How to Enable or Disable Spell Check in Microsoft Teams

This guide shows you how to turn spell check on or off in Microsoft Teams for Windows 11.

Microsoft Teams is a popular app for chatting, video calls, and teamwork. You can link many services to it, such as Google calendar, turn the camera and mic on or off on the lock screen, turn read receipts on or

Why enable spell check in Teams?

Spell check is essential for maintaining professional communication in a workplace environment. By highlighting typos in real-time, it prevents embarrassing errors in client-facing or internal messages. You might choose to disable it if you work in multiple languages that the app does not support, or if the red underlines become a visual distraction during long typing sessions.

What happens when you change spell check settings?

When you toggle the spell check setting, Microsoft Teams updates its internal proofreading engine. If enabled, the app will cross-reference your input against your system’s language dictionary. If disabled, the app stops scanning your text, providing a cleaner interface. You must restart the application for these changes to take effect across all chat windows.

How to enable spell check in Teams

Follow these steps to manage your proofreading preferences:

1. Open the Microsoft Teams app from your desktop.

   

2. Click the Settings and more (…) icon next to your profile picture.

   

3. Select Settings from the dropdown menu.
4. Navigate to the General tab on the left sidebar.

   

5. Locate the Spell check toggle. Check the box to enable it or uncheck it to disable it.

   

6. Restart the application to apply the changes.

Does Microsoft Teams use the Windows system spell checker?

Yes, Microsoft Teams relies on the underlying OS-level spell check engine. In Windows 11, Teams pulls its dictionary and language support directly from your system settings. If you find that spell check is not working, you should verify your language packs in Settings > Time & language > Language & region.

Troubleshooting: Why does Teams mark all words as misspelled?

If every word is underlined in red, it usually means the language pack installed on your computer does not match the language you are typing in. To fix this, ensure your preferred language is set as the primary language in your Windows or macOS system settings. In the ‘New Teams’ version, this bug is often resolved by clearing the app cache located at C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe.

How to add words to your Teams dictionary

Teams does not have a standalone dictionary management interface. Instead, it uses the custom dictionary stored by your operating system. To add a word, right-click the underlined word in your chat box and select Add to dictionary. This action updates the system-wide dictionary, which Teams will then recognize for future messages.

Multi-language configuration and known issues

Teams supports multiple languages, but it can only check against the languages currently active in your OS. If you frequently switch between languages, ensure all required language packs are downloaded in your system settings. A known issue in ‘New Teams’ involves the spell checker failing to initialize after an update. If this happens, try signing out and signing back in, or perform a repair via the Windows Apps & features menu.

Summary

Managing spell check in Microsoft Teams is a simple process found within the General settings menu. By ensuring your OS-level language packs are correct, you can resolve most proofreading issues. Whether you are using the classic or new version of Teams, remember that adding words to your dictionary happens right in the chat window, and restarting the app is always required to finalize your changes.