This tutorial shows how to change the proofing language for comments in Microsoft Word.
But first, why would you want to change the proofing language for comments? Because …
Comments in Word Inherit Proofing Languages
When you use Word’s Track Changes to edit someone else’s document, the comment tool automatically inherits the original author’s proofing language along with spelling and grammar-check settings. Normally this inheritance isn’t a problem. However, if the author wrote the text in another language and then translated it to English, your comments may be ignored by the spelling and grammar check (now called the Editor) until you change the comments to your desired proofing language.
This tutorial is also available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.
Watch more than fifty other videos about Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat on my YouTube channel.
Please note that the images below are from Word for Office 365, which is currently the same as Word 2019. The steps are the same for Word 2016 and Word 2013; however, the interface in these older versions may look slightly different.
How to Change the Proofing Language for Comments in Word
1. Select the Home tab in the ribbon.
2. Select the dialog box launcher in the Styles group.
3. Select the Options button in the Styles task pane.
4. Select All styles in the Select styles to show drop-down menu in the Style Pane Options dialog box.
5. Select the OK button to close the Style Pane Options dialog box.
6. Scroll to Comment Text in the Styles task pane; hold your cursor over Comment Text to reveal the options arrow.
7. Select the options arrow and then select Modify from the drop-down menu.
8. Select the Format button in the Modify Style dialog box.
9. Select Language in the drop-down menu.
10. Select English (or another preferred language) in the Mark selected text as drop-down menu in the Language dialog box.
11. Uncheck Do not check spelling or grammar to ensure that Word will include your comments in spelling and grammar checks.
12. Select the OK button to close the Language dialog box.
13. Select the OK button to close the Modify Style dialog box.
14. Save, close, and then reopen the document to activate your new comment review settings.
Recommended Reading: How to Change the Font and Font Size of Comments in Word
Thank you for this post. It’s obscure enough that I would never have figured it out.
I’m glad you found it helpful. Thank you for reading my blog!
Thanks. It was driving me crazy to have German correction in an English text This is really buried so deep in Word’s option, I would have had no chance to find it without your help. Thank you for taking the time to explain it so well.
I’m glad you found the post helpful! Thank you for your feedback!
Same here. Comments were stuck in German. Finally resolved! Thanks!!!!!!
I’m glad the tutorial helped, Don. Thank you for reading my blog!
Erin, thanks for this. Is there any other reason Word might stop proofing the comments? I have followed these instructions, yet Word does not underline misspelled words in the comment field.
Hi, Emily. Thank you for reading my post! You may want to make sure that “Do not check spelling or grammar” is not checked in the Language dialog box (Review tab > Language). Also ensure that “Hide spelling errors in this document only” is not checked in the Word Options dialog box (File tab > Options > Proofing >Exceptions section). I hope that helps!
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I was going crazy changing the language of each comment I made.
I’m glad the tutorial helped you. Thank you for reading my blog!
Erin
Bless your goodness and light. I was going banana-crackers trying to figure this out on my own. The step-by-step instructions and screenshots are invaluable. Thank you!
Thank you for your kind words. I’m so glad these instructions helped you!
Thank you so much for this post. Was manually trying to change language for each comment balloon until I gave up. You really made things easy.
I am happy to hear that. Thank you for stopping by my blog!
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was editing a project, and the comments kept defaulting to Swiss German, and it was making me crazy. I can’t believe how convoluted it is to change the language! Thank you thank you for sharing!
I’m so glad this post helped you. Thank you for stopping by!
Thanks for the tip, very useful – hope I remember it for the future :)
Thank you for visiting my blog!
This is such an obscure issue that I had little hope of finding help for. But you’re my angel. I’m editing a newletter for an Italian agency, and while I changed all the text in the main body to English, the comments were still coming up as Italian! This would interfere with my last automatic proofread, and also be annoying to look at, since it was marking each word as an error. So, grazie mille to you from me. I would have never figured this out on my own!
Hello, Andy. Thank you so much for your positive feedback; I really appreciate it!
Erin
What a nice tutorial for an annoying problem! Thank you very much!
Thank you for reading my post!
I use Microsoft word regularly and I used to proofread by pasting the text to online proofreading tools. Reading this will surely reduce my efforts. Very helpful, Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for stopping by!
Saved my day. Good tutorial!
Thank you for stopping by!
Erin, thanks a lot for your guide. I was wondering if there is an option of how to apply this change for all the documents I will work with in the future, as I often comment on papers that are sent to me by other colleagues. I see the option to tick “New documents based on this template” but I guess that will just apply on the documents that I create.
Is there a way of how to make this language change ultimate, lets say bound to my account?
Thanks!
Hi, Jacob. Thank you for visiting my blog! The proofing options are user-specific, so I’m not aware of a way to automatically change the proofing language on other people’s documents. If I stumble across a solution, I will be sure to post an update here. Thanks again for stopping by!
Thank you Erin. It is so good of you to give away a “trick of the trade” to all and sundry!
Keith.
You are very welcome. Thank you for stopping by!
Erin
Thank you very much indeed. You saved my sanity and my computer, which almost flew out the window.
Thank you for stopping by my blog. Flying computers are no good!
Very helpful, thanks! The format is just right and without the long and useless introductions that curiously appear in many other tip pages.
I appreciate your positive feedback. Thank you for stopping by!
Copy editor thanks you for assistance in converting Polish characters in a document already translated from the Nahuatl!
I’m glad to hear that this post helped you. Thank you for stopping by!
~Erin
Thanks so much! I often proof-read English documents written by non-English clients and this has seriously rescued my sanity. Baffling why this is so well hidden in Word…
I’m so glad to hear that this post helped you. Thank you for stopping by!
Thank you Erin, really helpful !
I’m glad to hear it. Thank you for stopping by!