Spell Checker not working in Microsoft Word 2011 for Mac

Anonymous
2011-07-10T17:10:35+00:00

I just installed Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac a few weeks ago, and when I type a document in Word, it is not flagging misspelled words as I type, even though the "check spelling and grammar" button is selected. Additionally, when I run a spelling/grammar check, it tells me that it's been run already and it still does not flag any misspelled words. I tried reinstalling the proofing tools, but that has not helped. Does anyone have any feedback on how to fix this?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2013-11-12T23:59:22+00:00

The convenience of this macro is, once you know it works, all you need to do is open all documents requiring fixing, ALL AT ONCE, and run the macro one final time.

To force Australian English, change the language specification from wdEnglishUS to wdEnglishAUS

(in two places).

There is a Preference setting that, curiously, is saved with each document and is probably the root of your current problem: *Word > Preferences > Spelling and Grammar > Hide spelling errors in this document.*I've added it to the code as well, so here's a new version with the changes in boldface, which you can add manually:

Sub ApplyEnglishAUStoAllOpenDocuments()

For Each aDocument In Application.Documents

aDocument.Activate

'Apply language ----------------------

Selection.WholeStory

Selection.LanguageID = wdEnglishAUS

Selection.NoProofing = False

'Redefine the Normal style ----------------

ActiveDocument.Styles("Normal").LanguageID = wdEnglishAUS

ActiveDocument.Styles("Normal").NoProofing = False

'Enable spelling errors --------------

ActiveDocument.ShowSpellingErrors = True

'Save changes and close -------------

aDocument.Save

aDocument.Close

Next aDocument

End Sub

In case you don't know anything about macros, the name that follows the starting "Sub" is arbitrary (thus, you can use pretty much any descriptive name there, like Sub ChangeLang(), etc.) while comment lines start with an apostrophe and are ignored by Word.

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-12-08T22:21:15+00:00

    OK, Monique, but that is only a temporary fix, unless you want to keep pressing Shift every time or stick a piece of gum in your keyboard.

    What that did was to temporarily bypass your Word preferences and your Normal.dotm template. One or more of them are not working properly. You could scrap everything at once and be left with a clean slate, or you can judiciously cancel them one by one in order to keep your work environment as unaltered as possible.

    For how to do that, take a look at the answer in Word 2011 crashes on startup with EXC_BAD_ACCESS.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-12-08T13:23:45+00:00

    Sorry folks, my blog etiquette in timely replies has been lacking.  

    Daniel, yes the Shift advice worked great and took care of my problem.

    Krista, for sanity's sake I hope you get the problem fixed soon.  Good luck!

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-12-08T03:19:16+00:00

    Well, Krista, we've waited two weeks for Monique to press Shift.

    Please restate your problem, then tell me what you've already tried with no success.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-12-07T18:34:21+00:00

    I am having exactly the same problem with my new Office for Mac.  It is making me crazy.  I am very keen to see how you fix this!

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