It’s safe to say that most people consider spell check to be a pretty basic part of all word processors. It’s true that we all use it on a daily basis, but what else can you actually do?
Eye Sea
I hope that you already know it, but remember that spell check isn’t a replacement for you.
Do you know the Spell Check Poem?
If you don’t read it here: Spell Check Poem.
Sure it looks at what you’ve typed, but it can’t tell the difference between there, their or they’re.
It’s down to you to read through and check that everything is right, please don’t just rely on the spell check – and it’s worth checking a second time after you’ve done something else.
Check Your Language
Have you thought about what language your documents are in?
I’m not talking about the base language – English, French, Spanish, etc but when there are variations to choose from.
It’s more of a ‘deal’ with these variations of a language, and more importantly spelling.
Let’s take the easy option – English.
“Divided by a common language”
It’s a popular saying and very true, especially when you’re look at spell check.
As both Microsoft and Google are American, the default is English (US).
Great if that’s you, but what if you aren’t?
I’m British and I prefer organise to organize…
MS Word – Change the Language
The easiest way to change the language in Word is through the Ribbon.
Switch to the Review Tab.
Third group in is Language.
Click Language, and under the drop-down list, the first option is ‘Set Proofing Language’.
The dialog box (above) is displayed, choose which language and variation you want this document in.
Tip
Check and change the language before you start typing.
Through that dialog box, you can also set the default for all future ‘normal’ files.
Change the Language in Google Docs
You can find the language for the current document in the File menu of Google Docs.
Look towards the bottom of the menu for Language.
The sub-menu has quite a choice of languages to use.
Note: To change the default language, for all new documents, is a little more involved in Google, as its under your account (myaccount.google.com).
Personalise Your Dictionary
It’s one of the overlooked but useful options with spell check.
We all tend to think that the built-in dictionary, that the programs checks against, is all knowing.
And yes it does know a lot, but if you’re an author with your own characters or places – you only want the check to pick up when you’ve mis-typed them.
In business, if you’re dealing with a number of companies with ‘special’ names or spelling, likewise, if you’ve mis-typed them you want to know, not all the time.
How do you fix this?
Simple – add these correct spellings to your dictionary, so that they don’t appear every time!
Note: Depending on what you’re doing, you might need to remove these spellings later to ensure that any actual mis-spellings can be picked up again, later.
As with everything else ‘spell check’ it’s a right-click command.
Add to Dictionary in Google Docs
Right-click on your ‘mis-spelled’ word to see the options.
Towards the bottom is ‘Add to personal dictionary’.
Click on the option.
You’ll see a message at the top of the document that the selected word has been added to your dictionary.
The red wavy line is removed, as it’s no longer a spelling mistake.
Next time that you type the same word in, it will be accepted as correct.
Remove from Personal Dictionary
Whether you’ve made a mistake adding a word (and it’s easy to select the wrong one by mistake), or you no longer want or need it, you can always remove it.
Tools > Spelling and grammar > Personal Dictionary > Find the word and click the bin icon at the end of the row
MS Word – Add to Dictionary
After right-clicking on the red underlined item in MS Word, you should see Spelling in the menu.
If it doesn’t automatically expand out, hover over it to see the suggested corrections.
Underneath them is the option to Add to Dictionary.
Click to add this spelling and remove the red wavy line.
Remove from Dictionary
When you don’t want the word in your personal dictionary, remember to remove it:
File > Options > Proofing > Custom Dictionaries > Edit Word List > Find and Select the Word > Delete
Easy when you know how 😂
Thesaurus
OK, I know that it’s not really spell check, but it’s often grouped with it.
How often have you repeated the same word, over and over, because you can’t think of an alternative?
This is where thesaurus comes in, showing a list of alternatives that means the same thing or similar.
Sure you can google alternatives to a word, but you do have it built into the program so why not use it?
MS Word
In MS Word it’s under the Review Tab next to spelling.
Select the word, click Thesaurus.
The alternatives appear in a pane on the right hand side.
To select (and insert) the word, hover over your choice, and click on the down arrow (on the right).
Click Insert.
If you want to keep searching, click on a word (in the list) to see the results for that word – you might want to put a timer on in case you ‘fall down a rabbit hole’.
Google Docs
Sadly Google Docs doesn’t have a built-in Thesaurus, but there are is an option that you can use.
Right-click on the word, and choose Define ‘<word>’.
The Dictionary pane will display on the right, which will include synonyms (alternatives).
Note: You’ll need to type the alternative into your document – clicking will lookup the selected word.
Of course you can always ‘google’ it. Try searching for “thesaurus <word>” e.g. thesaurus idea
Shortcut Keys
You know me and my shortcut keys…
While we don’t need to use it very much – Spellcheck almost always uses F7.
The nice thing is that this option has become standard over a number of different programs.
Thesaurus also has a shortcut – Shift + F7 (see told you it was linked to spelling 😉)
Next Steps
Give these options a go – especially the thesaurus or add your own words and spelling into the dictionary.
If you want some more shortcuts and tips try; Google Docs Keyboard Shortcuts or 15 Top Tips for Microsoft 365.
And remember there are videos for additional tips: Microsoft Word (Playlist) and Google Docs (Playlist)
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