Korean Writing Tools

Let this be the chapter that proves why ObsiKO is the ultimate Korean-optimized editor. Spell checking, word-spacing correction, and a rock-solid dictionary — all without ever breaking your writing flow. ✍️

← Home: ObsiKO 101

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Thorough spell checking 🕵️‍♀️

• Open the Spell Check tab in the right panel. It scans your writing and corrects it in no time. It detects the language automatically, but you can also pick it yourself (Auto / Korean (ObsiKO) / Korean (Naver) / Korean (Barun Hangul) / English / Japanese / Chinese / ✨ AI check).
• Korean (ObsiKO · beta) ✍️: with the language on Auto, Korean text is checked by the ObsiKO spelling server (on the web too). It finds spacing, particle, keyboard-typo and one-letter mistakes like 할수 있다 → 할 수 있다, 정말좋다 → 정말 좋다, 수 많은 → 수많은, 책를 → 책을, 몰랏다 → 몰랐다, 헀다 → 했다 and 햇갈린다 → 헷갈린다, along with common misspellings like 역활 → 역할 and non-standard words like 놀래키다 → 놀래다. Fix the certain ones in one go with [Fix all certain ones] (one undo puts everything back); dialogue inside quotes may be deliberate, so it's fixed one at a time. It also fixes the spacing right next to a fix in one go — 확인 할수 → 확인할 수, 해야되요 → 해야 돼요. Words that can be right depending on context (정답을 맞추다, 가게에 들렸다가 → 들렀다가) and loanword spellings (데스크탑 → 데스크톱) are only flagged under 'Worth a look'. Words you've fixed several times in the spell checker show up under 'Words I often fix'. Each result carries a badge — Spelling, Spacing, Non-standard, Loanword spelling or Phrasing — so you can see at a glance what's wrong. If the server can't be reached, you'll see a note and a [Try again] button.
• Fix it right from the underline 〰️: ObsiKO's results are also underlined in your text — a wavy underline for mistakes and a dotted one for 'Worth a look'. Click an underline and a small box pops up right there, where you can pick the fix or press [Ignore], [Add exception] or [Add to My dictionary]. Close the spell check panel and the underlines go away too.
• Dialogue stays as written 💬: dialogue inside quotes is how a character talks. Dialect and North Korean spellings, a trailing double period (그..그건) and sounds like moans or laughs (하읏·킄) inside dialogue aren't flagged, and the -구요 ending only shows up under 'Worth a look'. Real spacing and spelling mistakes are still flagged inside dialogue, to be fixed one at a time. Certain spacing fixes outside dialogue (할것 → 할 것) go into [Fix all certain ones] in one go, and afterwards it tells you how many spots in dialogue it left as is (quotes nested inside quotes still count as dialogue to the end). A character name that appears many times in your story isn't flagged as a North Korean spelling (로동 → 노동).
• Genre terms and names stay as written 🗡️: about 270 web-novel genre terms (이동마법 'teleportation magic' · 각성자 'awakener' · 회빙환) and fragments of foreign names or work titles aren't called mistakes. Fixing items one by one doesn't reload the list from the top — you can keep going right where you were.
• Spacing consistency: when one note mixes two spellings that are both correct — like 먹어 버렸다 and 먹어버렸다 (a helper verb written with or without a space) — neither is called a mistake. A card below the results simply reports something like 'Joined 3 · Spaced 5'. Press [Space them all] or [Join where allowed] to settle on one style in a single step (one undo brings it all back), or [Leave as is] and it won't ask again for that note until the counts change. Places where joining could be wrong or change the meaning are left alone — when the main verb is long or a compound, or when the second verb may carry its own meaning (사 왔다, 들어 보니). Headings are left alone too.
• Summary and memory 🧠: the top of the results shows a one-line summary like 'To fix 12 · Worth a look 3', and the bottom shows 'Most frequent in this note' (e.g. Spacing — dependent nouns: 12 places). Suggestions you Ignore stay hidden in that note even when you check again ('Show n ignored' below the list brings them back), and suggestions that appeared since your last check get a small 'New' badge. If you keep ignoring an uncertain kind — like loanword spelling or non-standard words — it asks with the kind's name, like 'Stop showing “Loanword spelling” suggestions?', and you can bring hidden kinds back from 'Hidden kinds' below the list. If you've ignored the same word in three or more different notes, a line appears under it: 'You’ve left this word as is in n other notes. Stop flagging it on this device?' — [Stop flagging] adds it to your exceptions so character names and pet phrases don't have to be ignored note by note, and [No thanks] means it won't ask again. All of this is remembered on this device only.
• Check the whole work 📚: in a folder with three or more notes (episodes like 1화, 2화…), [Check the whole work] appears next to [Re-check]. It first shows how many notes and characters will be sent to the ObsiKO server (up to 60 notes at a time, never stored or used for training); press [Start check] and the same mistakes repeated across episodes are grouped as 'original → fix · n places · m notes'. Click a place to open that episode with the word selected. Nothing is fixed automatically — use [Pick] to tick places and [Fix n picked]; places whose text changed in the meantime are skipped, and [Undo the n fix(es) just made] reverts them right away.
• Work context 🗂️: in a folder with three or more episode notes, the other notes in the same folder are read on this device only (nothing is sent to the server). A flag on a name or term from your story gets a 'Used in this work' badge and a line such as 'Used 6 times in 4 notes of this work', and is listed under 'Worth a look' — if it belongs to your story, press [Add to My dictionary]. When one note writes the same in-story term both joined and spaced (은하결계 · 은하 결계), the spacing card also shows how often the whole work uses each form for reference, and only the current note is changed.
