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Microsoft Word 2003?
I keep having to change the dictionary setting when spell-checking to UK English from US English. It didn’t matter how many times I did that, the spell check would flip back immediately to US English.
The way to prevent this happening is to make sure that the normal.dot template is itself set to your dictionary of choice. To do this, open a new Microsoft Word document, cut and paste some text into it from somewhere, and then click on Tools/Language/Set Language and select English (UK). Next, whilst English (UK) is highlighted, and the option Detect language automatically is selected, click on the Default button.
You should get a message indicating that the template.dot template will be changed and that all new documents from now on will use the UK dictionary by default.
Microsoft Word 2007?
If you need to set the default dictionary for Word 2007, please see the following article about Word 2007 and setting the default language.
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks Liz, That’s an excellent solution. I have put up with this ‘bug’ in MS Word for years to the point of ignoring the American-biased spellchecking. Now thanks to you, I can write in the Queen’s English, (How appropriate your name is Elizabeth!)
brilliant - I have struggled with this for years. it is a completely obvious thing to want to do but try using MS help and you get nowhere. I owe you one.
Hi Liz,
Thanks for the support provided. I struggled a bit initially to check spell check in us English and now able to change the default setting to US English from UK English.
Liz,
Great stuff. I wish all other so called ‘help’ websites could provide such simple (but obviously important information) as clearly as you have. MS could learn a lot from this strategy!
Well done and thank you!
Done it twice, no success. Bloody hell.
I had it okay — after many many failed attempts to fix it — for a couple of years until today, when the bloody thing decided to flip back to US English again.
This problem is the most idiotic thing that Microsoft has never dealt with (except in Word 2007, it seems). It’s quite obviously a switch that should be easy as pie, should be a simple option in Tools, but not obvious to the boneheads at MS. No patch, ever.
I hoped we could solve this annoying problem by by sharing our experiences. I tried - it seems to have worked for some people and not for others. If anyone else has any good ideas, please add them here.
After struggling with this issue for many years, I found the Holy Grail of getting rid of English U.S once and for all.
Stage 1:
First of all, in Windows XP, begin with going to the Control Panel - Regional and Language Settings - Languages - Detail.
Here you need to select from the drop-down menu, a default input language.
This needs to be (EN) English - United Kingdom - US.
If you don’t have this option in the drop down menu, then proceed to the Installed Services option directly below.
You should see a box with some options and an ‘Add’ and ‘Remove’ button to the side.
Select Add - and choose English - UK as your default input language in the menu that shows up next,
BUT specify “US” for the keyboard layout unless you KNOW your keyboard is a different layout. (If you notice your keyboard acting strangely after this change, you will need to set it to the right layout here).
After clicking OK,you should see the new Installed Service profile in the box to the left.
“EN - English United Kingdom
Keyboard layout - US”
If you want, you can delete the other services, I did, because I never wanted the default to be US…ever!
Then, go back to the first part, and from the drop-down menu, choose your new installed service, which should be “EN - English UK - US”, the US here is the keyboard layout.
Once this is done, click ok to confirm the changes and exit the Control Panel.
Next… open up Search.
Stage 2:
Click search files and folders, and from the options below, tick advanced and select “search system files” “search sub folders” “search hidden files and folders”.
Then search for this document : “Normal.dot” - this is your default MS word template.
When it shows up, you need only search in the directory where MS Office is installed, right click on the right file which should be around 30 kb, not the other ‘ghosts’ and open it.
It should open a blank document. Type any odd letter, and check the status bar. If it detects English UK…you’re good, you can move to stage 4, directly.
Stage 3:
If the English US is the exasperating result, THEN, to to Tools - Language - Set Language. Choose English U.K as default and click ok to save changes to the TEMPLATE. Next, highlight and delete the letter/word you’d typed before. Try not to use backspace, use the delete key. Once you’re sure the document is blank, save it and exit.
Stage 4:
God willing, when you launch MS Word again, it should default to English UK. If it does, say a prayer and damn Microsoft to the deepest corners of the most painful hell and send a few to support OpenOffice.org.
~~~~~~~~~
Yay, I can type ‘colour’ again!
Amazing, thank U Liz, i work for tech support and had a call with the same issue, i tried many steps in between tried this as well,
really it fixed this issue.. thanks once again..!!
Thanks to everyone who has helped out and commented on the Word problem on this post and the one addressing Word 2007. (See link in main post above.)
Thanks Liz - simple and worked a treat on Word 2002
Hi Liz
Tried “Click on Tools/Language/Set Language and select English (UK). Next, whilst English (UK) is highlighted, and the option Detect language automatically is selected, click on the Default button”.
This works fine until I open a new doccument then it will go back to English US.
Any ideas?
Thank you.
Aussie Dave
Aussie Dave - Sounds like you are not somehow updating the template.dot file. Please check you get the message that suggests you have updated it. Also - check what others have said in comments above. One person at least has posted a different set of instructions when mine didn’t work.
Thank you so much ( Rabia ). I successfully get rid of American Spelling check. I appreciate that so much. Many thanks. I am really happy for such thing.
I really can write now: Centre, colour, theatre ….:)
Thank you SO MUCH for putting this up online. I searched out of desperation because I’m writing a thesis and the U.S. English spell check was making life hell for me.
Thank you for your comment - I can understand how frustrating that must have been.
And - on another note, a thanks from me to everyone who has contributed these posts . . . .
Hi,
Thanks Liz for the solution. It worked with a couple of changes.
1) Make sure that all Word documents are closed before you start.
2) To fix an existing document I did the following
a) Hit to select the entire document
b) select Tools | Language | Set Language
c) Select your language of choice
d) Ensure ‘Detect Language automatically” is clicked
e) Click Default
f) Click OK
I have managed to prevent Word 2003 from using US English but then I open a document from someone who has not set their language and we go round the same process again. I have also found that scanning documents into Word changes the default language. I have found no permanent cure. Does anyone know how to delete the US dictionary?
If like me you want English Spelling but with a US Keyboard,
you might want to change your regional settings->Languages so that you
are using English (UK) input language with a US keyboard
(I removed my UK keyboard since I’m on a US style laptop).
Then try the above if you need to - it worked fine for me. It kept defaulting to
US spelling while I was using a default US input language.
I have been bugged for 5 long years by MS XP Office 2003 Word’s prograMMe inability to Spell Check in UK English. Whilst spell checking it insists on US English and when you change the language setting to UK English it will only change whatever word you are checking and then immediately reverts back to US English! Today my son Michael was able to tell me what to do - he admits he got the answer on your web site!! Many thanks
Excellent, something which has been bothering me for years! Lucky I decided to type into Google, finally I can spell colour correctly!
Finally! Regional settings, English UK in the Language tab, BUT *US keyboard*! Thanks ANON.
Now Word *starts* with English UK as its default language. (I had all the other settings in place, but it was the starting bit that was really bugging me.)
Cultural Imperialism, anyone?
OPEN OFFICE!!
And it’s free
Cultural Imperialism? And the sun would “never set upon the British Empire”. It’s ironic how presumptive that statement was. Much of the world’s problems today are based upon the arbitrary borders placed by Her Majesty’s engineers, such as the Durand Line between Afghanstan and the FATA area. Most of Africa is in the same dilemma when nationalism, language and resources were contorted into boundaries to suit the exploitation of the Europeans. You may not like the U.S., but you can jolly well get used to Eurabia. Almost without exception, your former colonies had to fight for their independence, unlike the vast number of countries the United States has freed from oppression, and very obviously you’d be typing on a German keyboard were it not for us.