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Customizing the Status Bar

The items that appear on the Status bar in the illustration at the top are the ones that show by default. That's not all that you can show! You can add many other items or remove some of the default items. Some choices must have other settings turned on first.

The Customize Status Bar menu in Word 2007 is the same as in the newer versions, except it does not include Upload Status and Document Updates Available.

How to customize Word's Status bar:

Right click on the Status bar anywhere. A list appears of all the things that could show on the bar. Click on a choice to check or uncheck it. The checked ones are active, even if you don't see an icon for them right now. Click back in the document or press the ESC key to hide the list.

Note: On the right of most items is the item's current state. You can use this to check on the status without having that item showing all the time. Sweet!

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Tips for Working with the Status Bar

Clicking on something in the Status bar usually opens up a dialog of choices.

Page:  Clicking on any of the items that might show in the Page: section of the Status bar opens the Go To dialog. You can use this dialog to navigate your document by pages or using other objects, like footers, tables, graphics, and bookmarks.

In this illustration the cursor was on page 1 of 4 total pages, in section 1, 6.3" from the top of the printing area of the page, on line 21, and 10 characters from the left margin. The actual line of text had been indented so the 'column' is measuring from the beginning of text on the line.

Words: Clicking on the Words section of the Status bar opens a message box that counts more stuff for you, like paragraphs, lines, and characters.
Spelling and Grammar Check:
When Word finds possible errors, the icon has an X.

Clicking the icon highlights the first error after the cursor's location and opens a list of suggestions and choices for correcting that error. Word 2007 and 2010 show the suggestions in a menu near the error. Word 2013 and 2016 open a Spelling pane.

All versions show the popup menu if you right click on an error, which has a wavy line under it.

Choose one of the suggested corrections, choose to ignore, or add the word to the dictionary. It is possible that none of the suggestions are right, like the Word 2013 illustration. The word should have been 'copies' but that word is not in the list of suggestions.

If the icon still shows the X after you made a correction or chose Ignore, then there are more errors. Click the icon again to move to the next error.

The icon has a check mark if no errors have been found.

The icon shows an animated pencil while Word is actively checking for errors.

 Not all words are in the dictionary. The default installed dictionary is far from complete, especially for names. Sometimes the dictionary does not recognize the plural of a word or the possessive. Look carefully at the suggested changes.

 Grammar checking is not a science! Word's grammar checker can basically only point out things that might be wrong. It does not understand complex sentences well. It will call your attention to words and phrases that are often misused. But you are the only one who knows whether or not that's what you meant.

Adding to the dictionary: Be very careful that what you are adding to the dictionary is actually correct! Items you add go into a custom dictionary, not the main installed dictionary.

How to remove words added by mistake: Open Word Options and select Proofing. Click the button for Custom Dictionaries. Select a dictionary and click the Edit... button. Delete your mistakes.

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