How to Humanize AI Content in Grammarly: Complete 2026 Tutorial
Learn how to transform AI-generated text into natural, conversational content using Grammarly's humanization tools, tone controls, and generative AI features in 2026.
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Introduction
AI-generated content often reads as robotic, formal, and disconnected from authentic human voice. This tutorial walks you through Grammarly's complete humanization workflow, showing you how to transform stiff AI drafts into engaging, conversational writing that resonates with readers. You'll configure writing goals, apply AI-powered refinements, and perform manual edits to create content that sounds like it came from a real person.
- 01Access Grammarly and create a new document
- 02Import your AI-generated text into the editor
- 03Configure all four writing goals: casual tone, inform intent, general domain, informal formality
- 04Review and accept sidebar suggestions that improve clarity and vary sentence structure
- 05Use generative AI 'Improve it' feature and explore alternatives
- 06Apply tone controls and activate 'Sound casual' feature
- 07Perform final manual review and make targeted edits
- 08Save your humanized document
Access the Grammarly Platform
Open your preferred web browser and navigate to Grammarly's website.
Sign in to your account if you have one, or create a new account if this is your first time using Grammarly.
Open your preferred web browser and navigate to Grammarly's website. You can search for "Grammarly" directly or go to grammarly.com. Click on the official Grammarly link to ensure you're accessing the legitimate service with all 2026 features available.
Sign in to your account if you have one, or create a new account if this is your first time using Grammarly. The platform offers both free and premium tiers, though advanced humanization features work best with a premium subscription.
Create a New Document Workspace
Once logged in, create a fresh document from the main dashboard.
Give your document a descriptive name if prompted, making it easy to locate later.
Once logged in, create a fresh document from the main dashboard. Look for a Create or New Document button and click it to generate a blank workspace. This isolated environment lets you focus entirely on transforming your AI text without interference from previous formatting or suggestions.
Give your document a descriptive name if prompted, making it easy to locate later. The editor interface loads with the main text area in the center and Grammarly's suggestion sidebar typically appearing on the right.
Import Your AI-Generated Text
Copy your AI-generated content to your clipboard if it's stored elsewhere.
Your content appears immediately as plain text.
Copy your AI-generated content to your clipboard if it's stored elsewhere. Click into the main text editor area within Grammarly and paste your content using Ctrl+V (Windows) or Cmd+V (Mac). You can also type the text manually, though pasting is more efficient for longer pieces.
Your content appears immediately as plain text. Grammarly begins analyzing automatically, and you may see initial suggestions in the sidebar. Don't act on these yet—first configure writing goals to optimize the humanization process.
Configure Writing Goals for Humanization
Writing goals guide how Grammarly edits your text and are crucial for humanizing AI content.
You'll adjust four specific parameters that work together to create more natural, conversational writing.
Writing goals guide how Grammarly edits your text and are crucial for humanizing AI content. Look for the Goals panel, typically located in the left sidebar or accessible through a settings icon. Click to open this panel and reveal configuration options.
You'll adjust four specific parameters that work together to create more natural, conversational writing. These settings tell Grammarly to prioritize human-like qualities over formal or technical precision. Each setting you adjust sends signals to Grammarly's algorithms about your desired output style.
Select Casual Tone Settings
Within the Goals panel, locate the Tone dropdown.
Choosing casual tone instructs Grammarly to recommend edits that remove stiffness and encourage relaxed language patterns, contractions, and conversational phrases.
Within the Goals panel, locate the Tone dropdown. Click it to reveal available options like formal, neutral, and casual. Select Casual from the list.
Choosing casual tone instructs Grammarly to recommend edits that remove stiffness and encourage relaxed language patterns, contractions, and conversational phrases. This setting breaks down the formal barriers that often characterize AI-generated text and immediately influences which suggestions Grammarly prioritizes.
Set Intent to Inform
Find the Intent setting in the Goals panel, which defines your writing's primary purpose.
The inform intent ensures your writing remains clear and helpful without becoming overly technical.
Find the Intent setting in the Goals panel, which defines your writing's primary purpose. Click the Intent dropdown to see options like inform, describe, convince, or tell a story. Select Inform.
The inform intent ensures your writing remains clear and helpful without becoming overly technical. This setting balances educational value with accessibility, making content understandable to a broad audience. It prevents Grammarly from suggesting complex vocabulary or dense sentence structures, directly counteracting AI content's tendency to sound overly authoritative.
Choose General Domain
Locate the Domain setting in the Goals panel, which determines the specialized vocabulary Grammarly applies to your text.
Choosing general domain prevents niche-specific or academic edits that make text feel robotic or overly specialized.
Locate the Domain setting in the Goals panel, which determines the specialized vocabulary Grammarly applies to your text. Click the Domain selector to view options like academic, business, technical, creative, and general. Select General.
