You could go: "Tools /Options" and see what your settings for text are. It could be that somehow the settings for spell checker are disabled.

Holding down F8 on boot resets all defaults to factory. That could help. If you have just installed 11, you should also go to the Corel.com site and download all updates for version 11. The lack of spell check functionality may be a bug in 11. Don't know, went from 10 to 12, never used version 11.

You could also put your original install CD back in and do an custom install and look to see if you can force the spell checker to install, it may not have installed in an express install. It is best with DRAW to tell it a full install except for fonts.

You should also be using Font Manager. Too many resources can be eaten up by too many installed fonts. Font manager only installs a font when you really need it. You can use it to drag one in and it doesn't require a restart to see the font you just installed either.

Reset your number of undos while you are in Tools/Options as I understand in 11 they are set to 99 steps. This eats your memory alive. Set the undos to 20 and a similar or lesser number for bitmap effects. Assign DRAW more RAM while you are in there. And set your scratch disk settings so that you can use your hard drive for virtual RAM when you need it. All of these things might have an impact on a spell checker not working.