How to Use Spelling Check for Text in Excel Worksheets

Before you print your spreadsheet, you should run spell check if you have text in any of the worksheet cells. Excel will use the Office dictionary to verify words are correct just like in a Word document. However, unlike Word, there is no grammar check with Excel when the spelling check is run. Below are the steps for spell-checking.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer
• MS Office Suite or Excel Software Application

1. 
    
   Spelling Icon

   From the toolbar, select the Spelling (ABC) button.
   
   If you can not find this button on the toolbar, you may use the menu option Tools, then select Spelling from the drop-down menu to start this process.

2. 
    
   Spelling Window

   If you have potential spelling errors, a suggested word will appear in the Suggestions area of the Spelling Window until all errors have been resolved by the user. You will need to select one of these options for each potential error.
   
   Option A: You may correct the error by selecting the correct word from list or typing it and clicking on the Change button. If you think the word may be in the worksheet multiple times, you may want to choose the Change All button so the spell checker does not ask you every time it encounters the word in your worksheet. This will correct every occurrence of the word when it is found.
   
   Option B: Continue without correcting the potential error using the Ignore button. Use Ignore All button if you know the word is correct and it appears multiple time in the document.
   
   Option C: Perhaps you have specialized words in your worksheet that are correct but may not be standard words in the language dictionary you are using. Instead of choosing to ignore the word, you may want to add it to your custom dictionary so it is always seen as a correctly spelled word. To do this, click on the Add To Dictionary button. If you chose this option, be sure to also use the Options button to make sure Excel will use custom dictionaries as well as the standard by un-checking the option of Suggest from Main Dictionary Only.

3. 
    
   Spelling Options Window

   3. After all potential errors have been resolved; you will get a pop-up Window telling you spelling is complete, click OK. Then you should return to the point in your worksheet where spelling stopped. If you did not start at the beginning of the worksheet, you will get a pop-up window asking if you want to continue checking from the beginning, select Yes to start over or No to stop checking.

Tips & Warnings

• You can check spelling in a single cell or a range of cells instead of the entire worksheet. To do this, you must select the cells you want to check and then start the Spelling tool. If you were only checking spelling in a single cell or range, a pop-up box will appear to let you know it is done. Click OK to continue working.
• You probably will already have the option to ignore spelling on cells that mix number and letters so this should work easily. If you find it is stopping on cells that have multiple letters with numbers because it is trying to find matching words, you can easily fix this. Fix this by using the Options button to open the Options window and make sure the Ignore Words with Numbers is checked.
• Working in multiple languages is something only an ADVANCE user should do. If you want to use other languages and their symbols, the Options button would be where you select the ones you want to use. You must first install the language you want to use if it is not one of your defaults. If you need this feature, search the Help index for "language."

Resources

• Microsoft Office Online
• Business Tips
• How to Use Spelling and Style Checking in PowerPoint
• How to Use Spelling and Grammar Checking in Word