Office Settings & Configuration

How to Stop Word from Selecting Entire Words and Showing Spelling Suggestions

Maira Mehtab Sep 22, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user wants to disable the automatic selection of entire words when highlighting text and prevent unwanted spelling suggestions from appearing over specific terms like part numbers.

Product: Microsoft Word
Device & OS: Windows
Scenario: Selecting specific parts of a word or working with documents containing non-standard text (like part numbers) where automatic selection and spell check are disruptive.
Observed behavior: Word automatically selects the whole word when the user tries to highlight only a portion of it, and it constantly flags non-standard words with spelling suggestions.

Before you start

Open the Word document where you are experiencing the text selection issue to access the main application settings.

Solution 1Recommended

Disable Automatic Word Selection in Advanced Options

This will allow you to highlight specific characters within a word without Word automatically grabbing the entire word.

Open Word Options

Click on 'File' in the top-left corner of the Word interface, then select 'Options' at the bottom of the left-hand menu.

Navigate to Advanced Settings

In the Word Options dialog box, click on 'Advanced' in the left pane.

Disable Entire Word Selection

Under the 'Editing options' section, uncheck the box labeled 'When selecting, automatically select entire word.'

Save Changes

Click 'OK' to apply the changes. You can now highlight partial words manually with your mouse.

Solution 2

Apply 'Do Not Check Spelling or Grammar' to Specific Text

Prevent Word from showing spelling suggestions on non-standard text like part numbers by applying a 'No Proofing' rule.

Solution 3

Modify Global Proofing Settings

Adjust your general spelling and grammar settings to reduce unwanted suggestions across all documents.

Customize Text Selection and Proofing Easily in WPS Office

WPS Office Writer offers intuitive settings to control how text is selected and proofed, giving you precision when editing technical documents or dealing with part numbers.

1. Open Settings: Open WPS Writer and click on the 'Menu' button in the top left corner, then click 'Options'.
2. Change Selection Behavior: Go to 'Edit' in the left panel and uncheck 'When selecting, automatically select entire word.'
3. Adjust Spell Check: Navigate to the 'Spell Check' tab in the same Options menu to configure your automated proofing preferences, then click 'OK'.

Free and lightweight Office suiteFully compatible with Microsoft Word formats (.docx)Easily toggle automatic word selectionCustomizable spell check and proofing options

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Word highlight the space after a word?

Word's 'Smart paragraph selection' and automatic word selection features often grab the trailing space to make cutting and pasting whole words smoother. You can disable this behavior in File > Options > Advanced.

Can I disable spell check for just one document?

Yes, go to File > Options > Proofing, scroll down to the bottom section labeled 'Exceptions for,' select your current document from the dropdown, and check 'Hide spelling errors in this document only.'

Is the 'No Proofing' language setting permanent?

The 'Do not check spelling or grammar' setting stays with the specific text you applied it to within that document. It will persist even if you share the document with others.

How do I select parts of a word using my keyboard?

You can hold down the Shift key and use the Left or Right arrow keys to highlight text character by character. This bypasses the automatic entire-word selection triggered by a mouse.

Office App Problems