"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

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
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.

Was this answer helpful?

100+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
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.

Was this answer helpful?

40+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

46 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2015-02-04T20:02:38+00:00

    Ok, I get it now.  That's a design feature for Page Numbers.  I guess that makes sense now that I think of it.  Thank you and Charles for the help.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-02-04T19:46:17+00:00

    As Charles wrote, what you see is likely by design for some, or maybe all, fields. I don't think there is a risk it will spill over to other ranges of text.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2015-02-04T15:25:13+00:00

    In mine, the Page Number Style comes up as a filled-in box indicating that some are formatted with the box checked and some are not.  I click the box twice to clear the check and accept the changes.  When I use find/replace I find the same 4 instances where the page numbers have the box checked.  I replace the formatting with an unchecked box, but when I run find/replace again within seconds, the same 4 have the boxes checked again.  Globally changing the Page Number Style does not work.  Find/Replace the formatting does not work.  Good news is it is confined to the page numbers, but my fear is that it will creep back into the body text.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments