10 Minute Guide to Word for Windows 95

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Proofing Your Document

In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the Word for Windows Speller and Thesaurus utilities to help proof your document.

Using the Spelling Checker

The spelling checker lets you verify and correct the spelling of words in your document. Word for Windows checks words against a standard dictionary and lets you know when it encounters an unknown word. You then can ignore it, change it, or add it to the dictionary.

To check spelling in a portion of a document, select the text to check. To check the entire document, first move the insertion point to the start of the document by pressing Ctrl+Home. Then:

1. Select Tools Spelling, press F7, or click the Spelling button on the toolbar. Word for Windows starts checking words beginning at the insertion point.

2. If a word found in the document is not in the dictionary, it becomes highlighted in the text and the Spelling dialog box displays (see Figure 19.1).

Figure 21.1
The Spelling dialog box.

3. In the Spelling dialog box, the Not in Dictionary box displays the word that was not found in the dictionary. If the spelling checker has found any likely replacements, they are listed in the Suggestions list box. In the dialog box, you have the following options:

4. The spelling checker proceeds to check the rest of the document. When it finishes checking, it displays a message to that effect. To cancel spell checking at any time, select Cancel in the Spelling dialog box.


Timesaver Tip: Fast Check! To check the spelling of a single word, double-click the word to select it, then press F7.

Checking Spelling as You Type

In addition to checking your document's spelling as described above, you can instruct Word to check each word as you type it in. Any word not found in the dictionary will be underlined with a wavy red line, and you can deal with it whenever you choose. To turn automatic spelling checker on or off:

1. Select Tools Options to display the Options dialog box.

2. If necessary, click the Spelling tab.

3. Turn the Automatic Spell Checking option on or off.

4. Click OK.

To deal with a word that has been underlined by Automatic Spell Checking, click the word with the right mouse button. Word displays a pop-up menu containing suggested replacements for the word (if any are found) as well as several commands. Your choices are:


Timesaver Tip: Hide misspelling marks If your document contains words underlined by the automatic spelling checker and you want to hide the underlines, select Tools Options, click the Spelling tab, and turn on the Hide Spelling Errors in Current Document option. Turn this option off to redisplay the underlines.

The Thesaurus

A thesaurus provides you with synonyms and antonyms for words in your document. Using the thesaurus can help you avoid repetition in your writing (and also improve your vocabulary). To use the thesaurus:

1. Place the insertion point on the word of interest in your document.

2. Press Shift+F7, or select Tools Thesaurus.

3. The Thesaurus dialog box opens (Figure 21.2). This dialog box has several components:

Figure 21.2
The Thesaurus dialog box.

4. While the Thesaurus dialog box is displayed, there are several actions you can take:

5. To replace the word in the document with the highlighted word in the Replace with Synonym list or the Replace with Related Word list, select Replace.

6. To close the thesaurus without making any changes to the document, select Cancel.


Timesaver Tip: What does it mean? You can use the thesaurus like a dictionary to find the meaning of words you are not familiar with.

In this lesson, you learned how to use the Speller and Thesaurus to proof your document. The next lesson shows you how to create numbered and bulleted lists.


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