[Solved] Spell check in Spanish?

[yohejohn]

Hello,

My LibreOffice is set to English spellcheck, but I was trying to check a text in Spanish. The 'language entry' for Spanish (Spain) in the Spelling box has a green check (in fact there's a whole list of languages all with green checks) but when I try to select 'Spanish' nothing changes, I'm still in American English.

Is this a bug? Or do I have to change some settings somewhere else to do this? Or did I 'choose' American English long before when I uploaded LibreOffice?

Anyways, what can I do to be able to switch languages in the Spelling function?

Thank you,

John

[Zizi64]

Please upload an ODF type sample file here, then we will able to examine: how you have applied the "Spanish" language property in the paragraphs.

Have you installed the Spanish language pack (dictionary)? Is there "ABC+checkmark" icon near the "Spanish" items in the settings?

Spanish.png (28.51 KiB) Viewed 4138 times

When you select a custom install theb you can choose the desired language packs to install.

[Hagar Delest]

Check also this tutorial: [Troubleshooting] Spell check in OpenOffice.

Please add [Solved] at the beginning of the title in your first post (top of the topic) with the 🖉 button if your issue has been fixed.

[yohejohn]

Thank you for your desire to help.

The "troubleshooting in OpenOffice" screenshots seems way different than what I'm seeing in LibreOffice on my Mac. And I can't right-click. But yes, at some point I saw the ABC green check next to Spanish (Spain). Like I said, there's a whole list of languages with a ABC green check.

Otherwise I'm confused. And I don't know how to attach the screenshot I made to show you my "Spelling" window, which again, has the ABC green checks: says it's too big to post? I didn't take a screenshot of the whole screen, just the Spelling window.

So back to original question: Can't I, in the Spelling window, choose a different language right there? If the language has the ABC green check, which is does?

[robleyd]

Right click on Mac

[Zizi64]

it's too big to post

I just optimized the screenshot image before the upload: cropped the irrelevant parts, and decreased the color depth to 64 color.
The max. file size is 128 KiB in this Forum. The size of my optimized attachment is only 28.51 KiB.

There are many simple, and free third party image editor/organizer softwares for this task. I have used the IrfanView software for this task (on Windows).

[Zizi64]

So back to original question: Can't I, in the Spelling window, choose a different language right there? If the language has the ABC green check, which is does?

Please upload an ODF (.odt) type Writer file to demonstrate: How you tried to set the language of the paragraphs in your documents.

[Hagar Delest]

So back to original question: Can't I, in the Spelling window, choose a different language right there? If the language has the ABC green check, which is does?

No it is not the proper way to set the language. Or you'll have to change the language for each error found in the language set for the text.

The LO dialogs are not that different from the old AOO ones in the tutorial. You'll find the same options, in slightly different position in the dialog.
Please read again, you need to set the language preferably through the paragraph style. If it still gives red wavy lines indicating spelling errors, then select the text and hit Ctrl+M to reset the formatting.

[MrProgrammer]

My LibreOffice is set to English spellcheck, but I was trying to check a text in Spanish. The 'language entry' for Spanish (Spain) in the Spelling box has a green check (in fact there's a whole list of languages all with green checks) but when I try to select 'Spanish' nothing changes, I'm still in American English.

I don't use LibreOffice but I believe it's quite similar to OpenOffice. I will respond for OpenOffice, since that's what I use. When spell checking, Writer uses the dictionary which is associated with the locale (language and region) that you've specified for each section of text. All of this is covered in detail in Chapter 3 of this important book. Reading this material will save you time and frustration. At the very least, skim the table of contents so you'll know where to go when you have trouble. I presume there's a corresponding book for LibreOffice.
Writer Guide: Word Processing with OpenOffice

If your installation is set to mark text as English, by default, just mark any text written in Spanish with the Spanish language attribute. You do this by selecting the text and using Tools → Language → For Selection (or For Paragraph) → Spanish. You'll need to choose a region for Spanish (Argentina, Mexico, Spain, etc.) as these regions use slight variations of the language. If you don't see the language and region you want, use More… and the set the language with Character → Font → Western text font → Language. When the cursor is positioned in some text, you will see the language setting for that text at the bottom of the screen in the middle of the status bar. If you don't see that, enable View → Status Bar.

202305051017.png (47.94 KiB) Viewed 3760 times

After setting the language attribute for the text if you have any difficulty with spell check review the tutorial which Hagar provided above in the third post of this topic.

And I can't right-click.

All Macs can do that. If you don't know how, you are missing many features in OpenOffice and in the programs which Apple supplies with MacOS. Indeed, it will be difficult to use many of Apple's applications if you don't know how to right-click. Q64: How do I open a context menu (shortcut menu, right-click) on a Mac?

Or did I 'choose' American English long before

Take a look. You can change the default locale. Options are set with OpenOffice → Preferences on a Mac, Tools → Options on other platforms.

202305051003.gif (64.17 KiB) Viewed 3760 times

Is this a bug?

No, it's a user education problem.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit ☐ button and add [Solved] to the start of the Subject field. Select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

[yohejohn]

Thank you to all, especially MrProgrammer. That worked: highlight the text in spanish, go to Tools, select Language, select Spanish (Spain), then while the text is still highlighted, go to Spelling and it just checks the highlighted section, for Spanish.

[Hagar Delest]

highlight the text in spanish, go to Tools, select Language, select Spanish (Spain), then while the text is still highlighted, go to Spelling and it just checks the

Beware that it is direct formatting, that's not the best way to manage languages in AOO/LO.
But well, you've had all the links you need.