Making Sure Words in Caps are Spell Checked

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 30, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365

When Gloria does a spell check on her document, it seems that words that are in all capital letters are ignored. She wonders how to ensure that those words are spell-checked as well.

This is actually controlled through a single setting within Word. In order to access the setting, 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.)
At the left side of the dialog box click Proofing. (See Figure 1.)

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

Make sure the Ignore Words in UPPERCASE check box is cleared.
Click on OK.

You only need to make this setting once, and it should be good for any documents you work with after that. Understand that this setting controls how Word deals with all words that are in caps, including acronyms and initials. Thus, "words" such as IBM, ATT, ASAP, and IIRC will all be spell-checked after clearing the check box mentioned in step 3.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10472) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365.

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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Saving a Custom Table Style

When you format your data as a table, Excel allows you to apply a style to that table. You can even create your own table ...

Discover More

Too Many Rows or Columns in a PivotTable

PivotTables are often used to aggregate lots of information, and they do it beautifully. What do you do if Excel starts ...

Discover More

Random Numbers in a Range

Excel provides several different functions that you can use to generate random numbers. One of the most useful is the ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

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

Making Spell Check Ignore Characters

The rules of professional editing often require that editorial changes in a quote be noted with brackets. These brackets, ...

Discover More

Spell-checking Uppercase Words

When Word checks the spelling of a document, it can either check or ignore words that are in uppercase letters. Here's ...

Discover More

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.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 3 - 3?

2023-10-03 03:32:21

Arya

Thank you for the helpful tip.

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.