Spell-checking Notes

As you can see from examining Figure 11.2, OneNote does include a spell-checker. You can spell-check both typed and handwritten notes. Much like in other Microsoft Office programs, you can launch the spell-checker by selecting Spelling from the Tools menu or pressing F7 on the keyboard.

Unlike other Office programs, OneNote's spell-checker is displayed in the Task pane on the right side of the OneNote screen, as shown in Figure 11.3.

Figure 11.3. OneNote's spell-checker is displayed in the Task pane.

Much like in other Office programs, you can select from one or many suggested corrections for each misspelled word. If the correct spelling of the word is present, choose it and click Change. If not, you can either click Ignore and add the word later, or change the spelling of the word directly in OneNote. If you change the spelling in your note to a recognized word, OneNote automatically moves to the next misspelled word on the note page. If the word isn't misspelled, as in the case of the word Felis, you can choose Add to Dictionary to permanently add the word to your Custom Dictionary.

Changing Spelling Options

There are a few spelling options you can configure within OneNote. To configure OneNote's Spelling options, do the following.

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu.

2. Click Spelling on the left side of the Options window to display Figure 11.4.

   Figure 11.4. You can configure several spelling options in OneNote.

   

3. You can choose from the following spelling options:

   • Hide spelling errors If you don't want to know when you misspell a word, check this box. Running a spell check will still find misspelled words, but they won't be underlined in red as you type.

   • Ignore words in UPPERCASE Words typed entirely in uppercase are often proper names or acronyms. For example, UNLV (a common abbreviation for the University of Nevada at Las Vegas) would be flagged as a misspelled word unless this check box is checked.

   • Ignore words with numbers Much like words in uppercase, words that contain numbers, such as POP3 (a popular email protocol) or Lotus123 (an old computer program) would be flagged as misspelled unless this box is checked.

4. When you're done adjusting OneNote's spelling options, click OK to save your changes and exit the Options window.