Microsoft Excel does not have any advanced capabilities such as grammar checking and correction, but it provides basic spell checking capabilities in Microsoft Excle. The built-in spell checker feature which comes with Microsoft Excel can help you to double-check your Excel sheets before sending them to someone else.

One thing I’d like to highlight is the fact that spell checking feature of Microsoft Excel is extremely restricted. It’s because that like MS Word, Excel doesn’t highlight misspelled words when you write it. Excel will only inform you of a misspelled word when you press the spelling check button.

How do you check for spellings in MS Excel:

Spelling check in Excel is easy. Follow these steps to conduct a spelling checking in Excel.

Once you have opened your Excel spreadsheet you can simply click the tab called “Review” on the ribbon.
Under the tab ‘Review‘ there is a checkbox for ‘Spelling’ as seen in the picture.
By clicking this button, you will start the spell-checking process.

Here is a crucial aspect I’d like to draw attention to. Before you begin the spell-checking process, If your cursor was in the cell ‘A1’, Excel will begin spell-check from the cell. If the cursor was on any cell that is labeled ‘K10’ then the spell checking will start at that specific cell. However at the conclusion of the worksheet, it will be asking you “Do you want to continue checking at the beginning of the sheet?“

If you press the ‘Yes‘ button , it will go through all left cells. However, if you choose ‘No‘, it will leave the remaining cells in the same state as they are.

Shortcut Key for Spell-checking:

If you’re not keen using the spell-checking feature with the buttons in the Excel ribbon, then you could use an alternative shortcut key. The shortcut key to use for this is “F7”.

In the process of opening a spreadsheet, when you hit “F7,” it will initiate the process of spell-checking.

Spell-check Multiple Sheets at Once:

When you use the spell-check feature, you’ll realize that it only checks spellings on the current sheet. If you follow the procedure, you’ll be able to verify spelling on several sheets at once.

In Excel, open the sheet, then right-click the name of the excel sheet.This will bring up an option menu. Select the option which says “Select All Sheets“. All sheets within your excel spreadsheet will be chosen.

Then, start the process of checking spellings by clicking Review>>Spellings or using the keystroke ‘F7‘.

Highlight misspelled words using the Macro

The process of finding misspelled words is easy with the help of the below macro. This macro alters the color of the background cells in which misspelled words are found. This helps anyone to spot the incorrectly written words by simply looking at the worksheet.

To make use of this macro, follow these steps:

Excel spreadsheet for the cells you wish to highlight the missing cells.

Next, press “Alt+F11” keys, this will open the Excel VBA Editor.

Navigate to Insert>>Module.

Paste the following code into the editor.

Sub ColorMispelledCells()
For Each cl In ActiveSheet.UsedRange
If Not Application.CheckSpelling(Word:=cl.Text) Then _
cl.Interior.ColorIndex = 28
Next cl
End Sub

After you’ve pasted the code, press the key ‘F5‘ to execute the macro.

Check your spreadsheet for any cells that have spelling errors would be highlighted in aqua-colored.

This is all about spell checking in Excel. If you experience any difficulties using this feature, do not hesitate to let us know in the comments section.