Autocorrect defaults to wrong language

Hi

Proofing language is a bit mysterious. F **irst, make sure that you turn off the proofing option to detect language automatically.**Word is bad at this and terrible when it comes to distinguishing the spelling in various forms of English (or other languages with multiple spelling versions).

If possible, your Windows regional settings should match your primary language setting in Word.

You can display the proofing language for a particular place in a document on the Status Bar. (Windows) If this is not showing there, right-click and add it.

The "proofing language" is a key to several Word features including spelling and grammar and AutoCorrect. It is not an application-wide setting nor even a document setting; it is set at the character level!

You may want to look at Suzanne Barnhill's article on the spelling checker. It is the definitive article. http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/MasterSpellCheck.htm

Because the proofing language is character-level formatting, it can be imported when you paste text from other documents or from the Internet (or within a document). It can be in your Styles.

The simplest thing to do for an immediate fix is to select all the text in your document and apply the correct proofing language. Ctrl+A and then Reviewing tab > Language > Proofing Language and then select the correct language.(Clicking on the language in the status bar will take you directly here.

Here are macros that may be helpful to you. These are set for English UK but you can set them for English New Zealand if you wish. See the links for language IDs.

The first one is for an individual document to set the proofing language for all text to English UK.

Sub ProofingLanguageEnglishUSAllStory() ' based on field updater by Greg Maxey

    ' https://gregmaxey.com/word_tip_pages/word_fields.html

    ' Charles Kenyon 6 November 2018

    ' https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/force-all-documents-to-be-edited-in-uk-english/df6d1f8e-5426-49d9-bea0-5620d0208294

    ' Changes proofing language to English UK in all stories of document

    ' Language IDs https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/word.wdlanguageid

    Dim rngStory As Word.range

    Dim lngValidate As Long ' do not know purpose of this

    Dim oShp As Shape

    lngValidate = ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Headers(1).range.StoryType

    For Each rngStory In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges

      'Iterate through all linked stories

      Do

        On Error Resume Next

        rngStory.LanguageID = wdEnglishUS

        Select Case rngStory.StoryType

          Case 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

            If rngStory.ShapeRange.Count > 0 Then

              For Each oShp In rngStory.ShapeRange

                If oShp.TextFrame.HasText Then

                   oShp.TextFrame.TextRange.LanguageID = wdEnglishUS

                End If

              Next

            End If

          Case Else

            'Do Nothing

        End Select

        On Error GoTo -1

        'Get next linked story (if any)

        Set rngStory = rngStory.NextStoryRange

      Loop Until rngStory Is Nothing

      Next

End Sub

The second one is to change the proofing language of all styles to English UK: 

Sub StyleEnglishUK()

' Written 21 March 2018

' Charles Kenyon

' Intended to set all styles to EnglishUK, proofing, not automatitically update

' Language IDs https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/word.wdlanguageid

'

    Dim aStyle As Style

    On Error Resume Next ' Some styles have no language attribute and will give an error

    For Each aStyle In ActiveDocument.Styles

        Select Case aStyle.NameLocal

            Case "TOC 1", "TOC 2", "TOC 3", "TOC 4", "TOC 5", "TOC 6", "TOC 7", "TOC 8", "TOC 9"

                Let aStyle.AutomaticallyUpdate = True

            Case Else

                Let aStyle.AutomaticallyUpdate = False

        End Select

        Let aStyle.LanguageID = wdEnglishUK

        Let aStyle.NoProofing = False

    Next aStyle

    Let ActiveDocument.UpdateStylesOnOpen = False ' For information on using this line, see:

' http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/sharing/willmyformatchange.html

    On Error GoTo -1

End Sub

If the styles in your normal template are off, here is one for the normal template: 

Sub StyleEnglishUKNormalTemplate()

' Written 27 September 2019

' Charles Kenyon

' Intended to set all styles in Normal template to EnglishUK, proofing, not automatitically update

' Use right after opening Word

' Language IDs https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/word.wdlanguageid

'

  Application.ScreenUpdating = False

  Application.NormalTemplate.OpenAsDocument

  Dim aStyle As Style

  On Error Resume Next ' Some styles have no language attribute and will give an error

  For Each aStyle In ActiveDocument.Styles

    Select Case aStyle.NameLocal

      Case "TOC 1", "TOC 2", "TOC 3", "TOC 4", "TOC 5", "TOC 6", "TOC 7", "TOC 8", "TOC 9"

        Let aStyle.AutomaticallyUpdate = True

      Case Else

        Let aStyle.AutomaticallyUpdate = False

    End Select

    Let aStyle.LanguageID = wdEnglishUK

    Let aStyle.NoProofing = False ' also turn on spelling and grammar checking

  Next aStyle

  Let ActiveDocument.UpdateStylesOnOpen = False ' For information on using this line, see:

  ' http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/sharing/willmyf...

  ActiveDocument.Close SaveChanges:=True

  Let Application.ScreenUpdating = True

  Application.ScreenRefresh

  MsgBox Title:="All done!", Prompt:="Proofing Language in all styles in the Normal template set to EnglishUK."

  On Error GoTo -1

End Sub

Here's how to use a macro found in this forum or on another webpage:

For PC macro installation:

http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm (or)

http://gregmaxey.com/word_tip_pages/installing_employing_macros.html

For Mac macro installation & usage instructions, see:

https://wordmvp.com/Mac/InstallMacro.html

---

These are links to pages on one or more trusted Word MVP websites or blogs. Those pages contain accurate safe information that I think will help you.

---

This forum is a user-to-user support forum. I am a fellow user.

I hope this information helps.

Please let me know if you have any more questions or require further help.

You can ask for more help by replying to this post (Reply button below).

Regards

Thank you for the time and effort that you put into your reply, Charles. I appreciated the time and effort you put in; and I found it helpful, even if I initially looked at the macros section and wondered if the "cure was worse than the disease" ;-)

I should still sit down and read through the articles and links you suggested, despite Word unilaterally deciding to correct the problem a day after you responded, without me having the chance to try out your suggestions. It's also decided that I can no longer use the ` + "vowel" combination to put a macron over the vowel, after less than a week of flawless usage.

But at least none of those problems are major issues for me. Thank you again for your help.