Allow use of old Spell Check dialog in Word 2016 and later
See this thread in the Microsoft Answers
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msofficeword-msowin10-mso_o365b/word-2016-how-to-enable-old-style-spell-check/095bf6ce-7adb-4ac9-94c4-dcfe6cfb34af
Some of us prefer the old dialog to the new Edit pane.

76 comments
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Anonymous commented
Bring back old spell check
This new one is designed by people who do not write for a living.
BRING BACK "Alt" "T" "S"; "Alt" "I"; "Alt" "C" to the spell checker. Spell checker in 2010 - 2013 was better!This new editor is just awful. Microsoft should be ashamed
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App Dev commented
Anyone have any ideas how to get the old dialog back or a work around to be able to call it from a Microsoft VB6 form?
We have a VB6 application that uses it, but the call to Dialogs(wdDialogToolsSpellingAndGrammar).Show no longer works with Word Version 1812
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Linda Ingmanson commented
Just adding my vote to returning to the old spell check. The new one is clunky and laborious. If I have to back out of the document to go look up a spelling on Google (such as a celebrity name), I have to start the **** spell check all over again. I have a fast laptop, and it can still take minutes to finish. Why did they make this dumb change?
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Gray commented
Adding to what @Zoophytes commented.
Upon opening, the editor pane allows shortcuts. However, if there's an egregious spelling change that requires you to click into the body of the document, the keyboard shortcuts no longer function, even after clicking back into the editor pane. You then have to use your mouse to manually click each option. (Very bad.)
I do a massive amount of document editing, and the editor pane dramatically slows that process.
Justice for spell check!
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RiaV commented
Adding my voice to those asking that the old panel be restored The new spellchecker is clearly not designed by someone who regularly uses a word processor. Disappointing!
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Zoophytes commented
Please bring back the old spell checker which was fast and efficient. The new Editor is hugely inefficient and does not respond to keyboard shortcuts. Productivity has massively fallen as a result of this change. Sorry but I am tempted to find another word processor.
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Owen Smith commented
Also disappointed re the loss of the old dialogue box - the spell checker pane is clunky and not keyboard friendly. Please bring it back!
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Margaret Sheehan commented
PLEASE bring back the old Spell Checker. The new "Editor" is a nightmare to use and a giant time-suck. Also, I am begging you to return to us the ability to disable the Grammar Checking. It is an extremely painful waste of time.
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Anonymous commented
Are you deliberately trying to **** off customers? New Editor makes completing documents much slower and time intensive. Its as if you get paid extra everytime we have to touch a mouse to do something we used to be able to do on the keyboard. There is NO way that you ran this function by any real customers or focus group before you implemented it! Another step backwards for Microstupid. Well played.
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LHPink commented
The Editor is awful and extremely slow. I do not need it to check all my grammar without asking. Bring back the classic spell check that was quick and efficient. It wasn't broken, don't try to fix it.
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Anonymous commented
WOW- YOUR NEW EDITOR PANEL - THE SPELL CHECK REPLACEMENT- REALLY SUCKS. WHAT A WASTE OF SPACE AND A STEP BACKWARD IN USABILITY.
ARE ****** OFF USERS YOUR MAIN OBJECTIVE OR JUST A HAPPY BYPRODUCT OF YOUR INCOMPETENT PROGRAMMING?
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Mark Doody commented
Must agree with commenters below. I'm now (since 1/1/2019) being forced to use the hated Editor Pane because wdDialogToolsSpellingAndGrammar references the pane rather than the dialog, or in other words MS have sneakily sabotaged or destroyed dialog spellcheck.
Please bring back the dialog spellcheck. Alternatively give us an Editor Pane that functions with keyboard commands (Alt-I, Alt-G and Alt-C, proper undo) as well as mouse clicks. But preferably bring back the dialog
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Gadi commented
+1 this new spellchecker is just terrible, please add an option to go back
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Leanne Bisignano commented
Shame Microsoft. Why anyone would think the new style editor is better than the old style spell check is beyond me. I've been a typist for nearly 50 years and this has to be the worst, most disadvantageous change made in word processing ever. Please listen to us and at the very least give us the option to revert to the old style spell check!!
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Charles Kenyon commented
Here is yet another forum post complaining about the Editor and inability to use the classic spell-check dialog.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/editor-pane/e265a9a8-6340-4b5c-adad-4bc03c07f977 -
Anonymous commented
Please give me back the old spell check for Word 2016. I despise the new Editor. I am a verbatim transcriptionist and grammar is never going to be correct. The editor is taking up way too much of my time and is not needed. Why oh why did you ***** up what was working beautifully? Please fix ASAP.
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Anonymous commented
Oh where, oh where, can my old spell check be?
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Roberta Metalious commented
Is anyone at Microsoft listening?!?!?!? Is all this just an exercise in futility!?!?!?!? At least have the guts to tell us nothing is going to be done about this so we can seek out other options!!!
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French commented
The latest spell checker has eliminated three tools that greatly slow down my work. First is the ability to correct all the instances of a misspelled word in the document. Now, I have to correct each individually.
Second: Maybe I haven't found the instructions, but I cannot select a paragraph or two to spell check. No matter what I select, I get a repeat check of the entire document.
The third and biggest time consumer is the need to use the mouse all the time. The old system allowed quick clicks of keys or combinations of keys to select the next step and pick the correct spelling from a list.
The old system still works fine in Outlook and PowerPoint. Please, please, give us a way to use the old dialog in Word.
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Jay commented
Agreeing with Charles Kenyon, the functionality of Dialogs(wdDialogToolsSpellingAndGrammar) should not have been reassigned to the Editor pane (which isn't even a dialog). And if the code of the old spelling checker has been removed from Word's program code, PUT IT BACK.
Jay Freedman, Word MVP