Getting Rid of Blue Squiggly Underlines

Ivan noted that on his PC the text he writes is frequently "marred" by squiggly underlines in blue. Right-clicking gives him options of Ignore Once, Ignore Rule, or Replace Direct Formatting with Style Normal. Ivan wants to turn off the blue squiggly underlines and is wondering how to do it.

Word likes squiggly underlines—the most common being red (a potential spelling error) and green (a potential grammar error). The latest squiggly underline introduced in Word is blue, which marks formatting inconsistencies. (This type of marking was, I believe, introduced in Word 2002.) That is why you see the options you do—particularly "Replace Direct Formatting with Style Normal"—when you right-click the underlined word or phrase.

You can turn off this marking by making a configuration change in Word. If you are using a version prior to Word 2007, follow these steps:

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
2. Make sure the Edit tab is displayed. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Clear the Mark Formatting Inconsistencies check box.
4. Click OK.

If you are using Word 2007 the steps are slightly different:

1. Click the Office button and then click Word Options. Word displays the Word Options dialog box.
2. Click Advanced at the left side of the dialog box.
3. In the Editing Options section, clear the Mark Formatting Inconsistencies check box.
4. Click OK.