Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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: Setting Spell-Checking Options.

Setting Spell-Checking Options

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 30, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

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:

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.)
Click Proofing at the left side of the dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Proofing options of the Word Options dialog box.

Make changes in the options, as desired. (Don't forget to scroll down to see more options.)
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 (9654) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word 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...

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