Microsoft 365 Personal for Mac spell check randomly stopped working

Question

About 2 months ago spell check in Microsoft 365 Personal for Mac Outlook (hotmail) (macOS 14.6.1, Safari v.17.6) randomly stopped working. If you hover over a word it shows as misspelled but it does not highlight in any way all misspelled words.

I've spent about 2+ hours in Google AI trying to fix this issue and nothing works. I've used the Microsoft help chat bot and that doesn't work. The bot finally referred me to an associate but the window froze in "connecting".

I don't know how Microsoft can sell a product with NO customer support. I've got a Mac and am use to being able to get human support (after I've spent some time trying to research the fix myself).

Answer 1

The first thing you need to do is update Sonoma. Version 14.8.3 is the current release. Even if that doesn't resolve the problem it's pointless to troubleshoot issues if the OS is out of date.

Second, please clarify: Is the problem only with Outlook or are other Office programs affected as well?

Are you using the locally installed version of Outlook or are you using the online web app? If locally installed do you use Legacy Outlook of New Outlook?

Also, in Word go to Word> About Microsoft Word in the main menu bar to determine the present Version Number of your Office software. Include that in your response here.

Answer 2

If the spell check feature in Microsoft 365 Personal for Mac Outlook has stopped working, here are a few troubleshooting steps that might help resolve the issue:

1. Check Language Settings: Sometimes, the spell check may not work if the language settings are incorrect. Go to Tools > Language and ensure that the correct language is selected.
2. Restart Outlook: Close and reopen Outlook to see if that resolves the issue.
3. Update Microsoft Office: Ensure that your Microsoft Office is up to date. Updates can fix bugs and improve functionality.
4. Reinstall Office: If the problem persists, consider uninstalling and then reinstalling Microsoft Office. This can help resolve any corrupted files that may be causing the issue.
5. Check for Add-ins: Sometimes, third-party add-ins can interfere with the spell check functionality. Disable any unnecessary add-ins to see if that resolves the issue.

If these steps do not resolve the problem, you may want to provide more specific details about your version of Outlook and any error messages you are encountering for further assistance.

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References:

• Spell check isn't working (Word for Mac)
• Word spell check is not working