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: Spell Checking Your Document.

Spell Checking Your Document

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated February 20, 2019)

Word provides a built-in spelling checker you can use to proof (double-check) your document. This tool doesn't check just spelling, but it also checks for proper capitalization and duplicate words. To run the spelling checker, follow these steps:

  1. Move the insertion point to the beginning of the document. (This is not entirely necessary but makes the spelling check take less time.)
  2. Choose Spelling and Grammar from the Tools menu or press F7. Word begins to check the spelling of your document, displaying the Spelling and Grammar dialog box as it discovers potential errors.
  3. Respond to the suggestions, as appropriate.

You don't have to spell check an entire document; you can run the spelling checker on a selection of text, as well. To run the spelling checker on a selection of text, do the following:

  1. Select the text to be checked.
  2. Choose Spelling and Grammar from the Tools menu or press F7.
  3. Respond to the suggestions, as appropriate.

When the spelling check of the selection is complete, Word displays a dialog box asking if you want to check the rest of the document. Click on No to end the spelling check.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1023) 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: Spell Checking Your Document.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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