"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. 

Office Professional Plus, version 14.0.6129.5000 64-bit

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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. Anonymous
    2014-01-14T16:38:40+00:00

    Oh, x!yzz£$!! It has stopped working again.  I have repeated the procedure several times, but it just won't stay fixed.  The language button keeps reverting to "do not check spelling and grammar.  

    I find I can make it work if I go back to Review/Language/Set Proofing Language button and apply this to all of my text.  Can't seem to do the whole document in one go, but can in acceptably large pieces.

    Thanks again, got there in the end..

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  2. Charles Kenyon 171K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2014-01-14T17:03:38+00:00

    This probably still has to do with the Styles. There are styles other than the normal style. (I never use the normal style by choice.) By default many styles are based on normal, others are not. What is important is the style of the text that you are typing. That is what determines this setting.

    If your document is not based on a custom template, try renaming your normal template with Word closed. When you do this, Word will recreate a new normal template when you start Word, with default settings that includes a normal style that does check spelling and grammar.

    Then when you restart Word and open your document go to the Developer Tab and click on the Document Template button. Check the button to update styles from the template. OK your way back to your document. Then go back to that Document Template dialog and uncheck the box to update styles. You never want to leave this box checked.

    Otherwise, just from time-to-time select all and change the setting.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-09-04T21:41:23+00:00

    BTW, "select all" and unchecking the "do not check spelling" option did not work for me.  I had to find each individual instance using the instructions in this thread, and uncheck the "do not check spelling" option on each one.  Word 2010.

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