Change spelling check language for a Document in Microsoft Word 2010

Question

Usually I use Microsoft Word 2010 to write English documents

Now I'm editing a document of another language, and want to change the spelling check language of this document

This change should not affect other documents (means does not saved by default) so I can work with English documents in the future

Any clue? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

In Word 2010:

1. Select the text you want to affect. You can use Ctrl + A to select all the text in the document.
2. Review tab > Language group > Language button > Set Proofing Language
3. In the Language dialog, select the language you want to use for spell checking.

In Word 2007, Review tab > Proofing group > Set Language will accomplish the same thing.

Answer 2

The language is determine by the paragraphs language setting (i.e. an English paragraph followed by one in French will each use the right spelling checker).

To change the body of the document, select all and then change the paragraph language, but this will not update headers, footers and footnotes (this other answer for details).

Unless you change template content (or update a style with a language and save that change to the template) other documents will not be affected.

Answer 3

Office usually comes with a set of three languages, e.g. English, Spanish and French for the Canadian version. If the language you want to check is not one of the three languages in your copy of Office, you need to download a language pack.

Answer 4

In Word 2007 status bar bottom left there is the current paragraph language.

To change the whole document you should be able to select all (Ctrl + A) then click on the language to change it

Answer 5

At the bottom where it says your normal language e.g. English (U.K.) click on that and it will let you change the language

Answer 6

Instead of selecting all the text, you can change the language for a specific style. Most styles are based on Normal, so you usually only need to change the Normal style.

In the Home ribbon, right-click on the Normal style and click Modify. Then click Format -> Language, and select the language.

This should also affect headers and footers.

Disclaimer: I only tested this in Word 2010, but it should also work in Word 2007.