Most of the time, Word’s spell check works well. However, there are times when it seems to stop. With a few easy steps, you can quickly get Word’s tool for checking spelling and grammar back up and running. These solutions work for Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, Word 2010, and Word for Mac.
Why Word’s Spell Check Doesn’t Work
There are a few things that could be wrong with Word’s spelling and grammar checker. You may have changed a simple setting or turned off the language settings. There may be exceptions on the document or in the spell-check tool, or there may be a problem with the Word template.
No matter why Word should be able to point out mistakes in your documents again soon with a few simple changes.
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How to Fix Word’s Broken Spell Checker
Follow these steps to fix problems in the order we list them, from the easiest to the hardest.
- Make sure Word’s spell check is turned on. This is the most likely cause and easiest fix. If you haven’t turned on automatic spelling checks, the tool won’t work the way you want it to. Also, check the boxes next to Mark grammar mistakes as you type and Check grammar and spelling.
- Check the spelling and grammar in Word. The word could be set to the wrong language for proofreading, which would cause it to miss mistakes. Check to see if the problem goes away by making sure Word is proofreading in the right language.
- Check for mistakes in the proofing. A setting in the document may have been turned on to Hide proofing errors or other exceptions. If a user has made exceptions for checking spelling or grammar, the spell-check tool might not work as expected.
- Open Word in Safe Mode. A Word add-in can mess up the tool for checking spelling and grammar, making it work sometimes or not at all. When you start Word in Safe Mode, you can’t use add-ins. Check to see if the tool to check spelling and grammar works. Continuing to step 5 if it does.
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- Turn off add-ons one by one. If the tool to check spelling and grammar worked in Safe Mode, the problem might be an add-in. Turn off add-ons one by one to figure out which one is causing the problem. When you find the one that did it, turn it off for good.
- Change the default template’s name. If the problem still hasn’t been fixed, there could be a problem with normal. dot, which is Word’s global template. Problems could be fixed by giving the template a new name. Word will make a new document that doesn’t have any changes made to it.
- Fix the word. If you’ve tried everything and still can’t get the spell-check to work, use the built-in Office Repair tool to fix Word. Even if you only want to fix one application, this tool will fix the whole Office suite.
- Talk to Microsoft Word. If Word’s tool for checking spelling and grammar still isn’t working, go to the Microsoft Word help page. You can find more help in a knowledge base that you can search for, community forums, and contact information.
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