Spellcheckers for Mac – What's good?

[jackoatmon]

Hey all,

Office Word 2011 for Mac removed the spellchecking feature for some crazy reason. I don't want to pay an additional monthly fee for Office 2016.

What's a working alternative? All I want to do is check spelling. And not an automatic "replace as you type" solution like OSX offers, because I find it introduces far more mistakes than it fixes, and I need to be able to do an all-at-once check of final documents before they go into layout and to print.

Right now I'm using https://www.jspell.com/public-spell-checker.html but I would really love something on the desktop that doesn't require an internet connection.

Thanks!

 

[keysofanxiety]

Office 2011 definitely has spellcheck!

Try go to Tools > Language in Word. Is the do not check spelling tick box enabled? If so, there's your problem!

Try through a new Word document too. Does that work? Existing documents may already have language/proof settings on the document itself. For an existing doc, press CMD+A to highlight all and go back to that Tools/Language option, to ensure that tickbox isn't checked.

Also go to Word> Preferences>Spelling & Grammar to ensure Check spelling is enabled, along with grammar & always suggest corrections.

 

[jackoatmon]

Office 2011 definitely has spellcheck!

Try go to Tools > Language in Word. Is the do not check spelling tick box enabled? If so, there's your problem!

Also go to Word> Preferences>Spelling & Grammar to ensure Check spelling is enabled, along with grammar & always suggest corrections.

Unfortunately, they disabled those options in a recent update.
(see angry forum posts all over internet for more details)
Presumably to force people to switch to the monthly fees of Word 2016.
I know that stuff used to exist (used it for years) but it's gone now.

 

[dianeoforegon]

Unfortunately, they disabled those options in a recent update.
(see angry forum posts all over internet for more details)
View attachment 683970

I have Word 14.7.1 and it still has spell check preference enabled.

Select all the text, then use the Tools menu and choose Language. Choose English (or whatever language it is) and apply the desired language to the text.

Set language.

• Open a Word document. Click on Word > Preferences
• Under the Authoring & Proofing Tools, select Spelling and Grammar
• Click on the Dictionaries button next to the Custom Dictionary drop down.
• Select a language (US English or any other language you want to use)
• Click on OK. Exit word.
• Restart Word

See this Microsoft KB: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2481268

FWIW, I turn off in System Preferences > Keyboard > Text > Correct spelling automatically.
I still get the red squiggly lines but not the auto correct words incorrectly.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Unfortunately, they disabled those options in a recent update.
(see angry forum posts all over internet for more details)
Presumably to force people to switch to the monthly fees of Word 2016.
I know that stuff used to exist (used it for years) but it's gone now.

View attachment 683970

Waaa? That's really, really unusual. I've just updated though and I've still got all those settings available – I'm on version 14.7.1, build 161129. Are you on a different build?

 

[jackoatmon]

I'm on the latest one, I've tried a zillion things to turn it back on, it's not working (and there are lots of other people online who also lost the functionality.)

What I'm looking for now isn't tech support for Word, but rather suggestions for alternative services. I really do appreciate all your suggestions, but I'm done trying to get Word to bring back spellcheck. I've already wasted way too much time on that.

 

[keysofanxiety]

I'm on the latest one, I've tried a zillion things to turn it back on, it's not working (and there are lots of other people online who also lost the functionality.)

What I'm looking for now isn't tech support for Word, but rather suggestions for alternative services. I really do appreciate all your suggestions, but I'm done trying to get Word to bring back spellcheck. I've already wasted way too much time on that.

Ah, okay. But could you just try one more thing for me? It's basically a complete uninstall and reinstall.

Download AppCleaner and drag the whole Microsoft Office folder from the Applications into it: macOS 10.10 to 10.12

If you're on an earlier OS: macOS 10.6 to 10.9

This will do a complete uninstall of everything, then reinstalling should hopefully fix the problem.

As far as alternatives go... well frankly, I'd just acquire ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) a copy of Office 16. Anything else will just be too much of a pain with legacy support, compatibility, etc... in the long run it would be much more frustrating than just getting Office sorted.

 

[DeltaMac]

I agree. If you tried a "zillion things", but no reinstall of Office 2011, then you have missed that (quite real) possibility.

Microsoft did not remove the spell checker. It is still there, but apparently doesn't work on your Mac. You should be able to fix that by removing and reinstalling Office 2011.

 

[flowrider]

Also on Work 14.7.1 Spellcheck is certainly working here.



Have you tried:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2481268

Lou

 

[jackoatmon]

Well this thread just ended up completely sucking.

"What's an alternative to Word?"

"USE WORD UR DOIN IT RONG USE WORD"

 

[fisherking]

Well this thread just ended up completely sucking.

"What's an alternative to Word?"

"USE WORD UR DOIN IT RONG USE WORD"

you're getting all this practical, logical help. if the thread sucks, it's because you're not listening...

 

[DeltaMac]

Yep
You are the one that started the thread with a statement that Microsoft somehow removed the spellchecker.
Your opinion is not an accurate representation, as you showed a screen shot showing spelling & grammar prefs in Word preferences, not active (maybe disabled), but also _not_ missing.
So, folks here _assumed_ that you would like to fix your Word as you have it installed, and (again, an assumption) would give a neater result than using a third-party spell-checker - and would fix your problem.
There is a link to a Microsoft support doc that has been posted twice in this short thread, and you have not responded in any way that (among a zillion things) you tried the fixes listed in that support doc.

 

[flowrider]

Well this thread just ended up completely sucking.

You will never hear from me again! Sorry I wasted my time trying to help!

Lou