"do not check spelling or grammar" will not stay unchecked

Anonymous
2013-04-28T04:05:48+00:00

Hi - I have a document that's been merged from a lot of single documents. When I run spellcheck, I always get the "Text marked do not check has been ignored." So I go to Review, Language, Set Proofing Language, and there is no language set and the box "Do not check spelling or grammar" has the half on/half off box in a box. When I click it twice, it clears, and I set the language to English, but when I go to re-check for spelling, I get an immediate "The spell check is complete", and when I go back to review, language, set proofing language, the check box is back to the half on half off setting and no language set. I am doing select all text each time, too. 

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Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2013-05-06T18:34:51+00:00

Finding elusive "no proofing" text can be frustrating. When you select the entire document, you are selecting only the text layer. This doesn't include headers and footers and may not even include footnotes and endnotes. In one instance, I found "no proofing" text in an unused header. Here's how to ferret it out.

  1. Press Ctrl+H to open the Replace dialog and then select the Find tab (to my mind this is the easiest way to get to the Advanced Find without bothering with the Navigation pane).
  2. Click More>> to expand the dialog.
  3. Leaving the "Find what" box empty, click Format, then Language.
  4. Check the box for "Do not check spelling or grammar" and click OK. You'll see "Format: Do not check spelling or grammar" beneath the "Find what" box.
  5. Since "Find in" allows you to search only one layer at a time, it will probably be quicker to use "Find Next" (the likelihood is that there will be only one hit, anyway).
  6. Note where the found text is located. In the instance I cite, it was in an Even Page Header. Although "Odd and Even" was not currently enabled for headers and footers, Word had remembered the text entered for the Even Page Header, and it was formatted as "Do not check spelling or grammar." I could never have found this merely by inspecting the document in its current state.

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Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2013-04-28T16:27:16+00:00

Depending on the size of the selection, check boxes may appear greyed out; this is by design in Word...

Or you saying that the message "Text marked with 'Do not check spelling or grammar' was skipped" also resurfaces? Have you looked at the style definitions involved? For example, see if "Do not check spelling or grammar" has been added to the Normal style.

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  1. Charles Kenyon 171K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2014-01-14T13:19:42+00:00

    Look at the Style definition of the text you are using when you insert text. This may be a big step in complexity from what you are used to doing in Word, but Styles are at the heart of Word.

    Understanding Styles in Microsoft Word

    Start by putting your insertion point somewhere other than where the problem has been spotted.

    Check the spelling check status in a different place in the document. In the middle of a paragraph type a misspelled word. What happens?

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-01-14T09:34:06+00:00

    Hello, this seems to be a very helpful thread. 

    But I have this problem, and the advice here hasn't resolved it.

    I am running Word 2013, editing my book, and spell checking has stopped.

    I select my entire document, go to Review/Language/Set Proofing language and uncheck the box "Do not check spelling or grammar".  I click OK.

    I look again, and it's still cleared.  Then I introduce a spelling error, to see that it's working.  Nothing happens. I go back to the check box, and find it is now checked.  Spell checking is still disabled

    Hope you can help, this is driving me crazy!

    ...george...

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  3. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-11-25T22:48:16+00:00

    A more efficient approach is to define a No Proofing character style that you can apply to text you don't want checked. See http://WordFAQs.mvps.org/MasterSpellCheck.htm#ExemptingText for more.

    BTW, it has generally been observed that "Detect language automatically" causes more problems than it solves, and the general advice is to disable it.

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