Spell Checker not working in Microsoft Word 2011 for Mac

Anonymous

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?

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Anonymous

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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68 additional answers

Anonymous

2012-04-20T00:15:31+00:00

Ok, I thought that I had the problem licked...but seems that it has instead conqured me. I am once again in the middle of an important paper and am finding that spell check is not correcting or notifying me that the word is mispelled.

I have tried all the recommendations, and not sure how I can get this fixed. Please help ASAP.

Thank you
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Anonymous

2012-04-19T20:29:23+00:00

Daniel,

I have referred to your November 21st posting. I believe I have thoroughly read this entire thread. If I hold Shift down when restarting Word, Spell Check works on the new document. But when I quit and fail to restart Word by holding down the Shift key, Spell check will not work on the new document. None of the previously posted methods work when opening an older (.doc) document.

It is shocking that Word for Mac is not supporting a working spell check. Your continued efforts to fix this problem will be highly appreciated.
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Anonymous

2012-04-19T19:29:14+00:00

Language is not a setting or preference, it's a text attribute like bold or font and must be applied to a selection. Just like you would apply bold face, you need to apply a language. Please refer to my message of November 21.
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Anonymous

2012-04-19T16:36:27+00:00

I am still having trouble with my spell check. All of the "fixes" previously mentioned only work when going through the steps for a new word file. When opening an older file, spell check is not working. And even if I uncheck Do Not Check Spelling under language, and change the default language to English, it does not hold the next time I open the same file, or any older file. This is infuriating. Please help.
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