Spell check in wrong language

Question

I have Word for Mac 2019.  My spell check and grammar check language is not in English US, which is what I need.  I have changed the language using the Review tab, from the System Preferences and Language icon, and from the bottom of the document.  I click on yes to make English my default language, but when I try to use Spell Check, it reverts to Dutch or Italian.  I did an online chat for support and finally gave up as nothing was working.  Is this fixable?

Answer 1

Thank you. I was able to finally fix the problem by highlighting the entire 75 page document I was working on, then going to Review, and choosing English US. Not sure why this fixed it as I have only written in English and have never chosen any other language, but it did.

Answer 2

Hi,

The proofing language is character level formatting often set in styles and it may be in the normal template. If you are willing to use some macros, it can be fixed.

Here are three macros:

For a single document:

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

For problems with styles in the document:

Sub StyleEnglishUS()

'   Written 14 December 2017

'   Charles Kenyon

'   Intended to set all styles to EnglishUS, 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

        aStyle.LanguageID = wdEnglishUS

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

    Next aStyle

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

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

    On Error GoTo 0

End Sub

This is to change the normal template:

Sub StyleEnglishUSNormalTemplate()

'   Written 24 April 2019

'   Charles Kenyon

'   Intended to set all styles in Normal template to EnglishUS, 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 = wdEnglishUS

        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/willmyformatchange.html

    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 EnglishUS."

    On Error GoTo -1

End Sub

Instructions for Installing Macros from Forums or Websites by Graham Mayor, MVP

See also Mastering the Spelling Checker by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP

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

Answer 3

That is great your issue has been resolved.

Answer 4

Hi,

My name is Mina. I am an Independent Advisor. Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community. I will try to help you with your issue.

.I believe that this Microsoft article talks about changing (editing, display, and help language) on all kind of OS.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/change...

Kindly, press on the MAC OS tab to get the instruction on MAC computers.

Also, you mentioned that importing file changes to US format. This is maybe because the file already created on another computer with the US format as default settings. Then when you open it on your computer, It keeps this format for you.

Try to create a new file on your computer - for example word file - and check the settings. If they are set to UK settings, then the files you import are created on their original computer using US settings. If not, kindly, follow the steps in the above link

Please, let me know if there is anything else I can help with.

Regards,

Mina