Spell Check Not Working on ANY Microsoft 365 Programs (Windows)

The "do not check" setting is by character, not document. Click in one of the deliberately misspelled words and see what the setting is for that word.

• Mastering the Spelling Checker by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP

• Spelling Checker Does Not Work! - Proofing Language Keeps Changing - Solutions - includes information on do not check setting

Select the word, open the Language dialog, and see what language is selected and whether "Do not check" is enabled.

What do you mean by 'setting for that word'? Do you mean right click on the misspelled word and click on one of the options listed, because if so there is nothing to suggest a word setting. I don't know what you mean.

Language settings work a bit different in different Office applications.

In Microsoft Word, specifically, select a single, affected word and have a look at the settings in the Language dialog box (Review tab > Language group > Language > Set Proofing Language).

The screen shot below shows the Language dialog box in Word for Windows.

Did you look at the language settings for a small text range, such as a single word? Does that provide any clues?

Place your insertion point in one of the words that is misspelled but not marked.

Find the proofing language dialog either under Reviewing > Language > Proofing language or by double-clicking on the language in your status bar.

Is do not check spelling checked?

I said:

Place your insertion point in one of the words that is misspelled but not marked.

Find the proofing language dialog either under Reviewing > Language > Proofing language or by double-clicking on the language in your status bar.

Is do not check spelling checked?

You replied:

"Do not check spelling" is not checked. Like I said, I have done what was suggested. Everyone is offering the same suggestion. It doesn't fix my spell check. The Microsoft Word is not spell checking. This may have been caused by latest update, as it only just recently started happening. Do you have any other solutions or should I give up using Microsoft for my work?

We have been asking whether you followed that particular suggestion with a single misspelled word. To me, at least, this was unclear.

Please include a link to a sample document that has the problem.

Why a sample file is important for troubleshooting

- - - - - - - and how to do it.

Word's spell checking has not changed on this in twenty years. With a sample document, we should be able to pinpoint the problem quickly.

I gave two links in my initial response that remain the best resources to which I can point you.

Note, your initial question is about all applications. However, this is posted in the Word forum and my responses have been about Word.

I didn't post the original question, I'm someone having the same problem as the original poster and hopped on board to say these solutions aren't working. Notice the names are different. I'm only focused on Word. I write 12 page documents everyday for work and now my Word doesn't spellcheck. It seems to be a bigger issue than checking a box in 'Set Proofing Language,' as I've mentioned to everyone offering the same solution.

Can you attach a link to a sample document showing the problem?

Why a sample file is important for troubleshooting

- - - - - - - and how to do it.

Do share a sample document, as Charles suggested, so that we can have a closer look.

While it is true that many suggestions have been repeated in this thread, there are good reasons to be repetitive. There are many misunderstandings regarding Word's spellchecking feature. It is not just a simple switch that you can turn on or off, because it is linked to text language formatting.

Unfortunately, the user interface doesn't always clarify that some language and spellchecking options are global (applies to Word as a whole) and that other options apply to text ranges, or even to individual text characters (in a similar way that you can apply bold or italic to a whole paragraph style or to an individual text range).

Also have a look at some more options for enabling/disabling spellchecking; these are discussed in Suzanne S. Barnhill's article at http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/MasterSpellCheck.htm.

What fixed this for me was going to the Preferences panel and then making sure "Check spelling while you type" *and* "Always suggest corrections" was selected. Until I did that, the Editor function would return 100% even with errors on the page.

Moderator's note: This is a Mac user.

None of the suggestions from Volunteer Moderators work. So, waste of time to read the string.