Spell Check is not correcting errors

Williams, Jeanette 0 Reputation points
2026-08-11T20:22:47.0266667+00:00

spell check is not correcting spelling and grammar

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | Other | Other
0 comments No comments

2 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Stefan Blom 355.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2026-08-11T21:16:58.4833333+00:00

    Spellchecking in Word depends on the language format applied to text in documents. "Detect language automatically" often causes problems, because it instructs Word to guess the language as you type, and to change the language at the insertion point according to those guesses—which are often incorrect.

    If your document is written is one language, select all the text with Ctrl+A and re-apply the correct language via the Language dialog box (Review tab > Language group > Language > Set Proofing Language). Also clear "Detect language automatically" as well as "Do not check spelling or grammar" in that same dialog box.

    For more, read Suzanne S. Barnhill's excellent article on the topic: http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/MasterSpellCheck.htm .

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments

  2. AI answer

    2026-08-11T20:23:02.62+00:00

    Try these checks in Word, in this order:

    1. Set the proofing language for the document
      • Press Ctrl+A to select all text.
      • Go to Review > Language > Set Proofing Language.
      • Select the correct language, such as English (US).
      • Make sure Do not check spelling or grammar is cleared.
      • If language detection is causing problems, clear Detect language automatically.
    2. Turn on automatic checking
      • Go to File > Options > Proofing.
      • Make sure Check spelling as you type is enabled.
      • Make sure Mark grammar errors as you type is enabled.
    3. Run a manual check
      • Press F7 or go to Review > Spelling & Grammar.
      • In the dialog box, choose Change, Ignore, Ignore All, or Add as needed.
    4. Reset ignored words and grammar
      • Open the affected document.
      • Go to Tools > Spelling and Grammar > Reset Ignored Words and Grammar.
      • Click Yes.
      • Run Review > Spelling & Grammar again.
    5. If only some text is not being checked
      • Reapply the proofing language to just those paragraphs or to the whole document.
      • This often fixes text that was pasted from another source.
    6. If Word still does not mark errors
      • Check that spelling and grammar errors are not hidden for the document.
      • In Word for Mac, go to Word > Preferences > Spelling & Grammar and make sure these are checked:
        • Check spelling as you type
        • Check grammar as you type
      • Make sure these are unchecked:
        • Hide spelling errors in this document
        • Hide grammatical errors in this document
    7. If the issue continues on Mac
      • Check the document language and input source language.
      • If needed, move Normal.dotm so Word creates a new template. This removes customizations in that template.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

    Was this answer helpful?

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.