MS-Word problem

euclid

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I'm using Ms-Word 2011 on a mac.
Sometimes, it underlines typos in red as I type, other times it doesn't.
Sometimes it even corrects a few of my typos as I type, other times not.
I've check the Autocorrect settings but haven't been able to pinpoint the problem.
People tend to say: "Oh I always switch all that Autocorrect stuff off." And walk away.
This is not helpful. I find the Autocorrect functions useful, but can't get them to work consistently.

I'd be grateful for any advice. Thanks.
 

Bufty

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Others may have a technical solution for you but I suspect part of the problem is that Autocorrect is obviously not human, so it can only deal with what it has been programmed to deal with. Subtle meanings and spelling differences may not register if the 'wrong' or misspelled word still makes some kind of logical sense and therefore an obvious error to us may not always be apparent to 'it'.
 

euclid

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Hi Bufty. I think Autocorrect could be a malignant demon! I've tested it on complete misspellings, like heeeeello and flyyyy. It shows no reaction, although sometimes it does.
 

Bufty

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I never use Autocorrect. I prefer to be in charge. Good luck.
 

S. Eli

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Autocorrect has pre-programmed words to correct. I'm guessing you want it to correct words more often, but you would have to add that. For example, it will correct havee to have, but not havvee because that is not in its list of words to correct. For example, I unfortunately for writers everywhere use the em dash constantly in my writing, so I programmed autocorrect to take == as an em dash in addition to --. This is all in the general autocorrect options tab with the section of its corrections that is labelled "replace" and "with". I may just be confused on what you're asking
 
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cbenoi1

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Note: This is for Windows. I know nothing about Macs, but I assume you or someone will pick up the differences.

This sometimes happens when one writes in more than one language. Merging document or cutting and pasting from different documents also does this. Changing the system language (I often change my keyboard from FRA CANADA to ENG CANADA to ENG US depending on what I do) can also cause Word to change proofing language for new text.

Word text is internally marked with language proofing IDs. It's an attribute much like underline, bold, or italics but it is invisible in the main text window. You can reset the language proofing for the entire document by pressing F8 several times. This selects the entire document contents. Then go to Review->Language->Set Proofing Language... and set the language(s) you want from there and save.

I suggest you also add a few empty lines at the very end of the document. That way the proofing setting will carry forward as you add new text below the last paragraph. Otherwise the new text will be added outside the bounds of the proofing settings you have set and Word can pickup a mix of keyboard settings and default template settings and you're back to that F8 trick again and again.

Hope this helps.

-cb
 
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euclid

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Hi cb. I can't find Review anywhere in my version of Word, or Set Proofing. I have Tools>Language. I used Cmd-A to select All and reset the language to English(UK). That seems to have fixed the problem.
Thanks. F8 revealed iTunes running mute :) but did nothing for Word.

Thanks again.

PS I added a couple spurious lines at the bottom as you suggested.
 
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Al X.

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Word ported for Mac is known to have some quirks, but aside from that one thing you need to be aware of is that you need to be careful how you cut and paste text, if you do that a lot. If you say, highlight a Spanish phrase from a translator (to get the special characters) and do a default paste, it will reset the proofing language to Spanish from that point on. Make sure you only paste as plain text (keep text only.) It will preserve special characters but not put in other spurious garbage formatting codes.

That may or may not be your issue.