Spell Checker not working on Mac Microsoft word. Microsoft Office > Word IT Pro Discussions. What do I need to do so that my spell check works once more? No red lines appear under misspelled words, and when I highlight them no suggestions pop up. However, if I type in 'developement' instead of 'development' it will autocorrect it. If the spelling and grammar isn't flagging words or phrase that you know are incorrect, you may have chosen to ignore them during a previous spell check. In Word, Outlook, PowerPoint 2013, and PowerPoint 2016, you can force a recheck of the words and grammar that you previously choose to ignore.
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If you have accumulated a collection of misspelled words in the Microsoft Word Spelling and Grammar Check custom dictionary, you can create a new dictionary to reset the check features and start a new custom dictionary from scratch, and then set the new dictionary as the default using the Custom Dictionaries settings tool. You can also reset the spelling and grammar checker to recheck a single document. In addition, you can change languages for your spell check dictionary in the Custom Dictionaries settings tool.
New Custom Dictionary
1.
Open Word, click the “File” tab in the top navigation menu and then click the “Word Options” entry.
2.
Click the “Custom Dictionaries” option, and then click “New” to open the New Dictionary form.
3.
Type a name for the new dictionary in the Name field, and then click “Save” to save the file. Make sure the file name includes the 'DIC' file extension.
4.
Uncheck the “CUSTOM.DIC” option in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box, and then check the check box for the new dictionary you just created. Click “OK.”
5.
Click the “Change Default” button in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box, and then click the new dictionary to assign as the default, if desired. Click “OK” twice to save the settings and close the dialog boxes.
Reset for Single Document
1.
Open a document in Word and enable Spelling and Grammar check on the document by clicking “Review” in the top navigation ribbon, and then clicking the “Spelling & Grammar” tab. Change or ignore misspelled words, as desired, when the Spelling dialog box displays a suspected misspelling. Spell check the entire document.
2.
Click the “File” option, and then click “Options” once the spell checker has reached the end of the document.
3.
Click the “Proofing” option, and then click the “Recheck Document” option. A warning message displays indicating that the operation resets the spelling and grammar checker so that Word will recheck words you previously checked.
4.
Click “Yes” to continue, and then click “OK” to close the Word Options box. Spell check rechecks the document.
Tip
Change the default language for your custom dictionary by clicking the “Dictionary Language” drop-down box in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box, and then clicking on the new default language.
Warning
Information provided in this article applies to Microsoft Office Word 2013. Instructions may vary slightly or significantly for other versions of Word.
References (3)
About the Author
Randall Blackburn has worked for several Fortune 1000 companies as a technical writer over the past seven years. He has produced a wide variety of technical documentation, including detailed programming specifications and research papers. Randall has also acquired several years' experience writing web content. Randall lives and works in Austin, TX.
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Blackburn, Randall. 'How to Reset Microsoft Word's Spelling & Grammar Check.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/reset-microsoft-words-spelling-grammar-check-75554.html. Accessed 25 October 2019.
Blackburn, Randall. (n.d.). How to Reset Microsoft Word's Spelling & Grammar Check. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/reset-microsoft-words-spelling-grammar-check-75554.html
Blackburn, Randall. 'How to Reset Microsoft Word's Spelling & Grammar Check' accessed October 25, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/reset-microsoft-words-spelling-grammar-check-75554.html
Note: Depending on which text editor you're pasting into, you might have to add the italics to the site name.
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By default, Microsoft Word and other programs in Microsoft Office will always ignore words typed in capital letters during a spell check. This applies to both background spell checking as well as when you manually press 'Spelling and Grammar' to run a check. You can change the options in Word to check capitalized words, but doing so can lead to many false positives.
Changing Word's Settings
In any Word document, click 'File' and then 'Options.' Open the Proofing tab and uncheck the 'Ignore words in UPPERCASE' box. Press 'OK.' If you have 'Check spelling as you type' enabled, all capitalized words not in the Office dictionary will immediately display red underlines. If not, they will come up as errors the next time you run a manual spell check.
Negative Side Effects
Word defaults to ignoring uppercase words in order to avoid marking acronyms and initialisms as spelling mistakes. Upon changing this setting, Word will begin marking many acceptable terms as errors. Only some common acronyms or those that spell out actual English words will not have this problem. If your work involves writing out many acronyms, especially if those acronyms are specific to your office or field of work, you may see a great number of erroneous red lines in your document.
Teaching Word Acronyms
If you want to leave capitalized word spell checking on continually, you can teach Word acronyms and other capitalized terms, so they don't appear as errors. Right-click any term with a red underline and click 'Add to Dictionary.' Word will never mark the term as if it were incorrectly spelled again. If you don't use background spell checking, press the 'Add to Dictionary' button when the word comes up during a manual spell check.
Other Workarounds
Because the proofing options work across all Microsoft Office programs, you may want to ignore uppercase words in some other documents as well. Though the setting doesn't have a quick toggle, you can return to the Options screen and change the setting at any time while working on a document. Alternatively, if spell checking capitalized words leads to too many false positives, you can instead use AutoCorrect to help with mistakes you often make. Press 'Alt-T' and then 'A' to open the AutoCorrect options. Type the misspelling of a capitalized word in the 'Replace' box and the correct spelling in the 'With' box, and then press 'Add.' You can add as many AutoCorrect entries as you want. This will automatically fix your most common mistakes, regardless of the capitalized spell check setting.
Warning
Information in this article applies to Microsoft Office 2010 and 2013. It may vary slightly or significantly in other versions.
References (2)
About the Author
Aaron Parson has been writing about electronics, software and games since 2006, contributing to several technology websites and working with NewsHour Productions. Parson holds a Bachelor of Arts from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash.
Cite this Article
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Parson, Aaron. 'Spell Check Doesn't Work With Uppercase Words in Microsoft Word.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/spell-check-doesnt-work-uppercase-words-microsoft-word-75888.html. Accessed 25 October 2019.
Parson, Aaron. (n.d.). Spell Check Doesn't Work With Uppercase Words in Microsoft Word. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/spell-check-doesnt-work-uppercase-words-microsoft-word-75888.html
Parson, Aaron. 'Spell Check Doesn't Work With Uppercase Words in Microsoft Word' accessed October 25, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/spell-check-doesnt-work-uppercase-words-microsoft-word-75888.html
Note: Depending on which text editor you're pasting into, you might have to add the italics to the site name.