Make Outlook Automatically Spell-Check Your E-mail

I’m kind of a spelling snob. I take pains to make sure I spell everything correctly, so it bugs me a little bit when I receive mail that contains spelling mistakes.

Well, okay, I cheat a little: I use Outlook 2007’s spell-checker to give my outbound mail the once-over before sending. You can do likewise, without having to remember to click the Spelling button every time, by tweaking Outlook’s checker. Here’s how:

1. Click Tools, Options.

2. Click the Spelling tab.

3. Tick the box marked Always check spelling before sending.

4. Click OK.

That’s it! Now, when you click Send, Outlook’s spell-checker will immediately appear, giving you a chance to fix those “Hey, Rick, you are so stoopid” kinds of mistakes.

Of course, by default, Outlook uses squiggly red lines to indicate misspellings as you type, but I know many folks who prefer to just bang away at the keys and then fix the mistakes at the end. Me, I don’t make speling mistakes, so I don’t really need either feature.