"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
    2015-02-03T22:37:33+00:00

    I spoke too quickly.  Some page numbers still have formatting that make them check the "Do not spellcheck" box.  Not all of them, but 4.  I've deleted them.  Re-inserted page numbers.  Copied uninfected page numbers.  That works when I apply the fix, but the infection returns after reopening the document.

    The page numbers don't affect the rest of the doc, so I'm going with it for now, but what a pain.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2015-02-03T20:48:18+00:00

    You are amazing.  This is the only place I found this answer and it worked like a charm.  I had some page numbers that were formatted to not allow spellchecking and, when I used find/replace, it cleaned up the instances, but they reverted back.  I finally erased the offending page numbers and copied/pasted new page numbers from another section.  Just deleting the numbers and inserting new page numbers did not work.  Don't know why this happens, but this fixed it for me.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Charles Kenyon 171K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-01-18T17:07:17+00:00

    I know that no software is perfect and I am willing to work with and troubleshoot any problem... but this "do not check spelling or grammar" glitch made me want to throw this brand new windows 8 computer against the wall after trolling the internet spreading obscenities against all things Microsoft.

    I had the same problem. No matter how many ways I tried to unselect the "do not check spelling or grammar" box, it came right back like that desperate crazy ex-girlfriend that was too good in bed to say no to. Finally I fixed the problem by modifying the "Normal" Style template. But...

    This was ridiculous. There are tons of posts with people having this same problem. How can there not be a simpler solution. I'm 29. I grew up with Microsoft Office and it took me way to long to figure this out. If this were my 55 year old father we would have NEVER figured it out... or worse, he would be calling ME to try to figure it out for him over the phone while I pull my hair out after yelling "NO DAD! RIGHT CLICK! THE OTHER BUTTON ON THE MOUSE!!!" for the 20th time.

    Microsoft needs to fix this. I would say I'm switching to Mac after all the problems I've had with Windows 8 but that threat would be empty. Too many years arguing with my wife about how overrated and overpriced Macintosh computers are to let her win that argument now over a bad spelling glitch... but after this... I considered it. 

    This has nothing to do with Windows 8.

    I am 61. I understand what is happening. Suzanne Barnhill produced an excellent web page explaining it. Mastering the Spelling Checker

    This has to do with realizing that Word is a very complex program designed to meet demands of disparate users. I am not a computer professional. I am a lawyer who uses Word to do my work. I've spent a lot of time being frustrated by Word. I've asked questions on this and similar forums when I've run into problems. I've received a lot of help.

    The "do not check spelling or grammar" option is hidden away and never used by the bulk of users. However it is formatting that travels with text that it is used on. To those who do not know about it, it seems like a virus.

    There are simpler programs on the market. One comes with your Windows program; it is called WordPad. It does not have as many bells and whistles; it is a basic word processing program. It may better suit your needs.

    This forum is a user-to-user support system. The people who provide answers here are your fellow users.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments