How to remove US English from the Windows 10 / Office 365 forever. Permanently.

Diana clement 46

No matter what I do my computer keeps trying to use US English. I am a professional. This makes me look so stupid if I use US English in a document. I have been driven to distraction trying to remove it. I simply want US English removed from my computer so it can never turn up again. How do I do this please? I want it gone. Never to show up again.

Frantic 1 Reputation point

2022-01-13T16:48:53.593+00:00

Here's an actual solution.

Find ExcludeDictionaryEN0809.lex. This should be located (depending on windows/office version) in C:\Users\<Your User Name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof

Basically the exception list file for that language.

Then go to http://www.tysto.com/uk-us-spelling-list.html or a better source. Copy paste the full list into, say, Excel to split it into 2 columns.

Select the American English column and copy that into your favourite text editor. Strip off any leftover tabs or control characters remaining. Now paste that list into ExcludeDictionaryEN0809.lex

You now have a list of words to recognise as incorrect English. Note that this solution won't correctly suggest to replace "airplane" with aeroplane, but it will at least mark it as a mistake. I recall achieving this once but I don't recall how. The autocorrect file exists somewhere and I think is used for suggestions.

Your Custom.DIC file is also in the same location if created, and you can override Office's hard coded notion that it shouldn't suggest misspelled swear words by simply adding them here.

This works fairly well as instead of trying to fight the system that will reinstall US English at every turn, we add a customised exception list to thwart it in real-time.

I hope this helps.
Charles Kenyon 2,821 Reputation points

2022-01-13T19:44:53.69+00:00

The Exclude dictionary is for you to mark words you always want to show up as misspelled.
petar stojchevski 0 Reputation points

2023-12-29T16:20:44.6466667+00:00

The answer happened to be so simple:
Delete the US language support from your Microsoft:
Settings>Language & Region.
Then, delete the English US and add a new language> English UK.
You don't even need a restart; it's finally gone from your comp, but most importantly, from your WORD and all the Office Apps.
Alan Doolan 5 Reputation points

2024-05-03T10:44:10.83+00:00

100% wiht you on this one. Ireland too is a UK Eng region. Drives me absolutely insane that the MS apps allow you Disable US Eng proofing tools, only to decide to revert back to adding them back in. Whats the point of a checkbox again please??

Accepted answer

Carlos Spicyweiner 105 Reputation points

2023-08-11T01:41:27.7966667+00:00
With the greatest of respect to the respondents here (and I do have oodles of respect for volunteers that are trying to help), the OP is clearly asking for advice about the ability to:

Eliminate the use of US English in all cases, and in every circumstance, at all levels and AT ALL TIMES.

It is so offensive to those of us that are not American, but live and breath English as our first language, that most if not all of our documents default to US English despite our repeated attempts to avoid that. On average, it's not uncommon to have up to 100 spelling and grammar errors (for our audience) when this occurs. It is unprofessional and ridiculously counter-productive.

I appreciate the highly technical answers such as editing custom dictionaries and use of Macros as suggestions, but for some of us, that just isn't seen as a safe option as we are simply not sufficiently technical to trust ourselves to achieve those.

And I also appreciate the claim that Microsoft isn't listening here. In fact, Microsoft simply aren't ever listening anywhere. No amount of complaints and feedback submissions has caused them to think that this simplest of features is a priority. I know, because I've been trying for more then 16 years on this very point.

Again, thanks to the volunteers who have tried to help. But this won't ever be fixed in a simple way. Microsoft just don't care enough.
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8 people found this answer helpful.
Dale McFarlane 0 Reputation points

2023-09-20T07:00:48.0233333+00:00

This is incredibly frustrating. We are forced either into errors in using a version of English that is incorrect for us, or manually changing every single file, since the default option doesn't stick. A simple option to delete US English would solve this.

Microsoft - please act on this.

Stefan Blom 2,281 Reputation points MVP

2023-09-20T07:49:40.2066667+00:00

This is incredibly frustrating. We are forced either into errors in using a version of English that is incorrect for us, or manually changing every single file, since the default option doesn't stick. A simple option to delete US English would solve this. Microsoft - please act on this.

Dale,

To get Microsoft's attention, you need to post a suggestion using the feedback facility in your version of Word (see https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/how-do-i-give-feedback-on-microsoft-365-2b102d44-b43f-4dd2-9ff4-23cf144cfb11).

Decision makers at Microsoft do not follow the forums.
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7 additional answers

Kathryn Kitto 16 Reputation points

2022-03-28T03:59:39.533+00:00

@Charles Kenyon
I have tried your solution, but it still reverts back to American English.

Microsoft really need to rectify this as this has been a problem for years which I know has frustrated myself and many others.

Every single time I type a word doc, I have to continually change it to English Australia not just at the beginning of the doc, but throughout. Wastes sooooo much time!!

@Microsoft - a solution please??
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3 people found this answer helpful.
Charles Kenyon 2,821 Reputation points

2022-12-03T19:23:03.963+00:00

Hello,

Sorry so late getting back to you. As is pointed out in my article, proofing language in Word is set at the character level fundamentally. The key setting is the Windows language setting and then the Word setting, but the proofing language setting at the character level. The default on web pages is English US, so things pasted from the web will copy that unless you paste as plain text.

