- Make sure you haven't selected part of the data. If you've selected text, the spelling checker checks only the selected text. When the spelling checker asks whether you want to check the remainder of the document, click Yes.
- If the text is in all uppercase letters, make sure that the Ignore words in UPPERCASE check box is cleared on the Spelling tab (Tools menu, Options command).
The spelling checker questions text that is correct.
- Make sure you are using the appropriate dictionary language. If necessary, install the spelling tools for that language, and enable the language for editing.
- On the Microsoft Windows Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Office, point to Microsoft Office Tools, and then click Microsoft Office 2003 Language Settings.
- Click the Enabled Languages tab.
- In the Available languages box, select the language you want to enable.
- Click Add.
If any Microsoft Office programs are running, the Language Settings tool notifies you and closes them automatically. The features for the language you enabled appear the next time you start an Office program.
Note Some languages
— for example, Asian, right-to-left (such as Arabic), and Central European languages — have system requirements that must be met before you can type characters for those languages in Microsoft Office programs. If you see (limited support) next to a language in the Available languages box, you need to install system support for that language. - Add specialized terms or custom capitalizations to a custom dictionary. When you use the spelling checker, it compares the words in your document with those in its main dictionary. The main dictionary contains most common words, but it might not include proper names, technical terms, acronyms, and so on. In addition, some words might be capitalized differently in the main dictionary than in your document. Adding such words or capitalization to a custom dictionary prevents the spelling checker from questioning them.
I can't select language-specific spelling options.
Make sure you are using the appropriate dictionary language. If necessary, install the spelling tools for that language, and enable the language for editing.
- On the Microsoft Windows Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Office, point to Microsoft Office Tools, and then click Microsoft Office 2003 Language Settings.
- Click the Enabled Languages tab.
- In the Available languages box, select the language you want to enable.
- Click Add.
If any Microsoft Office programs are running, the Language Settings tool notifies you and closes them automatically. The features for the language you enabled appear the next time you start an Office program.
Note Some languages
I can't add a word to the custom dictionary.
Make sure that the word contains 64 characters or fewer, and that it doesn't contain spaces.
In addition, make sure that the number of words in the custom dictionary does not exceed 5,000, and that its file size does not exceed 64 kilobytes (KB).
I added words to a custom dictionary, but the spelling checker still questions them.
Before you can use a custom dictionary to check spelling, you must activate it by selecting the check box next to its name in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box.
In addition, if you add a word to the custom dictionary while another program is running, the addition does not appear until you restart Microsoft Access.
Microsoft Access prompts me to create a new custom dictionary when I try to add a word.
By default, Microsoft Access uses an ANSI code page when it creates a custom dictionary. If you try to add a word while checking spelling, and the language that you are using requires Unicode support in the custom dictionary, Access keeps the original dictionary intact and prompts you to create a new custom dictionary that can store entries in Unicode.