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Is there a way to block the default firefox spellcheck so that the outlook.com spellchecker will work?

  • 1 jibu
  • 2 wana tatizo hili
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

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My Grandmother has been using Outlook.com e-mail for years, and she is accustomed to the default spellcheck that works with the older versions of Internet Explorer. I'm in the process of transferring her to Linux with Firefox instead of Windows with Internet explorer. She has used Windows Vista for years and I feel the newer versions of Windows will be too difficult (and too expensive) for her to learn, so I'm trying to use Linux and make the transition as gentle as possible.

She called today to tell me that her spellchecker for Outlook.com had disappeared, and that there were red squiggly lines on her page instead. I know that this is because Firefox has it's own built-in spellcheck, and Outlook.com detects that and turns it's default spellchecker off, right?

Outlook.com allowed her to press the spellcheck button when she had completed her e-mail and it would go through the e-mail word by word and she could change them. Changes are very difficult for her to remember at this point in her life, so the process for Mozilla spellcheck is causing her a lot of problems just beacuse it is very different than what she has done previously.

Is it possible for me to disable the Mozilla spellcheck so that the Outlook.com spellchecker will work as it did with Internet Explorer? Or are there any other options that would give her a similar experience to what she's used to? I've searched Microsoft for an answer, but they say it's a Mozilla issue... so I'm here hoping someone can help!

Thank you so much for your time and your help.

My Grandmother has been using Outlook.com e-mail for years, and she is accustomed to the default spellcheck that works with the older versions of Internet Explorer. I'm in the process of transferring her to Linux with Firefox instead of Windows with Internet explorer. She has used Windows Vista for years and I feel the newer versions of Windows will be too difficult (and too expensive) for her to learn, so I'm trying to use Linux and make the transition as gentle as possible. She called today to tell me that her spellchecker for Outlook.com had disappeared, and that there were red squiggly lines on her page instead. I know that this is because Firefox has it's own built-in spellcheck, and Outlook.com detects that and turns it's default spellchecker off, right? Outlook.com allowed her to press the spellcheck button when she had completed her e-mail and it would go through the e-mail word by word and she could change them. Changes are very difficult for her to remember at this point in her life, so the process for Mozilla spellcheck is causing her a lot of problems just beacuse it is very different than what she has done previously. Is it possible for me to disable the Mozilla spellcheck so that the Outlook.com spellchecker will work as it did with Internet Explorer? Or are there any other options that would give her a similar experience to what she's used to? I've searched Microsoft for an answer, but they say it's a Mozilla issue... so I'm here hoping someone can help! Thank you so much for your time and your help.

Chosen solution

Websites that use a spellcheck dictionary usually disable the spelling check of the browser via the spellcheck="false" attribute. I don't know if Outlook has this attribute or that you can instruct it to behave this way. You could try to ask about this on the Microsoft support website.


You can see which dictionary is selected if you right-click in a text area and open the Languages submenu. At least one dictionary should be installed and have a check mark to indicate that it is selected.

  • Open the "Add Dictionaries" link to install a dictionary if you do not have one.

The spelling checker is enabled if [X] "Check Spelling" in the right-click context menu has a checkmark.

You can enable or disable spell checking globally:

  • Edit > Preferences > Advanced : General: Browsing: "Check my spelling as I type"

You can look here for dictionaries if necessary:

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All Replies (1)

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Suluhisho teule

Websites that use a spellcheck dictionary usually disable the spelling check of the browser via the spellcheck="false" attribute. I don't know if Outlook has this attribute or that you can instruct it to behave this way. You could try to ask about this on the Microsoft support website.


You can see which dictionary is selected if you right-click in a text area and open the Languages submenu. At least one dictionary should be installed and have a check mark to indicate that it is selected.

  • Open the "Add Dictionaries" link to install a dictionary if you do not have one.

The spelling checker is enabled if [X] "Check Spelling" in the right-click context menu has a checkmark.

You can enable or disable spell checking globally:

  • Edit > Preferences > Advanced : General: Browsing: "Check my spelling as I type"

You can look here for dictionaries if necessary:

Modified by cor-el