My article contains macros you can use to create styles that contain your language setting. These can be applied with a keyboard shortcut.
I assume you have the language displayed in your Status bar.

Note, this is not the place to get any changes made in Word nor the attention of developers at Microsoft. This is an independent user-to-user support forum. MS does not see anything you post here. The way to get their attention is through the feedback mechanisms.
• How do I give feedback on Microsoft Office?
• Send Feedback to MS Developers
• Bonus Reading related to MS Feedback system

Charles Kenyon 2,821 Reputation points

2022-12-03T19:24:03.753+00:00

See also my other article on using styles to control proofing language settings.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/using-styles-for-proofing-language-settings/0a1bbf21-eaac-4044-afe6-253bfc47d65f
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Diana clement 46 Reputation points

2020-11-03T23:52:00.753+00:00

OK. Now I'm having problems with Outlook 365 as well.
No matter how many times I go into "Language" and uncheck the box "Do not check spelling or grammar" and click OK, it reverts back to checking that box. This is driving me bonkers. I'm sure it's all part of the same thing.
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Stefan Blom 2,281 Reputation points MVP

2020-11-04T00:13:28.037+00:00

No matter how many times I go into "Language" and uncheck the box "Do not check spelling or grammar" and click OK, it reverts back to checking that box. This is driving me bonkers. I'm sure it's all part of the same thing

That option applies to text ranges, not to the document as a whole. See if the option has been activated for the Normal style.

Diana clement 46 Reputation points

2020-11-04T00:31:31.433+00:00

Thanks. I've just done that on your advice. Let's see how it goes.
How on earth I get the Outlook spell checker not to start and stop and change languages I dont know.
In all the years I've been using Microsoft Word (I got my first copy at a press event the day Windows 95 launched and have used it ever since) I have never ever had a single problem with the spell check, other than this stupid practice of forcing users to have US English on their computers. (That has caused no end of grief to me over the years and Microsoft should really have sorted it by now. I often see posts by people who want US English removed. It should just be a choice.

Stefan Blom 2,281 Reputation points MVP

2020-11-04T10:13:09.457+00:00

You can check the settings of the Normal style in Outlook as well.

Note that if the language is changing at the insertion point, during typing, then you should ensure that "Detect language automatically" is turned off, both in Word and in Outlook. This option does apply to the program as a whole.

Charles Kenyon 2,821 Reputation points

2022-01-13T19:48:04.66+00:00

Yes, it is part of the same thing. As my article points out, this is a character formatting type of issue, except that the proofing language is invisible.
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Stefan Blom 2,281 Reputation points MVP

2020-10-30T09:19:01.34+00:00

What language do you want to use as the default proofing language in Word? Is that language set as the display language in Windows 10? The connection between the proofing language in Office and the display language in Windows is far from obvious, but I know from experience that it exists.

Also, is the option to "Detect language automatically" turned off in the Language dialog box (Review > Language > Set Proofing Language)?
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Diana clement 46 Reputation points

2020-11-02T02:31:32.46+00:00

I want to use English, not American English. I have to remove American English from the computer completely. It keeps coming back and makes me look so unprofessional.

Stefan Blom 2,281 Reputation points MVP

2020-11-02T07:10:43.86+00:00

Have you managed to correctly set the default language for new, blank documents?

Note that for any document where the language formatting has become incorrect, you will have to (re-)apply the correct language to text. This must be done for each affected document (because language is a text property in Word). Select all and choose the language you want in the Language dialog box (Review > Language > Set Proofing Language).

As long as you turn off the "Detect language automatically" option, you won't see the language changing in future documents that you create.

Of course, if you receive documents from other people or paste content from the internet, the language formatting applied by other people will be preserved when you open those documents. With regards to pasting, it will be safer to paste in plain text format.

Diana clement 46 Reputation points

2020-11-03T23:37:58.727+00:00

Thanks StefanBlom. That option of receiving documents from other people or paste content is all the more reason to remove US English from the computer.
So far today my document (set on NZ English tempate) hasn't turned to US. But quite often during the day they do.
Now of course Outlook 365 has managed to turn off the spell checking and I have to go through all the steps to try to work on why now. It seems to me that Microsoft has a number of basic issues to deal with, with 365. It also needs to consider users who don't want US English sullying their computers.
Cheers
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Emi Zhang-MSFT 25,631 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-10-30T09:15:37.553+00:00

Hi @Diana clement ,
Did you mean you want to remove US English spell check?
I suggest you go to Review- Language- Set Proofing language...- uncheck the option Detect language automatically.
Then please refer to this article of Charles Kenyon and confirm if this is helpful:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/proofing-language-keeps-changing-solutions-how-can/c6483d0c-6fe3-41bf-8464-25535d3ec15b

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Diana clement 46 Reputation points

2020-11-02T02:49:34.023+00:00

Thanks emizhang-msft
I came across that article last week and did everything it says. Today lo and behold it wants to offer corrections in US English.
This has caused me so much grief over the years. I want to remove US English from my computer in total and forever. I have zero doubt that I am not the only person in this situation. It's unbelievable that Microsoft doesn't get this.

Diana clement 46 Reputation points

2020-11-02T04:14:02.94+00:00

I should say it's offering US English first then NZ English. Even though I've done everything to remove US English from my proofing.
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How to remove US English from the Windows 10 / Office 365 forever. Permanently.

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