Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 9, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016
Don has a very long Word document that includes a lot of unusual names in it. He doesn't want to clutter the dictionary with each of the names, so he normally does a spell check and marks each one as "ignore all" or (sometimes) "ignore once." Unfortunately, the next time Don opens the document most of the names are again marked with a wavy red underline, calling the misspellings to his attention. He questions whether Word should remember that he marked these names to be ignored.
When you right-click on a misspelled word, you are given three options: Ignore, Ignore All, or Add to Dictionary. If you click Ignore, then Word simply ignores this one instance of the misspelled word. If you click Ignore All, it is the same as clicking Ignore, except that Word ignores all words spelled the same way in the document.
Note that Ignore and Ignore All affect only the current document, and only for the current session of working with the document. When you later open the document again (or open a document with similar names in it), then the words again show as misspelled. The options are, essentially, a way to temporarily—not permanently—stop Word from noting the misspelling.
That leaves the Add to Dictionary option. It adds the word to the dictionary so that Word no longer marks the word as misspelled, anywhere. Actually, the word will be marked as misspelled if you open the document on a different system that doesn't use the same dictionary that you use; it is only considered spelled correctly if opened on your system—the one where you added the word to the dictionary.
Word uses two dictionaries when spell-checking your documents: a built-in dictionary and a custom dictionary. When you click the Add to Dictionary option, Word adds the word to the custom dictionary, not to the built-in one. A custom dictionary is nothing but a plain-text file that contains words, one per line, that should be considered as spelled correctly. You can, if desired, create and use multiple custom dictionaries. This allows you, for instance, to create a custom dictionary to use for a specific job (like the one that contains all the names) and then switch to a different custom dictionary when you are working on a different job. Further, when you are done with the job to which the custom dictionary applied, you could move the custom dictionary off your system and store it with the documents related to that job.
Here are the general steps you would follow in order to do this:
That's it; the custom dictionary is back the way it was, uncluttered by the names you needed only for the one job on which you were working.
Of course, you can do a lot of this directly in Word, if you desire. Follow these steps before you spell-check the document that has lots of names in it:
Figure 1. The Custom Dictionaries dialog box.
Now, any names or words you add to the custom dictionary end up in the one you created and specified as the default. If you later want to switch back to the other dictionary, simply display the Custom Dictionaries dialog box again, select the dictionary you want used as the default, and then click the Change Default button.
If you don't want to take an approach that involves working with dictionaries, you could always create a character style that has the "do not check spelling" attribute specified. When you find a name or other word you don't want Word to mark as incorrectly spelled, just apply the style to that name or word. Since styles are remembered with the document in which they are used, those names or words will never be marked as incorrectly spelled.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13428) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016.
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2017-06-21 08:31:58
Ken Endacott
Word is erratic in making “ignored” misspelt words persistent, there seems to be no logic in it, some ignored entries will persist and some will revert back to having a wriggly red underscore. A similar thing happens if “Recheck Document” is clicked and the document is then saved and closed. When re-opened the misspelt word display may revert back to its state before “Recheck Document”.
Persistence also seems to be affected by whether Word installation’s default dictionary is different from the dictionary applied to the document. Documents that have text copied from other documents can also have a different dictionary applied to the inserted text which complicates things further.
In other words, Word’s spell checking is a mess.
2017-06-20 12:26:47
Bob
Isn't it odd (some would use stronger language) that we must resort to extravagant contortions to bully Microsoft Word into behaving the way most of us think it should behave by default? Where is the outrage?
2016-02-08 04:01:20
Des Lavender
And I just recorded a macro that sets the selection to not spell-check this selection, and add that macro to a button on the Quick Access Toolbar.
Sub NoSpellCheck()
'
' NoSpellCheck Macro
'
Selection.LanguageID = wdEnglishUK
Selection.NoProofing = True
Application.CheckLanguage = False
End Sub
2016-02-06 11:56:54
Art Osgatharp
As another faster and easier alternative, got to File…Options…Proofing. At the bottom, check “Hide spelling errors in this document only.” You may want to turn this off only while you are working on the document and turn it back on when the document is done and you want to go back and check spelling.
2016-02-06 11:33:18
Sharon
Super-excellent tip! Wish I knew about this when I was typing a book for a client. But I will save this tip for the next time I do something for that client.
Thanks to all!!
2016-02-06 11:00:46
John
Very helpful. You've explained why even "Ignore all" doesn't prevent those same words getting flagged as misspelled every subsequent time I open the document. I now understand that I need to use "Add to dictionary" to spare myself a ton of duplicated labor.
2016-02-06 07:43:19
David George
Great tip and a reminder for me.
I work with thousands of foreign names and use two different systems. Both systems use Office 2010 and what I generally do is make sure that the custom.doc file is is the same in both. It takes some effort to maintain this, but saves some aggravation later.
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