Forum Discussion
Spell check
My spell check will not work !!! I have tried everything that has been suggested. I have even uninstalled Word and re-installed it but still have the same problem. Any help/advice would be much appreciated.
3 Replies
Please describe more about what you mean when you say that it is not working.
What are you seeing?
How is this different from what you expect to see?
Are words that should be flagged as incorrect not being marked?
Are words that are correct being flagged?
I agree with Stefan that you may be able to fix this by looking at Mastering the Spelling Checker by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP. Note that this is an http: page, but it is safe.
Please see any luck on below:
- Check Proofing Language Settings
Sometimes Word is set to a language that doesn’t have proofing tools installed.
- Go to Review > Language > Set Proofing Language
- Make sure your preferred language is selected
- Uncheck “Do not check spelling or grammar”
- Also uncheck “Detect language automatically” for consistency
- Enable “Check Spelling As You Type”
This setting can get disabled without warning.
- Go to File > Options > Proofing
- Ensure “Check spelling as you type” and “Mark grammar errors as you type” are both checked
- Remove Document-Specific Exceptions
Some documents are set to ignore spell check.
- In File > Options > Proofing, scroll to Exceptions for
- Uncheck “Hide spelling errors in this document only” and “Hide grammar errors…”
- Check for Conflicting Add-ins
Tools like Grammarly or other third-party add-ins can interfere.
- Go to File > Options > Add-ins
- Disable any non-Microsoft add-ins temporarily and restart Word
- Apply Correct Language to Entire Document
If you copied content from another source, it might carry hidden formatting.
- Press Ctrl+A to select all text
- Go to Review > Language > Set Proofing Language
- Reapply your desired language and ensure spell check is enabled
