Fixing Word's Missing Spelling Option

I do many things well, one of which is finding solutions to problems on the web. I dig into search engines and find gems of advice from others who have fallen before me. I've fixed my dryer this way.

More often than not, these problems are computer related. Finding solutions that work can be hit and miss.

For a long time Word 97 on two of our computers (Win XP and 2k) were missing the spell check option. No problem, I said to myself. I'll hunt it down and kill it. After three tries at kicking the can, I get a little perturbed. Others have documented exactly the same problem as I, but without a working solution.

Some advocated registry changes, but there were no registry entries for Word's Spellcheck, so there's nothing to change. Some said it was a problem of not having enough security authorization, but I was using the admin ID, so that wasn't the issue. I've twice backed up and gone into my Windows Registry, but to no avail. Word simply refused to spell.Reinstallation did not work. Others wrote to throw your hands in the air and install an upgraded version. Somehow this does not sound like solving the problem, just more of a sidestep.

I had thought that Word was damned forever. Then I tried playing with the installation. It couldn't hurt. It was here that I found my solution.

Go into "Control Panel", "Add or remove programs", click "Microsoft Office 97", click the "Change/Remove button". Insert the Office CD and hit . Office 97's startup program will begin. Click the "Add/Remove" button. Click "office tools", then the "Change Option" button. Select "Spell Checker", then Ok your way through all the menus. Start up Word and check that you have your spell checker.

Sometimes life issues can take years to resolve, no matter how much you persevere. This fix took me almost 3 years to figure out, and I found it by luck. In the eman time I moved to Open Office, partially because of this Spell Checker problem. I did my best to research the problem on three occasions and came up empty.

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

Tags: computer, Windows XP, WIndows 2000, Word 97, spell checker, registry