Office 2016 Missing Proofing Tools

Question

The problem: Recently had 32-bit Office 2016 Standard installed by company IT on my personal 64-bit Windows 10 laptop. The installed the English version. Living in Germany, I write a lot in German (even though I prefer the software language itself to be English). Since they installed Office 2016 Standard, I have not been able to get German language proofing tools to work. (Note: I had a personal copy of Office 2016 Home and Student installed before they decided I needed Office Standard. So, they uninstalled my personal copy--I do know they did that--and then they installed the Office 2016 Standard. While using my personal copy, I had no problem proofing either English or German. I figure the problem has something to do with how they installed Office 2016 Standard.)

I've read LOTS of the threads on this issue. Made sure I downloaded the 32-bit German language pack, since the version of Office is definitely 32-bit. Checked for the "overwrite" key in the Registry--it didn't exist, so I could delete it. Ran the language installation pack as Administrator. Ran the "Repair" option of the Office Setup from Control Panel | Programs. Nothing has worked.

(1) Any other ideas? (2) Could it be because they didn't yet enter an activation code? (3) If you're wondering why I don't just ask them, well, I will, but they're a company we have contracted to do our IT (since we're a small organization). They're not always there. So I was hoping to get some ideas while I wait for them.

Thanks,

Scott

Answer 1

Is that an assumption or a question?! ;-)  Yes. And, in fact, I get an error message at the top of the editing area that says, "MISSING PROOFING TOOLS! This document contains text in German (Germany) which isn't being proofed." At the bottom, in the. . . what do you call it, an information bar? . . . it says "German (Germany)." So, yes, the text is definitely recognized as German.

When I look at File | Options | Languages, I get this:

I just cannot get the language pack installed in such a way that it will recognize proofing tools?

Despite appearing to be an "old hand," am I missing something really obvious?

Thanks!

Scott

Answer 2

Hi,

This issue may occur due to a possible system conflict. We recommend performing a repair for Office application by following the troubleshooting steps on this link. It's a tool created for any Office issues.

Let us know if you need further assistance.

Answer 3

The fact that it's saying the proofing tools are not installed is certainly suggestive. So yes, clearly something is wrong, and I'm afraid I don't know how to fix it. It seems you've certainly tried everything, including a repair. I wonder if the proofing tools you were using with the previous version of Office may still be installed and preventing the new ones from being installed properly?

In my copy of Word 2013 (I don't have 2016), "Not installed" beside one of the languages is a hyperlink. Is that also true in your installation? If so, what happens when you click it? When I do that, I get to https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Language-Accessory-Pack-for-Office-82ee1236-0f9a-45ee-9c72-05b026ee809f?ui=en-US&rs=en-MY&ad=MY.

Answer 4

Since you seem to be an old hand at this, I'll assume that you have definitely applied German to the text in question as the proofing language?

Answer 5

Well. . . thanks, I think.

I followed those steps, hoping that my nagging doubt was wrong. Unfortunately I should have paid attention to my nagging doubt. I forgot about what I had mentioned in my first post: my original copy of Office was MY copy; the "new" copy was my company's copy. So, after uninstalling, I personally am unable to reinstall the company's version. So. . . until the "rental" IT guys are available again, I'm without Outlook (because my copy of Office is Home/Study, without Outlook) and e-mail. Can't really blame you, but nonetheless I wish I hadn't followed the directions.

I'll get back to you if the problem still exists after I get them to reinstall. Maybe when they reinstall, it'll be with the proper language packs and proofing tools.

Scott