"Word hyphenation feature is not available"

Question

"Word hyphenation feature is not available"

Br. Emmanuel Labrise 60

Dear Sir / Madam:

I am an author and received the German translation for one of my books from my translator today, and he turned on automatic hyphenation, which I never use. I formerly worked on the 2016 MS Word version, but the webmaster / web administrator (school account) gave me a MS Word 365 account which I have been using for over a year. I am trying to get the automatic hyphenation to work on this account, and while the "Layout --> Hyphenation --> Automatic" is checked, I get a message: "Word hyphenation feature is not available. Run the Microsoft Office setup program, install this feature and then try again."

I asked my web administrator and he suggested that the problem is related to the 2016 version, but I have not been using that since 365 was installed, and I cannot even find it on my laptop anymore. I think it got replaced when I installed 365.

Can you help, please?

Thank you for your concern.

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Answer 1

Stefan Blom 351.1K MVP Volunteer Moderator

First verify that German is indeed installed as a proofing language. You can tell if you look in the Language dialog box (Review tab > Language group > Language > Set Proofing Language). Each installed language has a check mark next to it.

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If German is not installed, it needs to be installed. This can normally be done via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/languages/language-accessory-pack-for-microsoft-365 but since you are in an organization, your local admin may have to do it for you.

Once you know that you have support for German, you also need to select all the text and (re-)apply the language to the selection. This can be done in the Language dialog box (select the text before you revisit the dialog). As has been suggested, "Do not check spelling or grammar" must be cleared, as well as "Detect language automatically."

Br. Emmanuel Labrise 60 Reputation points

2026-09-08T21:18:39.87+00:00

That worked! Thanks! :) I was able to download the German language pack, as my administrator gave me administrator privileges. (And also the Italian and Portuguese-Brazilian.) Thank you!

But my translator said he had a few paragraphs where automatic hyphenation was unhelpful and so he turned it off. I do not know which ones they are, though. If I ask him to send another copy, will I have to highlight again the text and apply the German setting? Or will (hopefully) the setting automatically be applied as he arranged things in the manuscript, without my changing anything?
Stefan Blom 351.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-08T21:42:47.3766667+00:00

That worked! Thanks! :) I was able to download the German language pack, as my administrator gave me administrator privileges. (And also the Italian and Portuguese-Brazilian.) Thank you!

You are welcome. :-)
Stefan Blom 351.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-08T21:47:28.4766667+00:00

But my translator said he had a few paragraphs where automatic hyphenation was unhelpful and so he turned it off. I do not know which ones they are, though.

Automatic hyphenation has certain limits, which may explain why it is sometimes better not to use it, for example in specific paragraphs. To find out more, you would have to ask your translator, of course.

If I ask him to send another copy, will I have to highlight again the text and apply the German setting? Or will (hopefully) the setting automatically be applied as he arranged things in the manuscript, without my changing anything?

German language formatting that you applied to the text won't disappear by itself, but it may change depending on which specific edits have been made in the document by other people. For example, if other editors have "Detect language automatically" turned on in their Word installation, that may affect what happens with the language formatting.

Answer 2

Lin v 1,205 Independent Advisor

Hi Emmanuel,

A common cause of this error is that Word cannot find the hyphenation/proofing resources required for the language used in the document. Since the document was translated into German, the issue may be related to the German proofing tools or language resources installed on the device.

Please note: The screenshot below is from Word for Enterprise Version 2608. Depending on the version of Word you are using, the interface may differ slightly, so you may need to locate the corresponding option in your installation.

As a first step, you may wish to check:

Select all text in the document (Ctrl+A).
Go to Review > Language > Set Proofing Language.

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Confirm that the text is set to German (or the correct German variant used by your translator).
Ensure that "Do not check spelling or grammar" is not selected.

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You can also try an Online Repair of Microsoft 365:

Control Panel > Programs and Features > Microsoft 365 > Change > Online Repair.

This will reinstall Office components that may be missing or corrupted.

Hopefully this information is helpful. Feel free to reply back if you need further assistance.

Wishing you the best with your book project.

Br. Emmanuel Labrise 60 Reputation points

2026-09-08T19:22:59.07+00:00

Thank you, Lin v. :)

I did not know any of that.... But I did everything you said and still I get no hyphenation.

First I did a "quick repair" and an "online repair", and still no hyphenation. I should add that I used this pathway: (Apps > Installed Apps > Microsoft Office > Modify > Online Repair)

Then I adjusted the language settings according to your directions: I tried: (1) highlighting the text (Ctrl A) and selecting German (Germany), and (2) checking the entire document, not highlighting the text, and selecting German (Germany).

I then closed the document each time and opened it again and still get the error message and no hyphenation.

Do you have any other ideas? Did I do something wrong?
Lin v 1,205 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-08T20:56:02.7666667+00:00

Hi Emmanuel,

It sounds like you followed those steps correctly.

You may wish to try the additional suggestions mentioned by Stefan regarding the German proofing language and proofing settings, and also test creating a new blank Word document, adding some German text, and checking whether Automatic Hyphenation works there.