Spell checking is more commonly associated with word processing and desk top publishing programmes such as Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign, but did you know it's possible inside Photoshop as well. Here's how it's done-
The first thing I'd suggest doing is setting the dictionary language to reflect your region, as this can often cause confusion and annoyance as some of the words you've spelt correctly could end up being changed. Case in point, if you live in the UK and you're dictionary is set up for USA, then the word 'colour' which is spelt correctly for use in the UK will be replaced by 'color', the American spelling of the word. It gets me every time! To set up the right language navigate to the Character Panel and change it using the drop down icon at the bottom. The Character Panel can be opened from the Window menu if required.
To perform a spell check simply go to Edit > Check Spelling.... This will open a dialogue box similar to what you'd expect to see in a word processor. I've listed some pointers for using the spell checker below-
You will only be able to check the spelling of live editable type, by which I mean, type that is represented in the Layers Panel with a 'T' thumbnail. Any rasterized text will not be included in the check, and it's impossible to get it to do so.
If you do not have a layer active when you start the spell checker, all the live text on every layer will be checked, top to bottom.
If you have a layer active when you start the spell checker, the check will begin on the active layer before working its way through the others.
If you only want to check one layer by default then uncheck the 'Check all Layers' box in the spell checker dialogue box.
To check a specific section of text, select it with the Type Tool before running the spell check.
The dialogue box is very straight forward to use and allows a good level of control. Just in case there's any uncertainty I've listed what all the options/buttons do-
DONE = This tells Photoshop you have finished checking the document and are ready to close the spell checker.
IGNORE = Ignore the active word
IGNORE ALL = Ignore all instances of the active word
CHANGE = Replace the active word with the suggested one.
CHANGE ALL = Replace all instances of the active word with the suggested one.
ADD = If the active word is indeed a correct spelling (it could be a name you're planning to use again or a word just not included in the active dictionary) then this will add it to the active dictionary and accept it as a correct spelling.
As you can see, it's not exactly a 'lost' feature - not in the true sense of the word anyway, but it is a feature that most of us have either forgotten or haven't discovered yet!