Choosing general domain prevents niche-specific or academic edits that make text feel robotic or overly specialized. This setting keeps content accessible to the widest audience and avoids jargon that creates distance between writer and reader. It directly counters AI models' default to formal, academic-sounding language patterns.
Apply Informal Formality Level
Find the Formality setting within the Goals panel, which controls overall formal language levels.
The informal setting actively encourages contractions ("you're" instead of "you are"), everyday vocabulary, and relaxed sentence structures—hallmarks of human writing.
Once you've configured all four settings—casual tone, inform intent, general domain, and informal formality—click Done to apply these preferences.
Find the Formality setting within the Goals panel, which controls overall formal language levels. Click the Formality selector to see options ranging from very formal to informal. Select Informal.
The informal setting actively encourages contractions ("you're" instead of "you are"), everyday vocabulary, and relaxed sentence structures—hallmarks of human writing. AI content tends to avoid contractions and favor complete, formal constructions, so this setting directly counteracts that tendency.
Once you've configured all four settings—casual tone, inform intent, general domain, and informal formality—click Done to apply these preferences. Your settings now guide all of Grammarly's suggestions for this document.
Review Sidebar Suggestions
After applying your writing goals, Grammarly reanalyzes your content and populates the sidebar with suggestions based on your preferences.
If a suggestion alters your intended meaning or strips away your unique voice, dismiss it by clicking the reject option or moving to the next suggestion.
Continue this review until you've evaluated all sidebar suggestions.
After applying your writing goals, Grammarly reanalyzes your content and populates the sidebar with suggestions based on your preferences. Work through these systematically, reading each one carefully before accepting or rejecting it. Accept changes that improve clarity, vary sentence structure, or simplify overly complex phrasing.
If a suggestion alters your intended meaning or strips away your unique voice, dismiss it by clicking the reject option or moving to the next suggestion. Not every recommendation serves the humanization goal—you remain the final judge. Focus particularly on suggestions that create sentence variety, as AI content often falls into repetitive patterns. Look for opportunities to combine short sentences, break up long ones, or restructure clauses for better flow.
Continue this review until you've evaluated all sidebar suggestions. This manual step is essential because algorithms cannot fully capture authentic human communication's nuances.
Activate Generative AI Improvement
Now use Grammarly's generative AI capabilities to refine your draft further.
A menu or panel appears with several options.
Give the system a moment to process.
Now use Grammarly's generative AI capabilities to refine your draft further. Look for a button or option labeled Write with generative AI or similar, typically found in the toolbar or as a floating action button. Click this option to access generative AI features.
A menu or panel appears with several options. Look for and select Improve it, which tells Grammarly to rewrite your content with overall quality improvements. Click Improve it to initiate the generation process.
Give the system a moment to process. A loading indicator shows progress as the generative AI analyzes your text and creates a refined version with tighter wording, smoother transitions, and more naturally human-sounding word choices. Read through the generated version carefully, comparing it to your original.
Explore Alternative Versions
If the first improvement doesn't fully capture what you want, Grammarly offers alternative versions.
Grammarly generates alternative versions of the improved text, each with slightly different word choices, sentence structures, or tonal qualities.
Evaluate which version best matches your authentic voice and communication style.
If the first improvement doesn't fully capture what you want, Grammarly offers alternative versions. Look for an option labeled More ideas, Generate another, or similar, typically located near the generated text. Click this option to request additional variations.
Grammarly generates alternative versions of the improved text, each with slightly different word choices, sentence structures, or tonal qualities. You might receive two to four alternatives depending on subscription level. Review each option carefully to compare different approaches.
Evaluate which version best matches your authentic voice and communication style. Consider sentence rhythm, word choice sophistication, and overall readability. Select the version that feels most natural and aligned with how you actually speak or write. You can also mix and match, taking the best elements from multiple versions if Grammarly allows copying specific sections.
Adjust Tone Controls
With your improved text in place, make further refinements using Grammarly's dedicated tone controls.
Tone controls let you fine-tune how your writing feels to readers without completely rewriting it.
After making adjustments, click Apply or Accept changes to implement them in your document.
With your improved text in place, make further refinements using Grammarly's dedicated tone controls. Look for tone adjustment options, which may appear as sliders, buttons, or dropdown menus in the sidebar or toolbar. Click to access these controls.
Tone controls let you fine-tune how your writing feels to readers without completely rewriting it. Make adjustments that emphasize clarity and approachability, key characteristics of human writing. You might see options like Make it clearer, Make it more engaging, or similar. Experiment with these controls to see how they transform your text—some add warmth while others increase directness or simplify complex ideas.
After making adjustments, click Apply or Accept changes to implement them in your document. Review the updated text to ensure changes align with your humanization goals.
Enable Casual Sound Feature
To lean further into friendly, conversational voice, locate Grammarly's Sound casual feature.
The sound casual feature specifically encourages conversational language patterns, contractions, and natural cadence.
Allow Grammarly to apply casual sound adjustments throughout your document.