• Plainer words 🌱: open '▸ Plainer words n' below the results to see words with an easier replacement — these are suggestions, not errors, so they don't count toward the fixes or [Fix all certain ones]. They come from words the Standard Korean Language Dictionary points to a replacement for (오뎅 → 어묵 · 기스 → 흠) and refined words from the National Institute of Korean Language (레시피 → 조리법 · 파인 다이닝 → 고급 식사). Tap a suggestion to replace every occurrence in the note, with the particles adjusted (기스가 → 흠이 — one undo brings it back); [Keep as is] hides it for that note (until you reopen the app). Dialogue in quotes and words in My dictionary are left alone, and the search runs on your device only.
• Check more closely with AI 🔎: press [Check more closely with AI] below ObsiKO's results and the AI you've connected (API key, desktop AI agent or on-device AI) takes one more pass with full context; only suggestions the ObsiKO engine confirms are added to the list, marked 'AI'. Your text goes to that AI service, so it asks inside the panel the first time. Spots the engine already flagged and unchanged paragraphs aren't sent again, which keeps the cost down, and AI suggestions aren't part of [Fix all certain ones] — review them one by one. If no AI is connected, the button doesn't show.
• Online checkers (Korean): pick 'Korean (Naver)' as the language, and on desktop and on iPhone/iPad/Android alike, it checks with the Naver spell checker first and, if that doesn't respond, continues with Bareun Hangeul (Pusan National University). Want to know why something is wrong? Pick the Bareun Hangeul option as the language. (Sadly, the web browser mode doesn't support Korean yet 🥲)
• English: checked by the ObsiKO English spelling server in Seoul. Both American and British spellings count as correct, and your text is never stored. Slang, new words and abbreviations like lol · tbh · EOD · kdrama aren't flagged as typos. Works on every device, including the web!
• Japanese & Chinese: they use the LanguageTool API and work on every device, including the web!
• A one-time check first 🔐: these checkers work by sending your text to that service. So the first time you check, the spell check panel shows where the text goes, and once you press [OK, check] it checks right away from then on (no pop-up window).
• ✨ AI check: if you have an AI API key (or the desktop agent), the AI proofreads Korean and English together at once, regardless of language. It's a strict teacher that even reads the context.
  • Even without a key, on-device AI (the AI built into Apple devices — macOS 26 / iOS 26 or later with Apple Intelligence) can check for you. Its results carry a 'Beta' badge. Its Korean is still being tested, so when it finds nothing it won't claim 'no errors' — it says it may have missed some errors instead. Tap [Check again with dictionary] next to it to re-check with the spelling dictionary just this once.
  • ObsiKO engine check 🧹: the ObsiKO spelling server takes a second look at the AI's Korean suggestions. Suggestions that “fix” text that is already correct (such as splitting spacing you may write together) are removed, and ones the engine can't confirm are folded into 'Suggestions to review' at the end of the list (no underline in your text and not part of 'Apply all' until you open it). The panel asks once before sending anything, and the text is never stored or used for training — if the server can't be reached, the suggestions are shown unchecked and the panel tells you so. To be more thorough, the AI check uses a model one step above the lightweight one (e.g. Claude Sonnet), so it may cost a little more on your API key.
• Fix everything in one go: happy with the results? The toolbar's 'Apply all' button applies every correction it found at once. Prefer to change things by hand? The 🔍 button (Find & Replace) next to the title takes you straight there.
• Long pieces get checked in chunks, and the status line shows the progress as it goes — something like "Checking… (3/12)". You can see how far along it is, so just relax and wait.
• Run into a slang term or piece of jargon ObsiKO doesn't recognize? Register it as an exception word, and it won't bother flagging it again!
  • Exception words take up at most two lines at the bottom of the panel. Once there are more, a [More +N] button appears on the right — press it to see the whole list and remove words with × (so they never hide your results).
• For words you also want to look up — like names in your story — press [Add to My dictionary] next to the result. Spell check skips them just the same, and they also show up in dictionary search (see 'My dictionary' below). Exception words stay on this device; My dictionary lives in your notes, so it's the same on every device.
• The flag button — report a wrong flag or suggest a new word 🚩: press the flag on a result row (This suggestion is wrong) and a row of chips appears below it. Tap one of It was already correct · The fix looks wrong · It's a name · I wrote it on purpose and it's reported right away — your text isn't sent, only which rule got it wrong. Send It's a name, It was already correct or I wrote it on purpose (for a short word with no spaces) and it asks right away, 'Add this word to My dictionary?' — add it and it won't be flagged next time. If it's a new word the dictionary doesn't know, press [Suggest as a new word] at the end of the chip row. It asks only the first time (nothing is sent until you press [Suggest]), and only the word and the rule it tripped are sent. Please don't suggest personal information such as people's names.

