WORD is flagging but not fixing spelling mistakes ONLY in comments (Word for Mac)

Question

WORD is flagging but not fixing spelling mistakes ONLY in comments (Word for Mac)

Lauri Donahue 0

MS Word no longer corrects spelling in comments. It only SPOTS mistakes and marks them with a red squiggle but won't suggest CORRECTIONS or let me automatically correct.

I have MS 365. I have used Word for decades and this is a new problem just in the past few months.

I've looked here and elsewhere online for a fix but can't find one that actually works.

I already tried disabling modern comments and restarting.

I already confirmed that "check spelling" is enabled, and it works fine for the body of the document -- just not for the comments.

I already checked comment style.

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Answer 1

Francisco Montilla 23,860 Independent Advisor

Hello Lauri,

In the current Word build, the inline Editor does not always surface correction choices inside Modern comments even though it flags misspellings.

The way to get actual suggestions and apply fixes in comments is to run the classic Spelling checker. Open the document, press F7, confirm you want to start at the beginning, then step through the suggestions. Word will include text inside comment balloons in that pass, and clicking Change will fix the misspelling right in the comment.

If that does not do it, tell me your Word build number from File > Account > About Word and I will give you the next step.

Lauri Donahue 0 Reputation points

2025-10-23T13:45:08.4933333+00:00

I don't have **File > Account > About Word.

I'm running Office 365 for home.**
Lauri Donahue 0 Reputation points

2025-10-23T13:49:56.85+00:00

This doesn't work well enough.

This does NOT highlight with red squiggles mistakes in the comments unless you're editing that specific comment.

It's slow and burdensome to have to check/fix comments one at a time.

Also, you only get suggestions if the cursor is right at the end of the wrong word -- not just by right-clicking the wrong word.

Why not just make it the way it was before??
Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 429.5K Reputation points

2025-10-23T14:31:46.9866667+00:00

The reference to File> Account pertains to the Windows version. The equivalent in Mac Office programs is to click the name of the program in the main menu bar & select the About... listing. However, this isn't a version-specific issue — IMO both Modern Comments & Editor leave a lot to be desired.

Your concerns are valid & described very well, but this is not the place to voice them. Nobody here can alter the design of the software.

Please use Help> Feedback in the Word menu bar to send a message to Microsoft. Include a link to this thread. Feedback goes directly to the development group for consideration whereas this is simply a peer-to-peer public support Community.
Lauri Donahue 0 Reputation points

2025-10-23T14:35:26.0366667+00:00

Bob - so are you saying that the software is in fact broken and there's no easy fix?
Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 429.5K Reputation points

2025-10-23T16:09:14.4233333+00:00

I wouldn't say broken — rather works in progress. Feedback is the best way to have attention focused on any development/design issues.
Lauri Donahue 0 Reputation points

2025-10-23T17:04:32.72+00:00

If something doesn't work that worked before, I would call that "broken." ;)
Stefan Blom 322.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-10-23T18:32:01.8833333+00:00

If your version of Word lets you turn off modern comments, that might be helpful.
Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 429.5K Reputation points

2025-10-23T19:09:39.67+00:00

We could haggle over that for hours without achieving anything more than agreeing to disagree :-) My point was that Legacy Comments & Modern Comments are designed differently & the function you seek has not been implemented in Modern Comments. From my perspective nothing which never existed cannot be broken... It simply hasn't been included.

The unfortunate bottom line is that Modern Comments lack some useful capabilities which may or may not be added at a later date. That's why submitting Feedback is important. Contrary to what many believe, Microsoft does listen but can't always comply or immediately implement what users prefer.
Lauri Donahue 0 Reputation points

2025-10-23T19:23:39.6766667+00:00

But I had modern comments before and spell-checking in it worked before the last couple of months.

So that sounds "broken" to me.
Francisco Montilla 23,860 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-10-23T19:26:13.21+00:00
With Modern comments, Word flags misspellings but does not give the classic right click suggestions in-place.

As an alternative, create a tiny macro that runs the classic Spelling checker only on the Comments range. In Word on your Mac, go to Tools > Macro > Macros. Type CheckSpellingInComments, then click Create to open the editor. Replace everything in the code window with the code below, then close the editor and save when prompted:

Sub CheckSpellingInComments() Dim r As Range On Error GoTo Done Set r = ActiveDocument.StoryRanges(wdCommentsStory) If r Is Nothing Then GoTo Done r.Select Dialogs(wdDialogToolsSpellingAndGrammar).Show Done: End Sub

Run it via Tools > Macro > Macros > CheckSpellingInComments > Run. Word will open the classic Spelling dialog, step through misspellings in all comment balloons, and offer correction suggestions just like before. This skips the document body, so you do not have to click each comment or place the cursor at the end of a word.

If you like it, assign a shortcut so it is one keystroke. On Mac, open Tools > Customize Keyboard. In Categories pick Macros. In Commands pick CheckSpellingInComments. Click in Press new keyboard shortcut, press the keys you want, then click Assign and OK.

I hope this helps in some way!
Lauri Donahue 0 Reputation points

2025-10-23T19:52:50.7966667+00:00
@Stefan Blom I mentioned in the original post that I already tried turning off modern comments and that didn't work. In face, it made things worse because it didn't flag errors even without a comment I was editing, let alone fix them.

@Francisco Montilla I would be VERY reluctant to mess around under the hood in Windows without knowing what I'm doing.

I did discover one tiny hack that helps some.

If you're dealing with a misspelled word in the body of a document, you can just right-click on it and the alternates come up. It doesn't matter where your cursor is at the time.

In comments, that doesn't happen. You right click and don't see alternatives.

HOWEVER, if you LEFT click on the misspelled word in comments, or put the cursor in or at the end of the word, and THEN right click on it, the alternates come up.

This only helps if you're correcting as you go and a comment is open for editing, but it's better than nothing.

BTW, this left/right click hack works with modern comments.
Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 429.5K Reputation points

2025-10-23T20:20:06.3766667+00:00

My error... I thought you were comparing the behavior in Modern Comments to that of Legacy Comments.

I understand your observation re Modern Comments & see that you have submitted the issue via the Feedback portal. I've done the same.
Stefan Blom 322.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-10-23T23:10:37.82+00:00

@Lauri Donahue

I missed the part that you had already tested classic comments. :-( I suppose, since the issue is with both types, something may in fact be broken. It's a good thing you reported it—and Bob, too.

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WORD is flagging but not fixing spelling mistakes ONLY in comments (Word for Mac)

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