I AM RUNNING OUTLOOK EXPRESS ON MAC. I WANT TO TURN  ON MY SPELLING
CHECK BUT WHEN I GO TO PREFERENCES THE SPELLING TAB IS GRAYED OUT.
WHAT DO I DO? I AM NOT TECHNICAL AT ALL...

Areacodes,

The reason the Spelling Check is grayed out is because Outlook Express
for the Mac does not have a built-in spell checker. It would use the
spell checker that comes with Microsoft's Office for Mac if you had
Microsoft Office. If you had Microsoft Office, the Spelling Check
feature would not be greyed out and would actually work.

MacAddict: October, 2000 Ask Us
http://www.macaddict.com/magazine/askus/2000_10.html

Newbie.org - My Outlook spell check isn't working.
http://www.newbie.org/help/messages/216.html


This means one of a couple things:

1) You can buy Microsoft Office for Macintosh (sold in almost any
software dept. or store, even in Walmart, for example, though it is
very expensive).

OR

2) You can use a free spelling checker called  SpellTools (from Newer
Technology).

You can get SpellTools here:

Download SpellTools
http://www.riverbend.k12.mn.us/rbend/Training/tutor/SpellTools.sit

OR

3) You can use another freeware Macintosh spelling checker such as:

Tucows - Excalibur 4.0.2 Spell Checker for Macintosh
http://mac.tucows.com/preview/212426.html

SpellTools or Excalibur will work with any application to spell check
text.

If you choose SpellTools (seems to be the favorite on the internet)
you should know that you may have to update it to work with Mac OS 9
(ONLY if you use Mac OS 9). You can update it here if you need to:

SpellTools Updater
http://www.marciniak.com/spelltools/spelltools1.4updater.hqx

To open .hqx and .sit files you should have StuffIt Expander (probably
already installed and if you can double click on the files open and
run them).

If you need it, you can get StuffIt Expander here (free):

StuffIt Expander
http://www.aladdinsys.com/downloads/files/StuffItSTD701Classic.sit

You can see reviews of SpellTools here:

SpellTools Review
http://www.1984-online.com/Macstuff/reviews/spelltools.html

and here:

Review: SpellTools Freestanding Spell Checker
http://www.lowendmac.com/misc/01/0702.html

I think Microsoft left in the words "Spelling Check" but left out the
actual feature itself because it seems that they would want people to
buy their other products (Microsoft Office in this case) just for that
feature. If you have no need for a whole Office Suite application then
a free spelling checker should do just fine. This just seems to be
another way to "preserve Microsoft's best interests" (meaning your
money). You don't have to get Office at all. It looks like Microsoft
just wants to make you think you do just to get a spelling checker.

When you have installed SpellTools (or Excalibur if you choose) then
your Spelling Check in Outlook Express will still be grayed out but
you can check your spelling by using the Spelling Tools program (or
another) easily.

Though the company that made SpellTools is no longer supporting it you
can see what their page once looked like at the Wayback Machine's copy
here:

Wayback Machine - SpellTools Page
http://web.archive.org/web/20001212133000/http://newertech.com/software/spelltools/index.html

Some of the links on that page might not work though because that is
an old copy of the page and the product is no longer supported
(meaning that company will no longer update it but the program will
still work).

I hope this helps you be able to spell check your emails (or anything
else) you wish even though the Spelling Check feature will stay grayed
out. If anything is unclear or need clarification then please "Request
Answer Clarification" and I will be happy to assist you further in
this matter.

arcadesdude-ga
Google Answers Researcher


Sources / Links / Additional Information:

MacAddict: October, 2000 Ask Us
http://www.macaddict.com/magazine/askus/2000_10.html

Download SpellTools
http://www.riverbend.k12.mn.us/rbend/Training/tutor/Spelltools.html

Newbie.org - My Outlook spell check isn't working.
http://www.newbie.org/help/messages/216.html

SpellTools Updater
http://www.marciniak.com/spelltools/spelltools1.4updater.hqx

StuffIt Expander
http://www.stuffit.com/expander/macindex.html

SpellTools Review
http://www.1984-online.com/Macstuff/reviews/spelltools.html

Review: SpellTools Freestanding Spell Checker
http://www.lowendmac.com/misc/01/0702.html


Search Strategy:

"spelling check" mac outlook express "grayed"
://www.google.com/search&q=%22spelling+check%22+mac+outlook+express+%22grayed%22

download spelltools
://www.google.com/search?q=download+spelltools

spelltools
://www.google.com/search?q=spelltools

TERRIFIC. THANKS A LOT ARCADESDUDE.