Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Spell-checking Uppercase Words.

Spell-checking Uppercase Words

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 22, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365

Excel includes a powerful spell-checker that, in reality, does a pretty good job. You can use this tool to locate potential spelling errors in your worksheets. If your worksheets contain lots of acronyms, you'll find that Excel flags most of them as misspelled words.

You can make sure that Excel ignores uppercase words in any spell-check by following these steps:

  1. Display the Excel Options dialog box. (In Excel 2007 click the Office button and then click Excel Options. In Excel 2010 and later versions, display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
  2. At the left side of the dialog box click Proofing. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The Proofing options of the Excel Options dialog box.

  3. Make sure the Ignore Words in UPPERCASE check box is selected.
  4. Click on OK.

The only downside to this, of course, is if you use all uppercase for section titles or for other special words. In this case, Excel still ignores them, since they are uppercase. Make sure you change the setting of this check box based on the type of work you are doing in your worksheet.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (6155) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Spell-checking Uppercase Words.

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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