While spelling check features are incredibly useful in text-heavy applications like Microsoft Word, they can be highly distracting in Microsoft PowerPoint. Presentations often feature acronyms, proper nouns, brand names, and stylised text that PowerPoint’s dictionary will incorrectly flag as misspelled, resulting in a slide filled with jagged red underlining. If you are presenting directly from the editor view, or simply find the red lines visually distracting while you design your slides, you can disable the real-time spelling check feature completely.
How to Turn Off Spelling Check as You Type
You can disable the background spelling checker directly within PowerPoint’s main options menu.
- Open Microsoft PowerPoint.
- Click on the File tab located in the top-left corner of the window.
- Look at the very bottom of the left-hand blue sidebar and click on Options. (You may need to click ‘More…’ first to reveal Options if you are on a smaller screen).
- The “PowerPoint Options” dialogue box will appear. In the left-hand menu pane, click on Proofing.
- Scroll down to the section titled When correcting spelling in PowerPoint.
- Look for the checkbox labelled Check spelling as you type.
- Click this checkbox to uncheck it.
- Click the OK button at the bottom right of the window to save your changes.
The jagged red lines will instantly disappear from all of your current and future slides. If you still want to verify your spelling before presenting, you can always run a manual check by clicking the Review tab on the Ribbon and selecting Spelling.