Spelling correction

Question

Why is the Spelling anf Grammar check working in some paragraphs of a word document and in other paragraphs of the same document not?

Answer 1

Hi @Andreas Sewing, 

Welcome to the Q&A Community 

I’m here to assist with your problem. 

To help narrow this down, could you share: 

• Your Word version (found under File > Account > About Word)? 
• Your operating system (e.g., Windows 10/11 or macOS version)? 
• Whether the non-working paragraphs involve text that was pasted from another source, like a website or another app? 
• If those paragraphs have mostly uppercase words, special characters, or technical terms? 
• Any specific formatting applied to them, such as styles, tables, or track changes? 
• Whether you've installed or updated any add-ins, extensions, or third-party tools recently? 

In the meantime, I recommend:

Reset proofing Language for problematic paragraphs: .  

1. Open your Word document. 
2. Select the paragraph(s) where spell/grammar check isn't working (click and drag to highlight, or use Ctrl+click for non-contiguous ones). 
3. Go to the Review tab in the top ribbon. 
4. Click Language > Set Proofing Language. 
5. In the dialog box, choose your desired language (e.g., English (United States)). 
6. Ensure the boxes for "Do not check spelling or grammar" and "Detect language automatically" are unchecked. 
7. Click OK, then type a test word with an error (like "speling") to see if red/green underlines appear - if not, repeat for the whole document by selecting all (Ctrl+A). 

Unhide Spelling and Grammar errors in Document settings: Word may automatically enable "hide" options for performance in large docs; resetting this often restores visible checks without notice of why it was off.  

1. Open your Word document. 
2. Click File in the top-left corner. 
3. Select Options at the bottom of the left pane (on Mac, it's Word > Preferences). 
4. In the Word Options window, click Proofing from the left menu. 
5. Scroll to the "Exceptions for" section near the bottom. 
6. Select your document name from the dropdown (it might say "All New Documents" or your specific file). 
7. Uncheck the boxes for "Hide spelling errors in this document only" and "Hide grammar errors in this document only." 
8. Click OK to save changes. 

Reset Global proofing options: 

• Follow steps 1-4 above to open Word Options > Proofing. 
• Under "When correcting spelling and grammar in Word," ensure "Check spelling as you type" and "Mark grammar errors as you type" are checked. 
• Click the Settings button next to "Writing Style" to ensure grammar rules are active (e.g., check all boxes or reset to defaults). 
• Click OK to exit the dialog, then OK again to close Options. 

Run Word in safe mode: You can try to in Safe mode 

• Press Win+R, type: winword /safe, and press Enter.   

Repair Word:  Refer to Repair an Office application - Microsoft Support  Please notice and accept my apologies that as moderators in the community, we are not supported for the product design and have limited resources for the advanced info for Microsoft products. To help you send your feedback and requirements to the related development team, we have redirected you to the correct path.  

We appreciate your kind patience and understanding that sometimes the initial response may not immediately resolve the issue or there may be some misunderstandings about your scenario, but we would love to hear updates from you and find out further suggestions. 

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Answer 2

The spellchecker depends on local settings in the text. In a problem paragraph, select a small range, such as a single word, and then visit the Language dialog box. Which language format is indicated in the dialog box and which other options are selected? See the screen shot below.

To fix this, you may have to select all the text in the document (with Ctrl+A) and then re-visit the Language dialog box. Set the correct language and click to clear the option "Do not check grammar or spelling." You should also modify these same settings in the Normal style.

Answer 3

For more on spellchecking in Word, see http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/MasterSpellCheck.htm .

Answer 4

All information were helpfull, but I'm not sure if they realy cover the problem.