# Spell Check in Outlook 2003 and Word 2003 has stopped working



## hillel55 (Aug 14, 2008)

All of a sudden, the spell check has stopped working in Outlook 2003. When I hit the "Send" button, I receive a message I have never seen before: "The spelling operation could not be completed. The word is too long for the dictionary" - and while I can still send the email, the spell check is not carried out which means if I don't proofread the email, it may be sent with spelling errors.

Also, in Word 2003, the spell check has also suddenly stopped "checking" and the option "add to dictionary" is "grayed out" so that I can't add new words to the dictionary.


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

did you try detect and repair in outlook? you may need your office cd.


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## hillel55 (Aug 14, 2008)

The problem was DEFINITELY the custom dictionary.

When I "opened" it, a text file in Notepad (referencing Microsoft Programs and whatever sub-directories) opened. As I started scrolling down and deleting unnecessary words, I came across long strings of characters (i.e., "words") combined of Hebrew and English characters. I immediately deleted them. I continued scrolling down the list, deleting unnecessary words as I went.

As soon as I closed the custom dictionary, the spell check in Outlook and Word worked like a charm. And when you think about it, the error message (The spelling operation could not be completed. The word is too long for the dictionary") makes perfect sense. After all a long string of gibberish in Hebrew and English IS too long for the dictionary to "comprehend" so it simply terminated the (spell check) procedure.


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