Forcing a Complete Spelling and Grammar Check

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 3, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


1

Joy has a document that has some text that is not checked in a spelling or grammar check. Some phrases are specifically marked "do not check" in the Language dialog box, and some styles are set up for no checking. Joy would like, however, to "override" this setting and force a complete check of the document.

This can be done in Word if you follow these steps:

  1. Press Ctrl+A. This selects the entire document.
  2. Display the Review tab of the Ribbon.
  3. If you are using Word 2007, click the Set Language tool in the Proofing group. If you are using Word 2010 or a later version, click the Language tool in the Language group and then choose Set Proofing Language. Word displays the Language dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
  4. Figure 1. The Language dialog box.

  5. Uncheck the Do Not Check Spelling Or Grammar checkbox.
  6. In the list of available languages, select the option that reflects the language of the text.
  7. Click OK.

At this point your document is ready for a complete check. All you need to do is press F7 or, on the Review tab, click the Check Document tool (Spelling & Grammar tool in earlier versions of Word) in the Proofing group.

Understand, though, that if you go through this process you've effectively overridden whatever your particular styles have as "default" for your text. To get back to the default (at least according to the styles), you'll need to select the entire document again (Ctrl+A) and then press Ctrl+Q to return everything to normal. This won't undo any spelling corrections you made, but it will return the "do not check" setting to whatever is defined for each style used in the 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 (13247) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.

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

Capitalizing the Word "I"

The first-person, singular pronoun "I" should always be capitalized, unless you are exercising poetic license. Word may ...

Discover More

Inserting from the Clip Art Gallery Doesn't Work

Ever insert a picture and it won't display in your document? It could be due to some of the display settings in Word. ...

Discover More

Setting a Transparent Color for an Image

Want to "see through" an image you place on a worksheet? You can do so by using the steps in this tip.

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Spelling Errors on Internet Addresses

Tired of Word marking Internet addresses as spelling errors? You can turn off this check by applying the steps in this tip.

Discover More

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

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
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 7 - 7?

2020-10-03 04:54:11

Ken Endacott

There is a big problem with this tip. Checking or unchecking "Do not check spelling or grammar" does not work if the text selected has more than 50 paragraphs, otherwise it simply does nothing and doesn't tell you that the operation has failed. If you want to apply to the whole document then you need to apply in 50 paragraph chunks. This bug in Word is present in very early to current versions.


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.