Review Message Content in Outlook

Outlook Tutorials – Review Emails

When recipients receive and read your emails with multiple misspelling words, it will bring recipients a very awful experience and make them fell that you are careless and not rigorous. Therefore, spelling check or auto correcting are quite necessary and important when you are composing emails. Here, this tutorial talks about spelling check and AutoCorrect in composing emails in Outlook.

Table of Content

1. Manually check spelling
2. Automatically check spelling before sending an email
3. Mark misspelling words with red squiggly underline
4. Automatically correct misspelling words as you type
- 4.1 Turn on/off AutoCorrect
- 4.2 Add AutoCorrect entries
- 4.3 Remove AutoCorrect entries
- 4.4 AutoCorrect exceptions
5. Change the default spelling check language

1. Manually check spelling
2. Auto check spelling before sending
3. Red squiggly underline mark
4. Auto correct misspellings as type
- 4.1 Turn on/off AutoCorrect
- 4.2 Add AutoCorrect entries
- 4.3 Remove AutoCorrect entries
- 4.4 AutoCorrect exceptions
5. Default spelling check language

Note: Methods introduced on this page apply to Microsoft Outlook 2019 desktop program in Windows 10. And the instructions may vary significantly or slightly depending on the version of Microsoft Outlook and the Windows environments.

1. Manually check spelling

We can manually check spelling when composing a new email, or replying / forwarding an email in Outlook.

1. In the new composing, replying, or forwarding message window, click Review > Spelling & Grammar to start spelling check.

Tips:
(1) After placing the cursor in the message body, you can also press the F7 key to start spelling check.
(2) If you want to check spelling for a part of message content, select the part in the message body, and then click Review > Spelling & Grammar or press the F7 key to start spelling check.

2. In the Spelling and Grammar dialog, the misspelling words are marked as red, and you can click buttons based on your needs.

Ignore Once: If you do not want to correct the misspelling on this occasion, click the Ignore Once button.
Ignore All: To ignore the same misspelling all the time across the current message, click the Ignore All button.
Add to Dictionary: If you think the marked word is correct and want to prevent this word from being identified as misspelling word in other messages in future, add this word to the spelling check dictionary.
Change: Select a word from the Suggestions list box, and then click the Change button to replace the misspelling word with the selected one on this occasion.
Change All: Select a word from the Suggestions list box, and click the Change All button to replace the misspelling word with the selected one across the whole message content.
AutoCorrect: Click the AutoCorrect button to correct the misspelling word.
Dictionary language: Select the proof language from this drop-down list.
Check grammar: If you want to check grammar and spelling simultaneously, tick this option. Otherwise uncheck it.
Options: Click this button to open the Editor Options dialog. In the dialog, you can set AutoCorrect settings and configure other spelling check options as you need.

Tips: In the Spelling and Grammar dialog, it displays one misspelling word in red at a time. After ignoring, changing, or correcting the misspelling word, it will show the next misspelling word automatically.

3. After dealing with all misspelling words in the current message, close the Spelling and Grammar dialog.

2. Automatically check spelling before sending an email

Some users may frequently forget to check spelling when composing emails in Outlook. Do not worry about it! Microsoft Outlook also supports to automatically check spelling before sending emails.

1. In Outlook, click File > Options.

2. In the Outlook Options dialog, click Mail in the left bar, and tick the Always check spelling before sending option in the Compose messages section.

Tips: If you want to prevent the original message from being checked spelling in the replying or forwarding message, tick the Ignore original message text in reply or forward option in the Outlook Options dialog.

3. Click the OK button.

From now on, there are two situations when you click the Send button in the new composing, replying, or forwarding message window:
A: The current message will be sent right now if there are no misspelling words in the message body.
B. The Spelling dialog will pop out automatically if there are misspelling words in the current message as below screenshot shown.

3. Mark misspelling words with red squiggly underline

You may notice that when we type words in the message body, the misspelling words are marked with red squiggly underline automatically. However, sometimes the red squiggly underline does not display. Here, this section will guide you to show or hide the red squiggly underline for misspelling words in Outlook.

1. Click File > Options.

2. In the Outlook Options dialog, click Mail in the left bar, and then click the Spelling and AutoCorrect button in the Compose messages section.

3. Now the Editor Options dialog pops out and Proofing is enabled in the left bar. Go to the When correcting spelling in Outlook section, and:
A. To show the red squiggly underline for misspelling words, please check the Check spelling as you type option;
B. To hide the red squiggly underline for misspelling words, please uncheck the Check spelling as you type option.

4. Click the OK buttons successively to save the changes and close dialogs.

From now on, if you have enabled the Check spelling as you type option, the misspelling words will be marked with the red squiggly underline automatically when you type the misspelling words and press the Space or Enter key in the new composing, relying, or forwarding message window.

