Checking style in proofing in Word 2016

Anonymous
2015-09-25T02:30:46+00:00

What happened to being able to check style in Word 2016 when proofing (number of spaces after a sentence, contractions, hyphenated words, etc.)??

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
Anonymous
2017-03-15T13:09:13+00:00

Those Style Options in Editor which were also part of earlier Office versions (e.g. Passive Voice) are now available for Office 2016 Click-to-Run perpetual users in Office build 16.0.7870.2020 and newer builds. New Grammar and Style options and other ongoing enhancements to the experience, will continue to be exclusively offered through an Office 365 subscription. 

The "Grammar & More" Writing Style is not available in the drop down yet. To enable the Style Options in Word, go to File -> Options -> Proofing and click on the "Settings…" button next to the Writing Style drop down "Grammar". The Grammar Settings window will pop up where you can customize the checks. You will first see the available Grammar Options and when you scroll down, you will see the Style Options starting with Options for "Clarity & Conciseness".

Just check the checkbox next to the Options you'd like to enable.

Was this answer helpful?

1 person found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2016-10-05T10:36:32+00:00

Hi

I can finally announce that the update is now available to all Office for Windows subscription users.

Apologies for the delay. The monthly updates always contain several new features or improvements and delays can unfortunately occur for many different reasons.

The English Style options are now available to all Windows Word and Outlook subscription users with Office build 16.0.7369.2024 or newer.

Office for Mac subscription Insiders Fast users are scheduled to receive the update with build 15.28.0.161004 or newer.

We appreciate your feedback. Please let us know if you see false flags (= incorrect flags/unexpected flags), missed flags or incorrect suggestions.

The Writing Style “Grammar & more” is now on by default. All Grammar Options and the two new Options “Wordiness” and “Nominalizations” are enabled. If you like to enable more Style Options, follow these steps:

In Word 2016:

  1. Go to "File" -> "Options" -> "Proofing"
  2. If the Writing Style is not "Grammar & more", please change to "Grammar & more" using the drop down.
  3. Click on “Settings”

  1. Only two Options ("Wordiness, Nominalizations") are enabled by default. You can enable more Options by ticking the checkbox next to them:

 

To enable the feature in Outlook, please do the following:

In Outlook 2016:

  1. From a popped-out mail window, go to "File" -> "Options" -> "Mail". (Don't do this from the main Outlook window.)
  2. Click on "Spelling and Autocorrect…" in the section "Compose messages". You'll be taken to the "Proofing" tab of the "Editor Options" dialog.
  3. If the Writing Style is not "Grammar & more", please change to "Grammar & more" using the drop down.
  4. Check the checkbox next to "Mark grammar errors as you type" in the "When correcting spelling in Outlook" section.

  1. To enable more Style Options, please follow steps 3.) and 4.) described for Word above.

We've also included many bug fixes in this update.

We're working on improving the Grammar Checker further and will release more Options in the coming months.

Thanks, Nicole

Was this answer helpful?

0 comments

658 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2016-08-25T12:26:22+00:00

    Right now I have a whole host of programs that I will have to downgrade because of this upgrade. ...

    Updated programs outside of Office will not work unless you have the same version in all your Microsoft products. Boo on Microsoft!

    Talking to a Microsoft client rep at the answer desk, No, they will not refund your money. They say there is a way but you have to have all the code keys for the 2013 version in order to go through the hassle to remove all of the programs and re-install at a cost because your old code key will be already used..... This absolutely sucks. 

    Yes, you are correct, the immediate "fix" for the missing grammar checks is to do a "retrograde upgrade" back to an earlier version of Office.  AFIK, all of the "unofficial" postings from MS Staff imply that the grammar fix is currently only going to Office 365 licenses, some time in Aug 2016 (exactly when is not stated and the month is almost over!).  I have explicitly asked in multiple places for confirmation that this "bug fix" will be applied to 2016 one-time payment licenses also.  I have received explicit confirmation from one softie that the question has been posed to the Office development team, but I am still waiting to see explicit confirmation that you (and me!) will be getting the grammar fix too.

    To install, and activate, the earlier version of Office you need the full 25 character Product Key. You DO NOT need a new key for the older version of Office, you CAN re-use the same "old" product key you used previously for that version.

    MS has "improved" (well it is an improvement for the MS bank account) the Office 2016/365 installation process to "artificially" force it to uninstall all older  versions of Office applications. But several people, myself included, have been able to install older versions of Office applications alongside 2016/365.  I have 2016 and 2010 running side by side. You install 2016, then go back and re-install the older versions.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-28T21:37:51+00:00

    I am still waiting for a clear answer from Nicole or another official MS spokesperson on what MS will do for those who bought and will buy standalone Office 2016, without 365, subscriptions, or being insiders.  The current program is significantly worse than Office 2013 for proofing options.

    The temporary nature of the problem continues to exist for all except insiders who are 365 subscribers.

    A simple solution would be for MS to provide a downloadable app or add on of the program that corresponds to the Office 2013 Style checker or Office 2013 Style and Grammar Checker, that would work with Office 2016 and that would be free to anyone who bought a standalone version of Office 2016.

    If MS wants to make the Office 2016 style checker more complicated, presumably with the need for several updates to correct for errors, fine - but nobody should have to wait for that, or accept that until we know it works OK.

    Meantime, Owners of standalone Office 2016 deserve a product that has a working style checker that is at least as good as on Office 2013.  A free downloadable app or add on would provide that solution.

    We deserve a style checker that we can install and use now.

    Apologies for delays, however sincere, do us no good.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-29T07:07:52+00:00

    I am still waiting too ... they refuse to refund the big bucks paid for the standalone product ... and hang up on you when you ask to speak to a supervisor ... MS i nothing but a complete tip off ... and whatever they did to the spell checker they need to undo because it is worse than pre 2000 ... it does not make sense when it spell checks ...

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments