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    Printing: Spell Check

One of the most useful tools in Word is the spelling and grammar checker, called spell check for short.

Spell Check

For spelling, Word compares the words in your text to what is in Word's own dictionary plus words you have added to a custom dictionary. Of course, Word won't know every word that you know or every variation of a word.

Be sure any words you add yourself are spelled correctly! Be especially careful with names of people and companies, which are often spelled oddly. (Below, you will find directions for how to get a mistake out of the custom dictionary.)

Grammar Check

Dialog: Grammar Settings (Word 2010)Word can also do a grammar check, looking for a variety of grammar errors. You can choose how picky you want Word to be. In the Word Options dialog on the Proofing page, the button Settings opens a dialog for Grammar Settings. You choose the level of formality you want and whether or not you want Word to check style also. You can create you own Custom combination of rules, if you like. Of course, you can still choose to break the "rules" on purpose. 

Marking Errors

Word marks possible errors with a wavy underline. Sometimes you meant exactly what you typed!

Settings that control the underlines and where to adjust the settings:

  •  Example of a spelling error Spelling error in red:  Word Options > Proofing > Check spelling as you type

  • Example of a grammar error Grammar error in green:  Word Options > Proofing > Check grammar as you type

  • Formatting inconsistencies in blue: 
    Word Options > Advanced > Editing Options > Keep track of formatting and Mark formatting inconsistencies. This setting is off by default. Small differences in formatting are ignored by this feature.
    Example: blue wavy underline marks an inconsistency (Word 2010)

What Was That Error?

Context menu: To find out what kind of error Word thinks it has found, right click on the word or phrase that has a wavy underline. A context menu will appear with suggested corrections.

For spelling, you will see a list of suggested replacement words.

Example of context menu for a spelling error (Word 2010)

For grammar errors, at the top of the menu you will see either a correction, like "doesn't" for "don't" or the type of error, like "Fragment" or "Passive Voice"

Example of context menu for a grammar error - with a correction (Word 2010) Example of context menu for a grammar error (Word 2010)

For formatting, the menu will tell you what changes would make the formatting consistent. Word has rulesIcon: Offsite for what it will mark. [The link is to an article about Word 2002, 2003, and 2007 but the newer versions seems to use the same rules.] Word ignores formatting that is very different! That makes the blue squiggles less common than the red and green... usually. Sometimes Word throws those blue squiggles under the whole document!

Example of context menu for a formatting inconsistency (Word 2010)

Icon: TipDon't just accept every correction. Word often marks things that were actually OK as they were. Word does not know if you meant what you typed!

Other Choices on Context Menu

From the context menu you can add a word to your custom dictionary by choosing Add to Dictionary. All Office programs use the same dictionary and the same custom dictionary. Each user with a logon for the computer has a separate custom dictionary. So the words you add won't be available to others if they log on the computer separately.

If you like the text the way it is, you can tell Word to ignore the problem for this session by clicking on Ignore Once. Choose Ignore All (for spelling) or Ignore Rule (for grammar) to have Word continue ignoring the 'error' if it occurs again in the same document.

You can add a spelling correction to AutoCorrect so that Word will automatically fix this error. AutoCorrect already recognizes certain common typing errors, like transposing letters as in teh for the. But AutoCorrect does not check spelling in general.

Summary: Ways to Find Spelling, Grammar, and Formatting Problems

Wavy underlines

Scroll through the document and look for the wavy underlines. You can make corrections directly in the document or right click on a underline to get the context menu which has suggestions.

Dialog

Open the Spelling and Grammar dialog with the Spelling and Grammar button on the Review tab, or (Word 2007 or 2010) by right clicking on a word with the wavy underline and then from the context menu, choose  Spelling...  or  Grammar....

You will be shown each possible spelling or grammar error in the document in turn. Choose to change it or ignore it in this spot or to ignore it everywhere in the document.

Formatting inconsistencies are not shown by this dialog.

Status bar icon

Double-click the icon Status bar: Spell Check - shows an error (Word 2010) or click the icon Icon: Spelling or grammar error possible (Word 2013) Icon: Spelling or grammar error possible (Word 2016) (Word 2013, 2016) on the Status bar to highlight the first proofing error in the document and to show a list of suggestions. Select a choice for fixing the error, manually fix it yourself, or choose to Ignore. Word will automatically move on to the next error or you can click the icon again to move on to the next possible error. Continue until all spelling and grammar errors are handled.

Formatting inconsistencies are ignored by the Status bar icon.