Unspaced text, fixed in one go 🪄

• Text with almost no spaces — say, something copied from elsewhere or transcribed from a photo — is recognized by the ObsiKO spell check too. A run like 오늘은날씨가좋아서산책을나갔다 → 오늘은 날씨가 좋아서 산책을 나갔다 is spaced out all at once, so a single tap on the suggestion fixes it.
• Nothing to install — it works on the web, desktop and phones alike. Words the dictionary writes joined (참다못해) and names of organizations or laws, which may be written joined, are left as they are.
• Long runs fold into a short card: for a long stretch with no spaces, the result card shows just the beginning, its length and 'Spaces to add: n'. Check how it will look with [Preview], then press [Add spaces] to space it out in one go (⌘Z undoes it).
• 'Partly checked': if a very long unbroken stretch kept the checker from reaching the end, 'Only part of this note was checked because of a very long stretch of text.' appears above the results and the status line shows 'Partly checked'. What it found is correct, but there may be more in the part it skipped — press [Show] to jump to the part that wasn't checked.

An all-in-one Korean dictionary at your fingertips 📖

• One panel brings together results from multiple dictionaries! Wiktionary (Korean/English/Japanese/Chinese — you can also turn on Spanish, Hindi, French, and Latin in Settings), Wikipedia, Free Dictionary, the SCP Foundation wiki (toggle it in Settings), and even the ObsiKO Korean Dictionary (the National Institute of Korean Language's Standard Korean Dictionary and Urimalsam) — all in one place!
• ObsiKO Korean Dictionary 📕: shows definitions, examples, original (Hanja) forms, pronunciations and related words from the National Institute of Korean Language's Standard Korean Dictionary and Urimalsam — no API key needed (web, desktop and phones alike). Search an inflected form like '먹었다' and it finds the base form (먹다). Senses that only Urimalsam has are folded under 'more senses in Urimalsam'. For words with old forms, tap [Word history] to see how the word changed century by century, with old example sentences and modern renderings (NIKL Korean Word History Dictionary). If a definition looks wrong, tap one chip under ⚑ Report — no words or text are sent.
• Similar words 🔁: look up a word and the 'Similar words' section shows similar words, opposites, broader/narrower terms, short forms and honorifics as chips — tap one to search it. The relations of about 370,000 words, drawn from the National Institute of Korean Language's Urimalsam and Standard Korean Dictionary, arrive together with the ObsiKO Korean Dictionary — nothing to download and no key to enter. Even when the dictionary lists no synonyms, it finds words linked through their definitions (기쁘다 → 반갑다·즐겁다·흐뭇하다), shown as dotted chips. (If you downloaded the older 'similar-words dictionary' pack, it is used when you're offline.)
• Replace · mimetic words 🔄: select a word in a note, open the dictionary and tap a similar word chip — a line at the top shows what will go in its place, with [Replace]. Press it and the word is swapped in with its ending and particles matched (기뻤다 → 즐거웠다 'was glad → was happy'), and one ⌘Z puts it back. Words for movements or sounds get Mimetic words · Sound words rows (웃다 'to smile' → 빙그레·껄껄), which you can insert right before the selected word.
• Idioms & proverbs 📜: proverbs and idioms that contain the word are folded under 'Idioms & proverbs with this word'.
• Word collection ⭐: tap the ☆ next to a definition and the word goes into your 'Word collection' note, coming back a few at a time as review cards. The collection note shows them as a word · meaning · example · dictionary table. → Review & Rediscovery
