AutoCorrect

Word automatically corrects many commonly misspelled words and punctuation marks with the AutoCorrect feature. To view the list of words that are automatically corrected, select Tools > AutoCorrect. This may be a hidden feature so click the double arrows at the bottom of the Tools menu listing if the AutoCorrect choice is not listed.

Many options, including the accidental capitalization of the first two letters of a word and capitalization of the first word of the sentence, can be automatically corrected from this page. If there are words you often misspell, enter the incorrect and correct spellings in the Replace and With fields.

Spelling and Grammar Check

Word will automatically check for spelling and grammar errors as you type unless you turn this feature off. Spelling errors are indicated by a red underline. Grammar errors are indicated by a green underline. To disable this feature, select Tools > Options from the menu bar and click the Spelling and Grammar tab on the dialog box. Uncheck Check spelling as you type and Check grammar as you type, and click OK.

To use the spelling and grammar checker, follow these steps:

1. Select Tools > Spelling and Grammar from the menu bar.
2. The Spelling and Grammar dialog box will notify you of the first mistake in the document and misspelled words will be highlighted in red.
   
3. If the word is spelled correctly, click the Ignore button (or click the Ignore All button if the word appears more than once in the document).
4. If the word is spelled incorrectly, choose one of the suggested spellings in the Suggestions box and click the Change button or Change All button to correct all occurrences of the word in the document. If the correct spelling is not suggested, enter the correct spelling in the Not In Dictionary box and click the Change button.
5. If the word is spelled correctly and will appear in many documents you type (such as your name), click the Add button to add the word to the dictionary so it will no longer be identified as a misspelled word.

As long as the Check Grammar box is checked in the Spelling and Grammar dialog box, Word will check the grammar of the document in addition to the spelling. If you do not want the grammar checked, remove the checkmark from this box. Otherwise, follow these steps for correcting grammar:

1. If Word finds a grammar mistake, it will be shown in the same dialg box as spelling errors. The mistake is highlighted in green text.
   
2. Several suggestions may be given in the Suggestions box. Select the correction that best applies and click Change.
3. If no correction is needed (Word's grammar checker is more often wrong than right), click the Ignore button.

Synonyms

Word XP has a new shortcut feature for finding synonyms in the thesaurus. Simply right-click on the word and select Synonyms from the shortcut menu. From the list of suggested words, highlight the word you would like to use or click Thesaurus... for more options.

Thesaurus

To use the thesaurus normally, select Tools > Language > Thesaurus from the menu bar.

A list of meanings and synonyms are displayed. Double-click on the words in the Meanings box or click the Look Up button to view similar words. Double-click words in the Replace with Synonym box to view synonyms of those words. Highlight the word you would like to add and click the Replace button.