Icon: Trouble Problem: Need to remove a misspelled word from the custom dictionary

  1. Dialog: Custom Dictionaries (Word 2010)Path to the dialog:
     Icon: Word 2007 Office button or
    Icon: Word 2010 Icon: Word 2013 Icon: Word 2016 File tab >
    Word Options or Options > Proofing >
    Custom dictionaries (button) >
    Select the default dictionary list and click the button 'Edit Word List...'.
  2. Dialog: CUSTOM.DIC - edit (Word 2010)Scroll the list and select the word. Click the Delete button.
     
  3. To add a new word while you are here, type the word in the Word(s) text box (Make SURE it is spelled correctly) and then click the Add button.
Icon Step-by-Step 

Step-by-Step: Spelling & Grammar Check

  Icon Step-by-Step
What you will learn: to use check spelling, grammar and formatting consistency with -
    right click menu
    dialog
    Status bar

Start with:Icon: Class storage device, flyer-World Travel Inc-Lastname-Firstname.docx with header and footer info included.

Create Errors

Since all your typing so far has been perfect(!), for practice, you'll have to deliberately create some errors! If you have other errors in your document, fix them, too, as you go along.

  • In line 1, select the word World by double clicking it. Retype so that it is  Wordl .
  • In line 3, delete an n from the word Anniversary in 'Anniversary Specials'..
  • In line 7, delete the final e in the word paradise.

  • In line 8, select the paragraph for the New Zealand trip and on the Home ribbon tab click once on Button: Increase Font Size (Word 2010) the Increase Font Size button .
    The whole line and its bullet and paragraph mark increase to 20 pts., which pushes the last two lines over to another page again! We will fix all shortly.

    There may be squiggles everywhere!!

    • Red:
          "Wordl"
          "Aniversary"  
          "paradis"

    • Green:
          header = Smith 
         "anniversary" in paragraph
         "Don't"
         footer = Project  Page

    • Blue: all of line 8

      Which 'errors' are marked in your document depends on the Settings for Grammar checking in Word Options. The defaults seem to be a bit different in different versions of Word.

Flyer showing wavy underlines in red, green, blue (Word 2010)

It's hard to see the red wavy line under "Aniversary". The green underline is in the way!

Icon: TipMultiple errors in one spot:
Only one kind of error can be marked at a time! Remember to look again after you make a correction to see if a hidden error has shown up. 

Icon: Trouble Problem: No blue wavy lines
Formatting errors are not shown by default in recent versions of Office. The choice to show them is in the Options dialog.

Dialog: Options > Advanced > Editing options groups > choices to mark formatting inconsistencies (Word 2016)File > Options > Advanced > Editing options group > check box 'Keep track of formatting' and check box 'Mark formatting inconsistencies'


Spelling: Right Click Menu

  1. Right Click Menu: Spelling: paradisRight click on the misspelled word paradis .
  2. Inspect the suggestions in the menu. 
    You have a lot of choices!
  3. Click on the correct spelling paradise from the list of suggestions.
  4. Icon: Keyboard Use the key combo CTRL + HOME to move the cursor to the top left of the document.
     

Spelling: Dialog

If you want Word to walk you through all of the spelling and grammar 'errors', you need to open the Spelling and Grammar dialog from the Review tab.

  1. On the Review tab, click on Button: Spelling & Grammar (Word 2010) the Spelling button .

    Dialog: Spelling and Grammar - Wordl (Word 2010) Pane: Spelling - suggestions for Wordl (Word2013)

    The Spelling and Grammar dialog box or the Spelling pane opens, with suggestions for the first marked word in the body of the document, Wordl.
    At the top of the dialog is the explanation of why Word flagged this word: Not in Dictionary. Good reason!! The Spelling pane does not provide a reason. For spelling errors, it's pretty obvious!

    TipThe word to be corrected is in bold red in the dialog. That can be hard to see if the text was already in red!

    You have choices:

    • Ignore Once/Ignore - You want to spell the word this way, but just in this one spot.
    • Ignore All - You don't want to add the word to the dictionary, but you want it spelled this way throughout this document,
    • Add to Dictionary/Add - Adds the word to your custom dictionary. All Office programs will see your addition.
      WarningBe careful about adding a word!! You must be completely sure that the word is spelled correctly first! Please don't add this one!  
    • Change - Accept the selected suggestion from the list. Be sure the correct suggestion is highlighted.
    • Change All - Go ahead and change the spelling wherever it occurs in the document.
    • AutoCorrect - Add this change to the list of things Word will correct for you without asking. This is good for typing errors that you make regularly!
      (Not available in the Spelling pane -Word 2013 and 2016.)
  2. Correct the word by selecting the suggestion World and then clicking on the Change button.
    The dialog displays the next error.
  3. Select the suggestion Anniversary and click the Change button.
  4. Continue through all of the errors. You may not see the errors below:
    • Choose to Ignore the suggestion, if you get this one, to rewrite the sentence "Call 555 -6543 for our special pricing." It is not a fragment. It's a command!
    • Choose to Ignore Once for the suggestion to replace "Don't" with "Do not".
      That is a style issue, not grammar, anyway.
    • Choose to Ignore the spacing 'error' in the header.
      The display of the document changes when Spell Check hits this one!
    • Choose to Ignore the spacing 'error' in the footer.

      Warning When Word bring up an error in the header or footer, it changes to Draft view with a split window. A surprise!

      Dialog: Spelling - spacing 'error' in header. Window splits. (Word 2010)

      The header or footer is in the bottom split and the rest of the document is in the top split. If you cancel the spell check before Word has finished with it, you will be left in this split screen view.

    Message: Spelling and Grammar Check is complete (Word 2013)Message: Spelling and Grammar Check is complete (Word 2010)Once there are no more errors to look at, Word is proud to put a message box that says "Spelling and grammar check is complete." Word 2013 adds a cheeky "You're good to go!"

  5. Click on OK in the message box to return to your document.
  6. If you are in Draft view with a split window, click on the Page Layout button Icon: Print layout view (Word 2010) at the bottom right of the window.
  7. If necessary, double-click in the document area to get out of the header/footer.

Spelling: Status Bar

  1. Select a word in the document (any word!) and retype it incorrectly (so that it is not a word at all).
  2. Click somewhere else in the document to deselect the word.
    Word immediately runs spell check. A red squiggle should appear under your word.
    Watch the Status bar icon carefully. You may be able to catch the animation while Word is running an automatic spell check.
  3. Retype another word so that it is spelled incorrectly.
  4. Inspect the icon in the status bar.
    Status Bar icon: Spell Check found no errors. (Word 2010) Icon: No spelling errors (Word 2013) Icon: No spelling errors (Word 2016) When Word likes your spelling and grammar, the icon has a check mark.
    Status bar: Spell Check - shows an error (Word 2010) Icon: Possible spelling errors (Word 2013) Icon: Possible spelling errors (Word 2016) When there are questionable spots, the icon has an X.
  5. Click the spelling status icon Status bar: Spell Check - shows an error (Word 2010) Icon: Possible spelling errors (Word 2013) Icon: Possible spelling errors (Word 2016).
    The first error in the document is highlighted and the context menu is displayed with suggestions.
  6. Select the correct spelling from the list.
    If the correct spelling is not in the list, correct it yourself.
    The next error is highlighted.
  7. Correct all of the new errors.

Formatting Inconsistency: Right Click Menu

The formatting inconsistency that you created was not included in the Spelling and Grammar dialog or from the Status bar icon with the default Options settings. You must spot the blue wavy underline in the document yourself.

A small difference in the font size, line spacing, indention, size of a bullet or list number may not jump out at you while you are working. That's the kind of difference that Word looks for. Big differences are ignored by the Format Consistency Checker. Apparently Word figures that either you meant to do it that way or that you don't need help to spot the error.

What Word will correct for you may not be all that you expect! There are some tricky rulesIcon: Off site involved.

  1. Right Click Menu: formatting inconsistency - bullet (Word 2010)Right click in line 8 anywhere.
    A really tall context menu appears with suggested formatting way up at the very top. This time the full list of formats is too long to fit across the menu.
  2. Click on the suggestion to accept it.
    Can you tell what changed?
    Just the size of the bullet and the paragraph mark! The text remains at the larger size. No wavy underlines.
    Very unexpected!!
  3. With line 8 selected, decrease the font size to 18 pts. using the ribbon.
    This resizes the text so that it matches the other items in the list.
    Does the blue wavy line shows up again? It might! What's with this??
  4. If necessary, right click on the selection to see the context menu again.
    It offers the same suggestion as before.

  5. Click on the suggestion and then click out of the line to deselect it.
    Now the text looks like the other items. No more wavy underlines.

    What a lot of work! Sometimes it might be worth it.

Save

Be sure that all the errors you created in this lesson and any accidental errors have been corrected!

  1. Icon: Class storage deviceSave.
    [flyer-World Travel Inc-Lastname-Firstname.docx]