Erin Wright Writing

Writing Tips for the Real World

How to Change the Proofing Language for Comments in Microsoft Word

By 50 Comments

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 100 other writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.

Please note that the images below are from Word for Microsoft 365. The steps are the same for Word 2019, 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.

Image of Word 365 / Word 2019 Home Tab | Step 1 in How to Change the Proofing Language for Comments in Word
Figure 1. Home tab in the ribbon

2. Select the dialog box launcher in the Styles group.

Image of Word 365 / Word 2019 Styles Dialog Box Launcher | Step 2 in How to Change the Proofing Language for Comments in Word
Figure 2. Styles dialog box launcher

3. Select the Options button in the Styles task pane.

Image of Word 365 / Word 2019 Options Button in the Styles Task Pane | Step 3 in How to Change the Proofing Language for Comments in Word
Figure 3. 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.

Image of Word 365 / Word 2019 Styles to Show Menu in the Style Pane Options Dialog Box | Step 4 in How to Change to Proofing Language for Comments in Word
Figure 4. Styles to Show Menu in the Style Pane Options dialog box

5. Select the OK button to close the Style Pane Options dialog box.

Image of Word 365 / Word 2019 OK Button in the Style Pane Options Dialog Box | Step 5 in How to Change the Proofing Language for Comments in Word
Figure 5. OK button in 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.

Image of Word 365 / Word 2019 Comment Text Option in the Styles Task Pane | Step 6 in How to Change the Proofing Language for Comments in Word
Figure 6. Comment Text in the Styles task pane

7. Select the options arrow and then select Modify from the drop-down menu.

Image of the Modify Comment Text Option in the Styles Task Pane | Step 7 in How to Change the Proofing Language for Comments in Word
Figure 7. Modify Comment Text in the Styles task pane

8. Select the Format button in the Modify Style dialog box.

Image of Word 365 / Word 2019 Format Button in the Modify Style Dialog Box | Step 8 in How to Change the Proofing Language for Comments in Word
Figure 8. Format button in the Modify Style dialog box

9. Select Language in the drop-down menu.

Image of Word 365 / Word 2019 Language Option in the Format Menu of the Modify Style Dialog Box | Step 9 in How to Change the Proofing Language for Comments in Word
Figure 9. Language option in the Format menu of the Modify Style dialog box

10. Select English (or another preferred language) in the Mark selected text as drop-down menu in the Language dialog box.

Image of Word 365 / Word 2019 Language Dialog Box | Step 10 in How to Change the Proofing Language for Comments in Word
Figure 10. Mark Selected Text As 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.

Image of Word 365 / Word 2019 Language Dialog Box Checkboxes | Step 11 in How to Change the Proofing Language for Comments in Word
Figure 11. Do No Check Spelling or Grammar checkbox in the Language dialog box

12. Select the OK button to close the Language dialog box.

Image of Word 365 / Word 2019 OK Button in the Language Dialog Box | Step 12 in How to Change the Proofing Lanuage for Comments in Word
Figure 12. OK button in the Language dialog box

13. Select the OK button to close the Modify Style dialog box.

Image of Word 365 / Word 2019 OK Button in the Modify Style Dialog Box | Step 13 in How to Change the Proofing Language for Comments in Word
Figure 13. OK button in 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

Updated September 09, 2021

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Katharina says

    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.

    Reply

  3. Emily says

    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.

    Reply

  4. Erin Wright says

    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!

    Reply

  6. Z.M. says

    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!

    Reply

  7. Jay says

    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.

    Reply

  8. Sarah Mobley says

    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!

    Reply

  10. Andy Quan says

    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!

    Reply

  12. Alex Marsh says

    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!

    Reply

  14. Jacob says

    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!

    Reply

    • Erin Wright says

      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!

      Reply

  15. keith ougden says

    Thank you Erin. It is so good of you to give away a “trick of the trade” to all and sundry!

    Keith.

    Reply

  16. Dave says

    Thank you very much indeed. You saved my sanity and my computer, which almost flew out the window.

    Reply

  17. Dimitris Theodossopoulos says

    Very helpful, thanks! The format is just right and without the long and useless introductions that curiously appear in many other tip pages.

    Reply

  18. Jill Ginsburg says

    Copy editor thanks you for assistance in converting Polish characters in a document already translated from the Nahuatl!

    Reply

  19. Alex Hawkins says

    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…

    Reply

  21. Dr. A says

    thank you!! I have gone on a foray to figure this out multiple times over the years when annotating papers of non-english speaking students and I have finally found the right keywords! (but lost the excuse to make typos in my comments…)

    Reply

  22. Stacie O says

    Hi Erin,
    Can you tell me why ONLY my readability statistics is showing up in Spanish? All defaults for proofing and language show English.
    Thanks,
    Stacie

    Reply

    • Erin Wright says

      Thank you for visiting my blog, Stacie. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you why that is happening. It sounds like you might have a software glitch. I encourage you to report the issue to Microsoft (along with a screenshot, if possible) in case others are having that issue, also. Best of luck!

      Reply

  24. Alfonso says

    Thanks very much, Erin

    If I could give you a hug, I certainly would do it. This post and some others on your website have been very helpful for me.

    Cheers!

    Reply

  25. Michael Wester says

    Oh my Gosh!!! Thank you so much! This has driven me crazy for months. Finally fixed!

    Someone should give you a cookie.

    Mike

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.