Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Rechecking Spelling and Grammar.

Rechecking Spelling and Grammar

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 11, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365


3

When you check the spelling and grammar of your document, Word keeps track of which errors you choose to ignore. Even if you later go through a grammar and spell check again, Word still remembers your earlier decisions, and it can affect the current check you are doing.

At some point you may want to toss out your earlier decisions and recheck the document from scratch. You can do so by following these steps:

  1. Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 and later versions display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
  2. At the left side of the dialog box click Proofing. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The proofing options of the Word Options dialog box.

  4. Click Check Document (Word 2007) or Recheck Document (Word 2010 and later versions). You'll see a dialog box asking if you really want to recheck everything.
  5. Click on Yes.
  6. Click on OK to close the Word Options dialog box.

At this point it may not look like anything has changed in your document. However, if you do a grammar and spell check (press F7) you will find that Word once again questions everything it thinks is wrong in your document.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6274) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Rechecking Spelling and Grammar.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Applying Consistent Shading to a Table

Formatting tables can be very time consuming. When you get a document from another person, you can spend a lot of time ...

Discover More

Showing Only Added Text with Track Changes

Do you want to change how Track Changes displays the markup in your document? Here's how you can completely hide deleted ...

Discover More

Microsoft Word VBA Guidebook (Table of Contents)

Creating Word macros allows you to extend your productivity with Word. Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Spell-Checking Abbreviations

Need to make sure that Word includes abbreviations when you check a document's spelling? Here's how to make sure that ...

Discover More

Editing While Spell-Checking

When you run a spell-check on a document, you may end up seeing other things that need to be edited. Never fear; you can ...

Discover More

Word Marks Mixed Case Acronyms as Incorrect

Many acronyms (such as DoD) are considered correct when they used mixed uppercase and lowercase. Word may not seem them ...

Discover More
Subscribe

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.

What is six minus 3?

2023-05-18 04:36:13

Bill

I have the opposite problem with Word 365. I run the spell checker and grammar checker and make decisions to ignore some of the errors. When the process is finished and no more errors are found (and I get no errors if I run them again), I save the document. If I re-open the document and try running the spell checker and grammar checker again, it flags many of the errors I had previously made decisions about during the first run. This is very annoying, since I can't get the document to appear clean without turning off checking completely (which I don't want to do).

Why is Word not honoring the decisions I made about ignoring the 'errors' it thinks it found?


2023-03-11 10:35:49

Elizabeth Mercado

This tip is very helpful to me, thanks for posting!


2023-03-11 10:00:49

Dave Dyer

Would you reprint a macro(s) for use in Outlook.com that i could use for repetitive replies for Office 2019 please?


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

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

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.