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New outlook spell checking language selection broken on mac

Ákos Baradits 20 Reputation points
2026-05-18T13:45:13.19+00:00

New outlook for Mac current channel

16.109 (26051019)

It is no longer possible to change the spell checking languange in the outlook editor.

The language menu item in spell checking is always grayed out.

As of 2026 we still have zero option to quickly change the spell checking language using the editor toolbar. Language recognition never worked on Mac (in "new" outlook).

At least we were able to change manually the spell checking language in the main menu, but it is no longer possible.

Outlook | MacOS | New Outlook for Mac | For business

Answer recommended by moderator

Sam Debruyn 16 Reputation points MVP
2026-05-23T11:09:16.5066667+00:00

For others stumbling on this: Microsoft Support confirmed me that this is being tracked as a bug and will be fixed in a future release.

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  1. |.| 0 Reputation points
    2026-05-27T11:58:38.4666667+00:00

    can you please fix it already?

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    3 people found this answer helpful.
  2. Gabriel-N 18,380 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-05-18T14:52:04.3833333+00:00

    Hello Ákos Baradits

    Firstly, I would like to clarify that I am not Microsoft support. This is a user‑to‑user community forum, and moderators do not have backend access or the ability to make changes directly within Microsoft services. We can only provide guidance based on observed behavior and reported cases.

    Since this issue started after a recent update, you may consider temporarily switching back to an earlier version of New Outlook. In my testing environment, version 16.107.3 still has this option available: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac

    Alternatively, you can try using Legacy Outlook for Mac if that option is still available in your environment, as it continues to support manual spell check language selection. However, I would recommend testing this on one device first before rolling it out more broadly, just to make sure it works as expected in your setup.

    If possible, I would strongly encourage you to submit feedback directly to Microsoft through the Feedback portal, the Outlook app, and (if applicable) the Microsoft 365 admin center. This helps ensure the product team is aware of the impact and can prioritize improvements or fixes.

    Hope this helps, and thank you for your understanding.

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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  3. Sam Debruyn 16 Reputation points MVP
    2026-05-21T05:25:36.7766667+00:00

    Same error here :/

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    1 person found this answer helpful.

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