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

Controlling the Format of Cross-References

When you use fields to add cross-references to tables or figures, Word normally takes care of formatting the words used ...

Discover More

Adjusting Row Height for Your Text

Want Excel to automatically adjust the height of a worksheet row when it wraps text within the cell? It's easy to do, ...

Discover More

Spacing Before and After Lists

When formatting a document that uses lists, you may want to adjust the space that appears just before and just after the ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Backing Up Your Custom Dictionaries

When you work with the spelling checker quite a bit, you eventually end up with a sizeable custom dictionary. You might ...

Discover More

Forcing a Complete Spelling and Grammar Check

There are a couple of ways that various parts of a document can have spelling and grammar checking "turned off." This tip ...

Discover More

Making Ignore All Work for a Document on All Systems

When you tell Word's spell checker to ignore all instances of a misspelling, you may expect that the misspelling will be ...

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 eight more than 0?

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.