Ctrl+A to select the entire document, then go to Tools | Language | Set
Language and make sure that the correct language is selected and that "Do
not check spelling or grammar" is not checked.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
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"jmd" wrote in message
...
i can type gibberish and the spell checker doesn't notice, although under
tools and options, everything seems to be properly set up