Editors know that English spelling preferences differ from the Americas to Europe, and even differ within the Americas. MS Word is ready to help, with at least three options for English spellcheck dictionaries in the Language settings.
Setting the language preference is easy: on the Review ribbon, click the Language icon, then type E to skip to the English section of the list. Select the preferred English for the document, then click Ok. You can even tell Word to set that as the Default by selecting that option at the bottom of the window before you press Ok.
In Word for Windows, the 18 English options include (beyond those shown in the images above) Jamaica, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zimbabwe.
Troubleshooting
- Select the entire document (cmd + A, or ctrl + A on Windows) before entering the settings in order to set the language for the whole document rather than just the paragraph in which the cursor is currently placed.
- Language listed at the top (image right above) are “frequent” choices, not the current setting. Be sure to select one before hitting OK.
- If the language choice won’t “stick”, check the Style settings. Not only can a Style specify aspects of the font, it can also set the language. Modify the Style to match your preference. Also be sure that the Style is set to “check spelling and grammar” (🔲 unchecked box) rather than to “do not check” (☑☑️ check mark in box).
- Language settings are document specific. The spellcheck language preference needs to be set for each document.
- Some sections of text may be set (either manually or via Styles) to not check the spelling and grammar there. This is useful when we want Word to skip lengthy quotes or passages in another language but is problematic when set by mistake. Find that option either in the Style settings or when selecting the language for that particular paragraph.
Got a gnarly Word problem? Submit your problem and we’ll try to answer it in the Q&A thread.
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