How to Easily Spell Check in Excel like a Pro

Spelling mistakes in Excel can really undermine the professionalism and credibility of your work But fret not – Excel has some simple yet powerful ways to fix those pesky typos and make your spreadsheets error-free!

In this comprehensive guide I will show you various methods and tricks to spell check in Excel so you can create polished, mistake-free Excel reports and dashboards.

Why Spell Check in Excel

Here are some key reasons to use Excel’s spell check features:

• Avoid embarrassing spelling errors in reports and dashboards
• Ensure accuracy of text-based formulas and calculations
• Professionalism – no manager wants a report with silly typos
• Credibility and trust – spelling mistakes may indicate sloppy work
• Clarity of communication – bad spelling can confuse readers
• Consistency of brand image and style
• Save time over manual proofreading and dictionary look-ups

Catching spelling errors in Excel is critical before sharing workbook with colleagues or management. Now let’s see how it can be done.

Excel Spell Checker Overview

Excel has a built-in spell checking feature that checks for spelling mistakes in:

• Cell contents
• Formulas
• Text in shapes/objects
• Chart elements like titles, labels, legends
• PivotTable reports
• And more…

You can access it via the Review tab Just click Spelling or use the shortcut F7

The spell checker compares words against standard dictionaries for English, French and Spanish. It can also scan multiple worksheets at once.

![Excel Spell Checker][]

Now let me walk you through different ways to leverage this tool.

Spell Check Entire Worksheet

To run a spell check on the entire worksheet:

1. Press Ctrl + A to select the full worksheet
2. Go to Review tab and click Spelling
3. Excel will start checking from Cell A1 onwards
4. It highlights the first misspelled word and shows suggestions
5. Click on the right suggestion and click Change to correct it
6. The spell checker moves to the next cell and so on

This scans every cell, object and text element in the worksheet.

Spell Check Specific Cells

To check spelling only in certain cells:

• Select the cells you want to check
• Hit F7 to open the spell checker
• It will now scan only the selected cells for errors

For example, before finalizing a dashboard, you may want to spell check just the titles, labels and text elements without wasting time on data cells.

Check Spelling in Formulas

Normally, Excel skips over formulas while spell checking. But you can selectively check them as below:

• Double click the formula cell to edit mode
• In formula bar, select the specific text you want to check
• Press F7 and correct any errors

This ensures formula accuracy is not affected by incorrect text strings.

Spell Check Multiple Worksheets

To check spelling errors across multiple worksheets:

• Press Ctrl to multi-select several sheet tabs
• Once selected, click Spelling in the ribbon
• Excel will spell check the sheets one by one

Spell Check the Entire Workbook

To perform a blanket spell check on all worksheets in the Excel workbook:

• Right click on any sheet tab
• Select Select All Sheets from the context menu
• Click on Spelling in the ribbon
• The spell checker scans through every worksheet

This helps you eliminate spelling mistakes Workbook-wide before finalizing it.

Use AutoCorrect for Real-time Checking

The AutoCorrect feature helps fix spelling errors on the fly as you type text. To enable it:

• Go to File > Options > Proofing
• Under AutoCorrect options, check “Replace text as you type”
• Click OK to save setting

Now common typos and spelling mistakes will be automatically corrected in real-time as you type!

Add Words to Custom Dictionary

Excel flags uncommon proper nouns or technical terms as incorrect spellings.

To avoid this, add such words to the Custom Dictionary:

• Right click on the flagged word and select Add to Dictionary
• The word is added so Excel won’t mark it as an error again

This improves spell check accuracy for your unique business terms.

Tips and Best Practices

Here are some tips to use Excel spell checker effectively:

• Add industry-specific terms and acronyms to the custom dictionary
• Disable spell check on irrelevant items like data cells
• Run spell check as the final step before sharing workbook
• Manually review formulas, headers and footers as extra precaution
• Adjust Autocorrect settings to ignore casing, initial caps, etc.
• Disable automatic spell checking if it slows down performance

Following these best practices will help you leverage Excel spell check proactively and catch mistakes before they get embarrassing!

Mistakes in Excel reports and dashboards can undermine your hard work and expertise. Use the various methods in this guide to eliminate spelling errors.

The Excel spell checker tool along with Autocorrect can help you quickly improve the professionalism, clarity and accuracy of your Excel workbooks.