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
    2011-11-22T04:07:33+00:00

    OK, Monique, let's check if the problem resides in your Normal template or in your Preference files.

    Quit Word and launch it while you hold Shift down (this will bypass both your Word preferences and the Normal template). Then test and post back with your results.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-11-22T01:51:50+00:00

    Thanks, Daniel.  That helped restore the grammar corrections (green lines), but still no change with the spelling.  Very weird.  

    Then, when I select all the text and try to do a spell check manually, it is adding an extra "e" onto the end of misspelled words after I hit change and added several lines of one misspelled word on a page by itself at the beginning of the document.  I'm not sure whether the page was there before, or if it just showed up.  For instance, it looked like this "heritageeheritageeheritagee...etc for two solid lines of text.  I did not type that in my document and it wasn't there before.  I've never had this sort of trouble before.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-11-22T01:28:44+00:00

    Monique, try this:

    • Do Command A(Select All)
    • Go to Tools > Language and apply the proper language
    • Now go to Format > Style and click on each style to make sure none of them is defining the wrong language or setting it to "Do not check…" (In case you need to change it, click on the Modifybutton and select the language in the bottom dropdown menu.)

    The missing piece: language is not a Word setting or preference, it is a text attribute that is applied to text, just like bold or color, except that it's not visible and only becomes evident when spell checking.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-11-22T00:02:37+00:00

    Since updating from a prompt on my Mac this morning, my spell check hasn't worked in my Mac 2011 Word.  I've tried all the above suggestions  with no luck.  I've found that when I go into Tools, Language, that English is selected, but the box "do not check spelling or grammar" keeps changing back to being checked after I uncheck it, click Ok, and even after changing the default.  I powered down, reloaded, etc. hoping that something would magically make it all better, to no avail.  It looks like it's some type of a bug with my latest Mac update.  

    Any new suggestions?  I'm desperately needing my spellcheck!

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