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: Turning Off a Dictionary for a Style.

Turning Off a Dictionary for a Style

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 20, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365

If you use styles in your documents, chances are pretty good that you will end up defining styles for things such as tables, illustrations, and the like. There is also a good chance that you will want these types of paragraphs to be skipped when doing a grammar- or spell-check. You can ensure this by doing the following:

Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
Click the small icon at the bottom-right of the Styles group. Word displays the Styles task pane.
In the list of styles shown, hover the mouse pointer over the name of the style you want to alter. A drop-down arrow should appear at the right side of the style name.
Click the drop-down arrow and choose Modify. Word displays the Modify Style dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Modify Style dialog box.

Click on Format and select Language from the pull-down list. Word displays the Language dialog box. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. The Language dialog box.

Make sure the Do Not Check Spelling or Grammar check box is selected.
Click on OK.
Click on OK to close the Modify Style dialog box.
To change other styles, repeat steps 3 through 8.
When you are done, click on Close.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13048) 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: Turning Off a Dictionary for a Style.

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

Highlighting Greater Than Average Dry Durations

If you need to find whether the duration between two dates is greater than the average of all durations, you'll find the ...

Discover More

Viewing Document Statistics

As you develop a document, Word keeps track of certain statistics about the document itself. Here is how you can review ...

Discover More

Adjusting the Cursor Blink Rate

In Windows, the cursor indicates where you are about to type information using the keyboard. You can adjust how quickly ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Saving Styles in a Macro

If you are trying to limit what styles can and can't be used in a document, you might think a good approach is to store ...

Discover More

Reformatting a Document with Messed-Up Styles

If there are lots of hands that touch a document, there are lots of ways those hands can mess up the document. You may be ...

Discover More

Checking Bilingual Documents

Do you routinely work with multiple languages in your documents? If so, you may appreciate the suggestions in this tip, ...

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 8 - 2?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

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.