Chrome fully with Cmd+Q.
- If it fails in every app, the problem is macOS itself. See text replacements stopped working after a macOS update.
Why some websites block it
There are three common reasons a shortcut works on one site and not another.
The site turned autocorrect off
Web pages can opt out. A 2019 Chromium change spells out the rule: autocorrect=off on a field "turns off all substitutions", including your text replacements. The same change says spellcheck=false only turns off smart quotes and dashes and leaves your own replacements on. Chrome has no setting that overrides a site's autocorrect=off.
The field type doesn't allow it
A Firefox bug report notes that Safari and Chrome expand text replacements in all input types except password fields. So a shortcut that does nothing in a password box is working as designed.
The site uses its own editor
Rich text editors in web apps often process keystrokes themselves. Zendesk is a documented case. In a 2023 community thread, Zendesk support traced broken Mac text replacements in its reply box to "a known bug with the current/latest versions of CKeditor 5." Google Docs is another case, with its own guide: Mac text replacement not working in Google Docs.
Quick fixes that cost nothing
- Re-save your shortcuts. Several guides and forum posters report that adding a new text replacement in System Settings > Keyboard > Text Replacements and then deleting it wakes up the rest. Guiding Tech describes it, and an Apple Community poster confirmed it worked.
- Restart Chrome, then the Mac. It's dull advice, but it's what fixed Safari for one TidBITS reader.
- Look for the site's own snippets. Some web apps have their own replacement feature that ignores macOS entirely. Google Docs has one under Tools > Preferences > Substitutions, per Google's help page.
When you need it to work on every site
If the site has switched substitutions off, nothing in Chrome or macOS will turn them back on. A system-wide text expander watches what you type and inserts the text itself, without going through the macOS substitution feature. In one Mac Power Users thread, a poster reported that Espanso worked in Google Docs in Chrome, a page where others couldn't get the built-in feature to fire. These are the options I'd look at:
| Tool | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Espanso | Free, open source | Snippets live in YAML files. Install with brew install espanso or from the Mac download. |
| Raycast snippets | Free for personal use, per Raycast's pricing page | Give a snippet a keyword and Raycast expands it in any text field. |
| Text Blaze | Free plan with limited snippets, Pro from $2.99 a month billed yearly | Chrome extension, plus a separate Mac app. |
| TextExpander | Free plan with 5 active snippets, Pro $60 a year | Subscription, aimed at teams. |
| Typinator | $49.99 one-time or $29.99 a year, per TidBITS in August 2026 | Mac app with a one-time option. |
One catch applies to all of them. Espanso's docs explain that macOS Secure Input blocks expanders in password fields, and that a password manager running in the background can leave it stuck on. If an expander stops everywhere at once, quit your password manager and try again.
You don't have to rebuild your list by hand. Apple lets you export your text replacements as a file. Raycast imports snippets from a JSON file or from TextExpander, aText, Espanso and PhraseExpress exports, so you may need to convert Apple's file first.
Summary
- Turn on Edit > Substitutions > Text Replacement in Chrome, or toggle it off and on.
- Test a shortcut in a plain form field to tell a site problem from a Chrome problem.
- Accept that password fields and sites that set
autocorrect=offwon't expand. - For those sites, use a system-wide expander like Espanso, Raycast or Typinator.