4. Automatically correct misspelling words as you type

Sometimes, when you type a misspelling word and press the Space or Enter key in the message body of a new composing, replying, or forwarding message window, the misspelling word is corrected automatically as below screenshot shown. That is because the AutoCorrect option has been turned on. Here, in this section, I will guide you to enable or disable the AutoCorrect option, add or delete AutoCorrect entries, set AutoCorrect exceptions, etc. in Outlook.

4.1 Turn on/off AutoCorrect

You can easily turn the AutoCorrect option on or off in Outlook as follows.

1. Click File > Options in Outlook.

2. In the Outlook Options dialog, click Mail in the left bar, and then click the Spelling and AutoCorrect button in the Compose messages section.

3. In the Editor Options dialog, ensure Proofing is enabled in the left bar, and then click the AutoCorrect Options button in the AutoCorrect Options section.

4. In the AutoCorrect In Email dialog, on the AutoCorrect tab, tick the Replace text as you type option to turn on the AutoCorrect option, or uncheck the option to turn off the AutoCorrect option.

5. Click the OK buttons successively to save the changes and close dialogs.

Notes:
(1) Even if you have enabled the AutoCorrect option, only the misspelling words you have added as AutoCorrect entries can be corrected automatically, says correct “bcak” to “back”.
(2) Even if you have enabled the AutoCorrect option, the misspelling words will not be corrected if you only type in the word without pressing the Enter or Space key .

4.2 Add AutoCorrect entries

You can also add some custom AutoCorrect entries as need in Outlook.

1. Open the AutoCorrect dialog, and enable the AutoCorrect tab.
Tips: You can click File > Options > Spelling and AutoCorrect > AutoCorrect Options to open the AutoCorrect dialog. Click to view the detailed steps!

2. Then you can add an AutoCorrect entry as follows:
(1) In the Replace box, type in the word or text string that will be corrected automatically in future.
(2) In the With box, type in the word or text string that will automatically replace the misspelling word with.
(3) Click the Add button.

Tips:
(1) This operation will add one AutoCorrect entry at a time. To add multiple AutoCorrect entries, you need to repeat this operation to add them one by one.
(2) You can also add some AutoCorrect entries and let smiley faces replace with specific strings: https://www.extendoffice.com/documents/outlook/1776-outlook-insert-smiley-face.html#autocorrect

3. Click OK buttons to save changes and close dialogs.

4.3 Remove AutoCorrect entries

If necessary, you can also remove some AutoCorrect entries from Outlook too. You can do as follows:

2. Then you can remove an AutoCorrect entry as follows:
(1) In the Replace box, type in a keyword to quickly find out the specified AutoCorrect entry in below list box. For your information, this operation is optional. If you can find out the specified entry in below list box directly, just skip this operation.
(2) Click to highlight the specified entry you will remove in the list box.
(3) Click the Delete button.

Tips: This operation will remove one AutoCorrect entry at a time. To remove multiple entries, please repeat this operation as need.

3. Click OK buttons to save changes and close dialogs.

4.4 AutoCorrect exceptions

If you need to set some exceptions for the AutoCorrect library in Outlook, you can do as follows:

2. Click the Exceptions button.

3. In the AutoCorrect Exceptions dialog, do as follows:
(1) Enable the specified tab based on your needs. For example, I want to set an AutoCorrect exception about initial caps, I enable the INitial CAps tab.
(2) In the Don’t correct box, type in the specific word that you will set as an exception.
(3) Click the Add button.

Tips: If you need to add multiple AutoCorrect exceptions, you can repeat this operation to add them one by one.

4. Click OK buttons successively to save the changes and close all dialogs.

So far, you have added the AutoCorrect exceptions already.

5. Change the default spelling check language

Let’s say the default language of your Microsoft Office is English (United States), but you prefer to write in English (United Kingdom), and hope the spelling check language matches with your writing language, how could you deal with it? You can do as follows:

1. In the new composing, replying, or forwarding message window, click Review > Language > Set Proofing Language.

2. In the Language dialog, click to highlight the specified language you will change the default proofing language to, and click the Set As Default button.

3. In the popping out dialog, click the OK button.

4. Click the OK button to save the changes and close the Language dialog.

So far, the default proofing language has been changed already.

Notes:
(1) The default proofing language is shared within all Microsoft Office applications, and it takes effect in all new documents, presentations, and emails, etc. based on the NORMAL template.
(2) You can also check spelling and grammar in a different language temporarily for the currently editing email only: in the Language dialog, click to highlight the new language you will change the proofing language to, and click the OK button directly.