Spell check underlines contractions of Verb + Not

Yes, this is a problem with Outlook for Mac. Outlook isn't recognizing the apostrophe as part of the word and therefore considers the the characters before the apostrophe to be a misspelled word.

Please be sure to let Microsoft know you'd like to see this feature addressed in future versions by using the Help --> Send Feedback... mechanism in any Office application.

Hope this helps!

Wow.  How could that possibly help?

The idea that in a message composition program where business people's credibility stands or falls on the basis of well made communications that this is a "feature" to be "addressed" in a "future version" damns Outlook for Mac to a woeful embarrassment for the MSFT team that works on it.

It's been over seven months since I did the HELP --> Send Feedback dance on this - nothing back from anyone in MSFT.  The Mac Office MVP Jim Gordon is aware of this, we discussed it in a private message thread back in December.  Prior to that I had written to MarcusA who was a PM on the Mac Office team, he's left MSFT now, but you can be pretty darn sure the team knows about it.  That is if any team still exists.

Seriously, having spent many years working on both Mac and Windows Office myself, I find it more than a little ridiculous that this hasn't been attended to by what is likely to be a minimal patch.  I can only assume that Mac Office, having been brought back into the realm of general Microsoft Office is allocated resources for life support only, if that, and unlikely to have any "features" like this fixed.

Wow.  How could that possibly help?

Well, gosh, my answer wasn't directed at you. I was trying to let the OP know this is a known issue and that he should report it.

I'm not a developer and won't assume this can be corrected with a minimal patch. Outlook for Mac's composition engine was a complete rewrite from its predecessor Entourage for Mac. No, it's not perfect but it's far better than it was.

Having been involved with three major releases of Office for Mac I've learned that not every issue reported is considered a bug that will be fixed in an update. Sometimes, Microsoft is very aware of a bug and decides to address it in the next major version or decides not to address it at all. The fix may require extensive work (even if it seems simple) and the risk may not be worth potentially breaking the current product.

It's important for everyone pained by a particular problem to report it. Why? Because Microsoft prioritizes its fixes based on customer feedback. Why would they prioritize addressing something one person has reported if they have 10 people reporting something else? The more who report a problem the more likely it will get addressed.

I was trying to let the OP know this is a known issue and that he should report it.

Having been involved with three major releases of Office for Mac I've learned that not every issue reported is considered a bug that will be fixed in an update. Sometimes, Microsoft is very aware of a bug and decides to address it in the next major version or decides not to address it at all. The fix may require extensive work (even if it seems simple) and the risk may not be worth potentially breaking the current product.

Don't take it personal, but don't assume that was a helpful post.  I typically only end up in this forum when another user forwards me an issue to check out - I don't really expect answers here.

If it's a known issue, why should the OP (whatever that is, 17 years working at MSFT and I have no idea what that stands for) report it?  Can't this be evaluated outside of statistics?

What's the triage conversation like?

Who's affected by this bug?

Any English speaker who uses contractions.

So robots and the insane are't affected?

Exactly.

Mark it Pri 3 sev 3.

Having been involved with the development of many office releases, both Win and Mac, I'd put serious money, three maybe four figures, that this isn't a serious fix by Office definitions.  Likely localized, not shared code.  That more likely the current philosophy is that they won't fix anything that isn't a zero day threat because of their pathological fear of regressions.

And with respect to having every user report it, seems doubtful that would raise any eyebrows now that the team is part of the larger Windows org.  The stats from Mac Office simply won't create a blip against the user base on Windows.

What advice would you give the OP (original poster)?