• My dictionary 📒: names and words from your own writing appear at the top of the dictionary. Codex entries are included automatically; add any other note with right-click [Add to My dictionary] in the file list, and jot short words in the 'My dictionary' note as - word: meaning, one per line. It finds them even with Korean particles attached ('돌쇠는'), and spell check skips them too. The View My dictionary button next to close at the top of the dictionary panel opens the 'My dictionary' note right away (creating it if needed).
• In my notes ✏️: shows up to three sentences from your own notes that use the word — looking up 기쁘다 also finds inflected forms such as 기뻤다 · 기쁜 · 기뻐서. Click a sentence to jump to that line of the note; if there are more, [See all in Search in files] appears. It searches on your device only and skips notes marked to keep away from AI, as well as My dictionary and word-box notes.
• Word meanings in reading mode 💬: in reading mode, rest the mouse on a word for a moment to see a one-line meaning (not while editing, and not when you tap with a finger). [Open in dictionary] in the bubble shows the full entry. Because you only hovered, the word is never sent to a server — turn it off in Settings ▸ Dictionary.
• Words written only in Chinese characters (like 初雪) are looked up in your screen language — with the app in Japanese, the Japanese Wikipedia and translations; in Chinese, the Traditional or Simplified forms to match (Korean and English screens still treat them as Chinese, as before).
• Korean word of the day widget 🌤️ (iPhone, iPad): one beautiful native Korean word appears each day on your home screen or Lock Screen. Tap it and the word opens in this dictionary panel. → Platform Guide
• Namuwiki is a little different: it has no official API, so definitions can't be pulled in. Instead you get a single 'Open on Namuwiki ↗' button at the top of the results (only with the app in Korean or when your search has Hangul in it) — click it and the article opens in your external browser.
• Select a word by dragging over it in your document, and it searches automatically in a flash — or select it, right-click, and tap Look Up in the second icon row for the same friendly result. (Translate in the same row turns the selected text into another language → 16-12 Writing Helper)
  • In web-novel and book manuscripts the same menu also has Save as a setup… — the sentence you picked stays untouched in the manuscript and gets noted as one line in the work's foreshadowing ledger. → E-book & Web Novel Viewer
• Turn what you find straight into material: use the Copy and Insert into note buttons under each dictionary result to drop the definition — along with its source — right in as a pretty callout. Looking up an English word? You can even hear a native speaker's pronunciation with the 🔊 button!
• Smooth exploration too: run into an unfamiliar word while reading a definition? Double-click it and it re-searches for that word right away. The ‹ › buttons left of the search box take you back and forward through your searches (mouse side buttons work too), returning to where you were reading. Click the search box and your recent searches pop right up, and collapsed dictionary sections come with a one-line preview so you can decide at a glance whether to expand them. (There's an expand-all/collapse-all button too!)
• Blazing fast, you ask?: results you've already looked up are remembered (cached), so a second lookup is a 0.1-second breeze! And if the internet drops, an offline dictionary pack has your back — if you've added one (see below). If the network hiccups briefly, you can re-query just that dictionary with the Retry button.
• You no longer need Urimalsam or Standard Korean Dictionary API keys — the ObsiKO Korean Dictionary shows both. The dictionary data comes from the ObsiKO server (api.obsiko.com). Only an inflected form that isn't a headword is sent, to find its base form, and it isn't stored.

