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The PowerPoint spell checker works its way through your entire presentation, looking up every word in its massive list of correctly spelled words and bringing any misspelled words to your attention. It performs this task without giggling or snickering. As an added bonus, the spell checker even gives you the opportunity to tell it that you're right and it's wrong and that it should discern how to spell words the way you do.
The following steps show you how to check the spelling for an entire PowerPoint presentation:
1. If the presentation that you want to spell check is not already open, open it.
2. Fire up the spell checker.
Click the Spelling button on the Standard toolbar, press F7, or choose Tools --> Spelling.
3. Tap your fingers on your desk.
PowerPoint is searching your presentation for embarrassing spelling errors. Be patient.
4. Don't be startled if PowerPoint finds a spelling error.
If PowerPoint finds a spelling error in your presentation, it switches to the slide that contains the error, highlights the offensive word, and displays the misspelled word along with a suggested correction, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: The PowerPoint spell checker points out a boo-boo.
5. Choose the correct spelling or laugh in PowerPoint's face.
If you agree that the word is misspelled, scan the list of corrections that PowerPoint offers and select the one that you like. Then click the Change button.
If you like the way that you spelled the word in the first place (maybe it's an unusual word that isn't in the PowerPoint spelling dictionary, or maybe you like to spell the way Chaucer did), click the Ignore button. Watch as PowerPoint turns red in the face.
If you want PowerPoint to ignore all occurrences of a particular misspelling, click the Ignore All button. Likewise, if you want PowerPoint to correct all occurrences of a particular misspelling, click the Change All button.
6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until PowerPoint gives up.
When you see the following message, you're finished:
The spelling check is complete
PowerPoint always checks spelling in the entire presentation, beginning with the first slide — unless you specify a single word or group of words by highlighting them first. PowerPoint checks the spelling of titles, body text, notes, and text objects added to slides. It doesn't check the spelling for embedded objects, however, such as charts or graphs.
 | The speller can't tell the difference between similar words such as your/you're, ours/hours, angel/angle, and so on. In other words, if the word is in the dictionary, PowerPoint passes it by regardless of whether you've used the word correctly. The PowerPoint spell checker, however, is no substitute for good, old-fashioned proofreading. Print your presentation, sit down with a cup of something tasty, and read it carefully. |
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