Spell Checker

Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available for the 'Spell Checker' topic. Click the article's title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

Checking Spelling and Grammar from Scratch
If you ever need to check the spelling or grammar of a document from scratch, it can be confusing knowing the proper steps to follow. Here's how you can instruct Word to start checking all over, with a clean slate.

Configuring Spell Check for Internet Addresses
When writing technical documents, URLs are a common thing to include in your text. Normally Word will mark these as incorrectly spelled. You can, however, configure Word so that it ignores them.

Dealing with a Full Custom Dictionary
Does Word tell you that your custom dictionary is full? It might not actually be full, but even if it is you can add another custom dictionary to those that Word uses.

Disabling the Automatic Spell Checker
Word, by default, automatically checks your spelling as you type. If this checking (and the marking of potential misspellings) bothers you, you can turn off the spell checker by using the information in this tip.

Editing a Custom Dictionary
Custom dictionaries can be great, but they take quite a bit of time to create. Word provides a way you can edit your custom dictionaries, or you can simply edit one using a text editor. This tip shows how to make the changes.

Eliminating Bogus Spelling Errors on Internet Addresses
Tired of Word 2007 marking Internet addresses as spelling errors? You can turn off this check by applying the steps in this tip.

Getting Spell-Check to Work
Having problems making spell check work on a portion of your document? There are two primary causes for such an occurrence, and both causes are discussed in this tip.

Hiding Spelling Errors in a Document
When you are typing in a document, Word normally checks your spelling in the background, marking possible spelling errors as you go. If the markings bother you, here's how you can turn them off.

Ignoring Words Containing Numbers
If your writing often contains words that include numbers, you'll want to make sure you set up the spelling checker to ignore them. Here's how to do it.

Making Sure Superscripts aren't Proofed
When you add superscripts to words in your document, you may not want those superscripts to be spell-checked. Here's how to disable the checking of your superscripts.

Should Word Spell-Check Uppercase Words?
When Word checks the spelling of a document, it can either check or ignore words that are in uppercase letters. Here's how to throw the switch that controls this option.

Turning Off Checking for a Style
There may be some paragraphs in a document that you don't want Word to spell- or grammar-check. You can "turn off" the checking for those paragraphs by following the steps in this tip.

Turning Off Error Marking
If you find the green and red squiggly underlines that Word adds to your document distracting, you might want a quick way to hide them. Here's the absolute fastest way to get them out of your sight.

Using Only the Main Dictionary
Spell check a document, and Word normally checks several different dictionaries. Here's how to limit the dictionary consulted by Word when doing the check.

What to Do if Spell Check Doesn't Catch Misspelled Words
We've come to rely on spell checking tools to help make our documents clearer and more understandable. What are you to do if the spell checker doesn't catch some improperly spelled words, however?