Type Hangul, turn it into Hanja — Hanja input and the Hanja dictionary 漢

• Type → press → pick: after typing a word, press F9 and Hanja candidates appear next to the cursor (on mobile, the 漢 button in the format toolbar; or select text, right-click, and tap Hanja in the second icon row). Pick with a number, ↑↓ and Enter, or a tap. Even with a particle attached, like 학교에서, only 학교 is converted — the part that will change is underlined first.
• Choose how it goes in: the chips under the list switch between 學校 · 學校(학교) · 학교(學校), and your choice is remembered.
• Find by meaning: don't know the reading? Type 하늘 (sky) and press — the By meaning row shows 天·乾·昊…
• Names that aren't in the dictionary: select the name and press to pick one by one. Tap Keep as is for syllables that should stay in Hangul.
• Reading Hanja: select Hanja in your text and press to see the Hangul reading (樂園 → 낙원) and replace it with Hangul or 낙원(樂園).
• Your picks come first: a Hanja you picked once goes to the top next time. One undo (⌘Z) brings the original text back.
• Hanja dictionary (Dictionary panel): in the Hanja (Korean readings) section, search by reading (천), meaning (하늘) or character (天) to see the meaning, radical, stroke count and education/name-use marks, then Insert or Copy. The 漢 Find Hanja button under Special characters in the cheat sheet opens it too.
• The Hanja dictionary is built into the app, so it works offline. The OS conversion (⌥↩ on Mac, the Hanja key on Windows) still works as well. (Data sources and licenses: Settings ▸ About ▸ Open-source licenses)

Your most-used symbols stay on top ※

• Tap a character in Cheat Sheet (⌘⇧M) ▸ Symbols and it gathers by itself in the 'Frequently used' row at the top of that section. Nothing to register — the characters you use most keep their front-row seats.
• For characters you always want at hand, press [Pin] next to that row and pick them. Pinned characters never get pushed out, and they also gather in Favorites at the very top (press [Done] when you've picked them).

An offline dictionary pack that keeps working with no internet 🎒

• You can add an offline dictionary pack that works without Wi-Fi or an auth key. Packs aren't included in the app — convert a dictionary such as Urimalsaem into a pack yourself (.ndjson/.gz) and add it with Settings ▸ Dictionary ▸ 'Import pack'.
• Multiple packs at once!: install several dictionary packs simultaneously — say, a Korean pack plus an English pack (importing a pack with the same name replaces the old one with the new one). Each installed pack gets its own section in the dictionary panel.
• Handles inflected forms like a pro: search '먹었다' and it points you straight to 먹다; search '사과를' and it points you to 사과. And if it still can't find a match, it suggests similar headwords as chips you can tap.

How much have I written? (status bar stats) 📊

• Character count, word count, link count — all standard! ObsiKO is the only one that also tells you the estimated reading time and your manuscript page count (원고지 매수). That kind of detail, only here (turn those two on in Settings ▸ Status bar items). 😉 → For a closer look at the screen: A Tour of the Screen
• You choose whether the character count includes spaces (Settings ▸ Status bar items ▸ Total character count). Handy when a submission limit counts whitespace — hover the number and it tells you which way it's counting. (Manuscript pages and reading time always count whitespace; that's how those measures are defined.) → Settings & Themes

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