How to Set Up the Grammarly Chrome Extension for Work

Setting up the Grammarly Chrome extension for work takes less than five minutes: install from the Chrome Web Store, create or sign in to your account, and set your writing goals to match your professional context. The critical step most people skip is configuring the writing goals — telling Grammarly whether your audience is business or academic, and whether your tone should be formal or informative. Without this, Grammarly’s suggestions default to general writing and miss the specific calibration that makes it valuable for workplace email.

Step 1: Install the Extension

Open Chrome and go to the Chrome Web Store. Search for “Grammarly” and click the official extension (it shows the Grammarly logo and has several million users). Click “Add to Chrome,” then “Add extension” in the pop-up.

You’ll see the Grammarly “G” icon appear in your Chrome toolbar. If you don’t see it, click the puzzle piece icon (Extensions) in the toolbar and pin Grammarly to make it visible.

Step 2: Create or Sign In to Your Account

Click the “G” icon in the toolbar. If you have a Grammarly account, sign in. If not, sign up — you can use your Google account or create a separate account with your work email.

If you have Grammarly Premium (or your company provides Teams access), sign in with those credentials. The extension automatically activates Premium features once you’re signed in.

Step 3: Set Your Writing Goals (The Step Most People Skip)

This is the most important configuration step and it’s buried enough that most people never find it.

When you’re writing in any text field — Gmail, Outlook Web, Google Docs, LinkedIn — look for the small Grammarly panel that appears (usually a small “G” icon in the bottom right of the text area). Click it to open the suggestions panel.

In that panel, click the goals icon (it looks like a target). You’ll see options for:

Audience: General, Knowledgeable, Expert Formality: Informal, Neutral, Formal Domain: General, Academic, Business, Email, Casual Intent: Inform, Describe, Convince, Tell a Story

For workplace email, set:

• Audience: Knowledgeable (most colleagues and clients are)
• Formality: Neutral or Formal (depending on your company culture)
• Domain: Business or Email
• Intent: Inform or Convince (depending on the email)

With these settings, Grammarly calibrates suggestions for professional business writing rather than general prose. The difference is significant — you’ll get fewer false positives and more relevant suggestions.

You can change these settings per document. For a casual team Slack message, switch to Informal + General. For an executive update, switch to Formal + Business.

Step 4: Enable or Disable Specific Check Types

In the Grammarly panel, you can turn individual check categories on and off. For workplace writing, the most valuable checks are:

Keep on:

• Correctness (grammar, spelling, punctuation)
• Clarity (wordy phrases, unclear sentences)
• Engagement (varied sentence structure)
• Delivery (tone, politeness, confidence)

Consider turning off if you find it distracting:

• Formatting suggestions in email clients (Grammarly sometimes suggests formatting changes that fight with the email client’s own formatting)

Step 5: Configure Which Sites Grammarly Is Active On

By default, Grammarly is active on all websites. For most professionals, this is fine. But there are sites where you might want to disable it:

• Internal company tools with proprietary formats (Grammarly occasionally interferes with custom text editors)
• Coding environments (turn it off in GitHub, Jira, or code editors accessed through Chrome)
• Any site where your company has strict data handling requirements

To disable Grammarly on a specific site, click the “G” icon in the Chrome toolbar, then toggle the site off from the dropdown.

Step 6: Set Up Grammarly in Gmail Specifically

Gmail has a quirk: Grammarly works well in the compose window but sometimes doesn’t activate in the reply box until you click inside the text area. If you’re not seeing Grammarly suggestions in Gmail, click directly inside the email body text area first.

For the best Gmail experience:

1. Make sure you’re composing or replying (not just viewing)
2. Click inside the text area — the Grammarly icon should appear
3. If it doesn’t, refresh the Gmail tab

Grammarly works in all Gmail compose modes: standard, full-screen, and pop-out.

Step 7: Try the Grammarly Editor for Important Documents

For long documents — a performance review, a client proposal, a formal letter — consider using Grammarly’s standalone editor at app.grammarly.com rather than the extension.

The full editor gives you:

• Document-level analysis with overall scores
• Statistics on clarity, engagement, and delivery
• A full plagiarism checker (Premium feature)
• Goal-setting interface that’s more accessible than the extension version

For daily email and short messages, the extension is more convenient. For long-form writing that goes to senior stakeholders, the full editor is worth the extra step.

Common Setup Problems

Grammarly isn’t showing in some text fields: Some websites block browser extensions from accessing their text areas for security reasons. This is normal. Grammarly can’t work inside native desktop apps like Microsoft Outlook desktop either — for those, use the Grammarly add-in, not the Chrome extension.

Suggestions are appearing too frequently: Adjust the writing goals to match your context more precisely. If you’re writing casual team messages and Grammarly is flagging informal language, switch the formality setting to Informal.

Grammarly slows down your browser: This is rare but can happen on older machines. Try disabling Grammarly on high-traffic sites where you don’t write (news sites, YouTube) while keeping it enabled on Gmail, Google Docs, and Slack.

Grammarly in Other Browsers

If you use multiple browsers at work:

• Firefox: Available as a Firefox add-on from the Mozilla Add-ons store
• Edge: Available from the Microsoft Edge Add-ons store
• Safari: Available as a Safari extension for macOS

The Chrome extension has the most reliable integration with Google Workspace tools. If you primarily use Gmail and Google Docs, Chrome + Grammarly extension is the optimal setup.

For a full assessment of whether Grammarly Premium is worth the cost for your specific workflow, see our Grammarly review and Grammarly free vs. Premium comparison.

FAQ

Does the Grammarly Chrome extension work with Gmail?

Yes. Grammarly integrates directly into Gmail’s compose window and reply box. You’ll see a small Grammarly icon in the bottom right of the text area when you’re writing. Click it to see full suggestions.

Is the Grammarly Chrome extension free?

The extension itself is free to install. The free Grammarly account includes basic grammar and spelling correction. Tone detection, advanced clarity suggestions, and other Premium features require a paid subscription.

Does Grammarly Chrome extension work with Microsoft 365 in Chrome?

Yes, if you use Outlook or Word in the Chrome browser (the web versions). Grammarly doesn’t work in the Microsoft 365 desktop applications — for those, you need the separate Grammarly for Microsoft Office add-in.

Can my employer see what I write when I use Grammarly?

Grammarly processes your text through its servers to provide suggestions. Your employer cannot see this through Grammarly. However, your employer can see your work activity through other corporate monitoring tools. Always check your company’s data policies if you handle sensitive information.

How do I turn off Grammarly for one email without disabling it entirely?

Click the Grammarly icon in the text area of the email you’re composing, then click the toggle to pause Grammarly for that session. This disables suggestions for the current document without turning off the extension globally.