"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
    2018-04-20T02:52:21+00:00

    I had the the same problem as the original poster and found a different solution:

    First switch to Draft view using the view shortcuts menu that is usually at the bottom right hand corner of the Word window (screenshot below).  In this view, the whole document appears in one long view without pages.  In this view the language proofing options work, and stick!  Hit Ctrl+A, go to Review / Language / Set Proofing Language and clear the "do not check spelling or grammar" option.

    For me, clearing the checkbox only works for the whole document if I am in Draft view.  For some strange reason the same thing does NOT work in standard print layout view.

    Once the problem is fixed you can switch back to standard print layout view.

    This solution also fixed the error message "Text marked with 'Do not check spelling or grammar' was skipped."

    For full re-proofing of a document, my solution may need to be combined with

    Jairo A Sandoval's suggestion:

    Check under File >> Options >> Proofing and make sure that the Exceptions are unchecked:

    • Hide spelling errors for this documents only
    • Hide grammar errors for this document only

    and also you may need to click on the Recheck Document button in File >> Options >> Proofing (screenshot below)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments