Tip #27 - Word's Colorful Underlines

100 Computer Tips in 100 Days

Tip #27 - Word's Colorful Underlines

I’m sure that you've noticed that your Word document is usually covered with colorful underlines. Starting with the 2007 version the underlines were red, green or blue.

The red underline indicates that a word is not in the program’s dictionary. If you click with the right mouse button on the underlined word you will see a menu of choices beginning with spelling alternatives. If the word is spelled correctly you should choose “Add to Dictionary” so that it does not question your spelling of that word again. It will even offer your addition as an alternative if you misspell it in the future.

The green underline indicates that there is a grammatical error. For example, if you  type “The boys was happy.” a green line will appear under “boys was” to let you know that the phrase should be either “boys were” or “boy was”. The term grammar is taken in its broadest meaning. If you insert two spaces between words or an extra space before a period, you’ll also see a green underline.  

The blue wavy underline means a "possible word choice error." Even though the text is both grammatically correct and correctly spelled as is, Word thinks you might have intended a different word. The sentence, “The whether is frightful.” will produce a blue underline under “whether” questioning if you wanted to use “weather”. And in this case, Word is right.

You can modify how these are tracked in your document by going to the File tab à Options, which is along the bottom of the box. Click “Proofing” on the left. Use the check boxes and the Settings button to customize the way Word proofs your document.

On the Apple you’ll access these options by clicking on the Word icon in the upper left corner and choosing Preferences. In the window that appears, click on Spelling and Grammar.

Happy computing!