# SpellCheck on Quotes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spellcheck-on-quotes/571350>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [February 14, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spellcheck-on-quotes/571350 "2011-02-14T20:02:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spellcheck-on-quotes/571350/1 "2011-02-14T20:02:48Z")

</div>

Before I post I frequently run SpellCheck. My intention is to spellcheck my own words, but if I’m not paying close attention, I sometimes accidently correct the words of the poster I’ve quoted.

I am aware that quoted words are not supposed to be tampered with. But what about something innocuous like this (assuming the word wasn’t deliberately misspelled by the quoted poster)? Do I need to go back and restore the original misspellings (which might require a lot, if I’ve gotten to the end of the post before realizing, and have to repaste all the quotes)? Or can these slide?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AHarris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@AHarris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHarris)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spellcheck-on-quotes/571350/2 "2011-02-14T20:46:38Z")

</div>

What program are you using for spell check?

With MS Word, if you highlight some text prior to opening spell check, it will check spelling on the selection and then prompt you to see if you want to check the rest of the document.