Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Setting Spell-Checking Options.

Setting Spell-Checking Options

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 8, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Excel includes a spelling checker that you can use to proof the text in your worksheets. There are a few options that you can set for the spelling checker. For instance, you can make sure the spelling checker doesn't check words that are all uppercase or those that have numbers in the word.

To change the spelling checker options, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. You will see the Options dialog box.
  2. Make sure the Spelling tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The Spelling tab of the Options dialog box.

  3. Make changes in the options, as desired.
  4. Click on OK.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3315) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Setting Spell-Checking Options.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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