Resetting Spelling and Grammar Checking on Multiple Documents

Sara has a folder containing about 30 Word documents. She needs to reset and then re-run Spelling and Grammar checking on all the documents. Starting the check is quick and easy, but it's a pain to go to File, then Options, then Proofing, then Recheck on each document separately. She wonders if there is a way to reset the Spelling and Grammar checking on multiple files at once.

The only way that this can be done is through the use of a macro that will, essentially, go through the same steps that you would have done manually. (Since it is a macro, however, it can do those steps much faster than you could possibly do them.) The following macro is an example of one way to accomplish the task:

Sub ResetDocs()
    Dim sPath As String
    Dim sFile As String

    sPath = "c:\Path\To\Documents\"

    sFile = Dir(sPath & "*.doc*")
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    Do While sFile <> ""
        Documents.Open sPath & sFile
        With ActiveDocument
            .Range.NoProofing = False
            Application.ResetIgnoreAll
            .SpellingChecked = False
            .GrammarChecked = False
            .Close SaveChanges:=wdSaveChanges
        End With
        sFile = Dir()
    Loop
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

In order to use the macro, all you need to do is change the path that is assigned to the sPath variable. This should be the path to the folder containing your documents, and you'll want to make sure that it ends with a backslash. The macro opens any document files in the folder and resets all the spelling- and grammar-checking-related settings in the document. Then, the document is saved. The next time you open the documents normally, you should notice that the checking should occur as normal.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1930) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016.