Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Configuring Spell Check for Internet Addresses.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 21, 2026)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
It goes without saying that the Internet has taken the world by storm. (You are reading this through your Internet e-mail, right?) While this is a great boon to many people, it can be bothersome to writers. Many spell checkers and grammar checkers don't know quite what to do with Internet addresses, such as URLs and e-mail addresses.
You can instruct the spell check program to ignore anything that looks like an Internet address. To enable this option, follow these steps:
Figure 1. The Spelling & Grammar tab of the Options dialog box.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (939) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Configuring Spell Check for Internet Addresses.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here:
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