Spell Checking in Outlook

Hi Mike, Thank you for your post, its good to see you on the forum, in answer to your question try this:

From the main Microsoft Outlook window, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling tab.
Select the options you want.
The following spelling checker options that you set in Outlook apply to both Outlook and Microsoft Word editors:

Always check spelling before sending.
Ignore original message text in reply or forward.

If you have checked the box to ignore original message as you say you have, you are right in saying that it should ignore the original, I cannot see a reason for the spell check coming up, perhaps try it again and see if it makes any difference. Good luck, Best regards Pete