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: Setting Spell-Checking Options.

Setting Spell-Checking Options

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 20, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Word includes a spelling checker that you can use to proof your documents. There are a few options that you can set for the spelling checker. For instance, you can make sure the spelling checker doesn't check words that are all uppercase or those that have numbers in the word. To change the spelling checker options, follow these steps:

Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
Make sure the Spelling & Grammar tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Spelling & Grammar tab of the Options dialog box.

Make changes in the options, as desired.
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1030) 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: Setting Spell-Checking Options.

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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Inserting Rows

Need to insert rows in your worksheet? Excel provides a few techniques you can use to do this. Here are some ideas you ...

Discover More

Controlling the Printer in a Macro

Need to access the advanced capabilities of a printer from within an Excel macro? You may be out of luck, unless you ...

Discover More

Creating a Hyperlink to a Specific Page

Most people add hyperlinks in a document to reference pages on the Web. You can, however, create hyperlinks to other Word ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Setting Grammar-Checking Options

When Word checks the grammar it thinks you are using in your prose, it follows a set of rules. Fortunately the program ...

Discover More

Only Showing Readability Statistics

Perform a grammar check, and Word displays some statistics that represent an analysis of your words. By writing a macro ...

Discover More

Checking for Sentences Beginning with Conjunctions

In my English classes in junior high, I would get marked down if I started sentences with a conjunction. ("There's a ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is two more than 7?

2015-12-28 11:33:01

Allen

Lennart: I suspect you have one of the newer versions of Word. This tip is for those using the very old versions (Word 2003 and before). There is a link at the beginning of this tip and at the end that takes you to a version for the later versions.

-Allen

2015-12-28 05:34:23

Lennart von Blotnitz

I cannot find the tools menu.Ok: I open the Words page. On the right I press "find" the I type in "Tools Menu" The answer is: The search Item was not found.

I want to cancel ALL spelling "Aids" as I use any one of three languages when I use Word. (I never use Word, however, I always used "Word Pad", which seems to have vanished now that I have Windows 10

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.