Spell-Check Won't Work

One of the powerful tools provided with Word is the spell checker. As you are creating your documents, you may notice that Word doesn't always find spelling errors. There are two things you can check if this is the case.

First, if the misspelled words are in uppercase, you may have spell checking turned off for words that are all in uppercase. To turn on this capability, follow these steps if you are using a version of Word prior to Word 2007:

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
2. Make sure the Spelling & Grammar tab is selected. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Make sure the Ignore Words in UPPERCASE check box is cleared.
4. Click on OK.

If you are using Word 2007, follow these steps, instead:

1. Click the Office button and then click Word Options. Word displays the Word Options dialog box.
2. At the left side of the dialog box click Proofing. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Make sure the Ignore Words in UPPERCASE check box is cleared.
4. Click on OK.

Next, if entire paragraphs are being ignored, it could be because proofing has been turned off for the paragraph. Follow these steps to correct this problem in Word 97:

1. Select the paragraph in question.
2. Choose Language from the Tools menu. This displays the Language dialog box.
3. In the language list at the left of the dialog box, make sure (no proofing) is not selected. (Select a different language, such as one of the English variations.)
4. Click on OK.

If you are using Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003, the steps are slightly different:

1. Select the paragraph in question.
2. Choose Language from the Tools menu, then Set Language from the resulting submenu. Word displays the Language dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Clear the Do Not Check Spelling or Grammar check box.
4. Click on OK.

If you are using Word 2007, the steps are different, still:

1. Select the paragraph in question.
2. Display the Review tab of the ribbon.
3. Click the Set Language tool in the Proofing group. Word displays the Language dialog box.
4. Clear the Do Not Check Spelling or Grammar check box.
5. Click on OK.