To lean further into friendly, conversational voice, locate Grammarly's Sound casual feature. This option may appear in tone controls, the generative AI menu, or as a separate suggestion type. Click Sound casual to activate this specialized humanization feature.
The sound casual feature specifically encourages conversational language patterns, contractions, and natural cadence. It transforms phrases like "you are" to "you're" and "it is" to "it's", mimicking how people actually speak. This feature also adjusts word choices to favor everyday vocabulary over formal alternatives.
Allow Grammarly to apply casual sound adjustments throughout your document. Changes should make your text feel like a conversation with a knowledgeable friend rather than a formal presentation or academic paper.
Perform Final Manual Review
Once all automated improvements and adjustments are complete, read through your entire document from top to bottom.
Make small manual edits wherever needed to restore elements that may have been unintentionally altered during humanization.
When satisfied that content authentically represents human writing and matches your voice, the humanization process is complete.
Once all automated improvements and adjustments are complete, read through your entire document from top to bottom. This comprehensive review ensures the text maintains your perspective, includes your specific examples, and preserves any important brand terms or specialized concepts.
Make small manual edits wherever needed to restore elements that may have been unintentionally altered during humanization. You might need to reinsert specific product names, adjust examples to match your experience, or modify phrases that don't quite sound like your voice. Reading passages aloud helps identify remaining awkward phrasing or unnatural constructions. Your content should feel clear, confident, and personable.
When satisfied that content authentically represents human writing and matches your voice, the humanization process is complete. Every sentence should flow naturally, and the overall piece should engage readers with warmth and clarity.
Save and Export Your Document
With humanization work complete, save your document to preserve all changes.
Ensure your document has a proper name for easy location later.
With humanization work complete, save your document to preserve all changes. Look for the Save option, which may happen automatically in Grammarly or require manual action. If manual saving is needed, click the Save button, typically found in the toolbar or file menu.
Ensure your document has a proper name for easy location later. Consider including "humanized" or the date in the filename for version tracking. Grammarly typically saves documents to your account automatically, making them accessible across devices. Your humanized content is now ready to share, publish, or use in your intended context.
Summary of the Humanization Workflow
To successfully humanize AI content in Grammarly, follow this proven workflow consistently. First, set your writing goals to casual tone, inform intent, general domain, and informal formality—these four settings create the foundation for human-like output. Second, accept helpful suggestions from the sidebar that improve clarity and vary sentence structure.
Third, use the Improve it generative AI feature to refine your draft with tighter wording and smoother transitions. Fourth, explore More ideas to compare alternative versions and select what best matches your voice. Fifth, adjust tone controls and enable Sound casual for maximum conversational quality.
By following this systematic approach, your AI-generated drafts will consistently feel authentically human, engaging, and ready for your audience.
Copy-paste prompts that work
Each prompt has been tested and optimized for this workflow. Customize the bracketed sections.
Make this content sound more conversational and human-like while keeping the core message intact.
Remove jargon and replace technical terms with everyday language that a general audience would understand.
Add more contractions and varied sentence lengths to make this read like natural conversation.
Rewrite this to sound like I'm explaining this to a friend over coffee, not in a boardroom.
Improve the flow by breaking up long sentences and combining short, choppy ones into a more natural rhythm.
This is AI-generated content. Make it sound like a real person wrote it by adding warmth and removing corporate language.
Does this sound like something I would actually say out loud? If not, what needs to change?
Generate alternative versions of this passage that sound more human while keeping the same information and intent.
Grammarly Technical Specifications
| Grammar Check | ✓ Yes |
| Tone Detection | ✓ Yes |
| Plagiarism Check | ✓ Yes |
| AI Rewriting | ✓ Yes |
| Multi-Language | ✗ No |
| Browser Extension | ✓ Yes |
| API Access | ✗ No |
| Custom Style Guide | ✓ Yes |
| Team Features | ✓ Yes |
| Integrations | ✓ Yes |
Common issues
Go further
This saves significant time when you regularly humanize AI content across multiple formats, and ensures consistency in how each content type sounds across your projects.
This streamlined workflow is especially valuable when you're editing AI-generated drafts in your content management system or working collaboratively with others who don't use Grammarly's standalone editor.
This technique mimics how real humans naturally shift between casual and slightly more formal language depending on what they're emphasizing, making your humanized content sound even more authentic and dynamic.
Works well with this
Alternative paraphrasing and humanization tool that works similarly to Grammarly's generative AI for refining AI-generated content
Commonly the source of AI-generated content that users need to humanize; understanding ChatGPT's output patterns helps optimize Grammarly's refinement workflow
Advanced translation and writing tool that shares Grammarly's focus on natural language patterns and tone adjustment for more human-sounding output
This tutorial was created by Joshua Kishaba and produced using AI-assisted editorial tools. All recommendations reflect genuine editorial opinion based on hands-on testing. This page may contain affiliate links — see our full disclosure.