[Solved] Spellcheck not working??

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henrytow
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by henrytow »

Done. Thank you very much.
OpenOffice 3.3 on Windows 7
barleysinger
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by barleysinger »

Before I update to 4.1.1 (there is no way in hell I am going straight to the brand new 4.1.2) I thought I would share a few things.

I normally try to be nice and just stay in the background most of the time because nobody (in support or development) likes a person who is a pain in the ass. That said, I am going to be a pain in the ass (even though 3.4.1 is rather old, and even though I intend on installing 4.1.1 - and I *will* if your DEAD SLOW server will give the thing to me).

I am not just a user. I do not say this to denigrate users. Every person has their speciality areas. I certainly can't do everything (especially these days). After all I am not a CPA, and Electronic Engineer or a brain surgeon.

I am not just a user. I do not say this to denigrate users. Every person has their speciality areas. I certainly can't do everything (especially these days). After all I am not a CPA, and Electronic Engineer or a brain surgeon. However before disability kick in, I was a senior I.T. contractor in charge of extremely large and expensive projects. I hired and fired people. My debugged object oriented code output was roughly 700 to 1000 lines (fully documented and tested to death) per week, plus a lot of other responsibilities (like designing and maintaining massive databases). The company that I worked for in the USA had bonded my code to never fail. It never did. They never got a claim. That is because I actually tested things.

I wrote a lot of code in a lot of languages, on a lot of OS's and I dealt with databases with many thousands of tables in them. I wrote secure software for a branch of the military. I had meetings with people high up in state government. I wrote a lot of code in a lot of languages, on a lot of OS's and I dealt with databases with over 10,000 tables in them. I wrote secure software for a branch of the military. I had meetings with people high up in state government to explain to them why it was stupid not to spend half a million now, in order to not spend 3 million in another 2 to 3 years. That was my life. I have been in the pro computer game since about 1981. I can do everything other than design electronics (I have two brother-in-laws who do that).

So now you know more than enough about me.

That said - Open Office 3.4.1 should never ever have been released. It has enough flaws to not even qualify as a beta version. It crashes constantly. It has a large number of errors associated with handling proper "clean up" after crashing. Nobody should ever have to do that clean up for the software. It also has dreadful flaws in its "Spell Check" functions.

AND YES - I do indeed have the spell check issues discussed here (except the one where everything is misspelled - that one is just lovely, quite a beauty there) and I have followed every piece of advice on this site to be certain I knew what was wrong.

* My PC has the language set properly (nope, not German)

* Everything is also set properly in : Tools->Options->Languages, Tools->Options->Writing Aids

* I shut down the program and the QuickStarter and made SURE that every process associated with Oo was gone using Task Manager (I did not want any zombie processes hanging about and I am not very trusting of such things)

* Because the top bar of the window said :

Spelling : [none]

* I renamed my user directory

* Then I re-stared the software and opened a new file. Either "Aargelbratiu the diggggtile shitdle fardekerit" has been added to US English, or I still have no "Spell Check" functionality.

* I tried several old files (which had been spell checked fine in the past) and no dice.

After a total change of user directory I still have :

Spelling : [none]

in the top bar of the window. This is supposed to indicate that the document has no language. However it does have one. The software still hasn't a clue.

Yes I have the right dictionary. Everything is set up properly. It still doesn't work. Your software sucks.

A few days ago it all worked fine. I have not updated anything. When I say "fine" there is a caveat to that. This is (after all) "Open Office" which means it has serious brain farts from time to time. This PC is pretty new and I haven't bothered to install an old copy of Office yet. I will soon (very soon).

When I first saw the window with :

Spelling : [none]

I just assumed this was an error from a crash and that you handle your crashes like a College student who has no love of code does (a college which has low standards). So I just double checked all my settings, renamed the user directory and started over with a new document (nope, no functioning spell check) and also checked some old existing fines (still no functioning spell check). Of course I made sure that the document was in a language I have. All is well...except that it doesn't work.

This means that in some location buried in my actual file - or far more likely either in the system registry, or in a file that you folks maintain to keep track of your own setting, there something set wrong which I have no reasonable access to. I am no longer 14, so I don't gain a thrill from debugging peoples programs (or the OS) by using a dissassembler.

Now I know that this is an old copy (oh god yes) but it came with the newly installed software on the computer (straight from the company that put it together). I know that errors happen. Code can be complicated, and as OS's go Microslop has some very unstable OS underpinnings to work around. That is why people use automated test suit software and beat things to death (and beyond) before release.

Had I *EVER* allowed a piece of software like this out the door, I would have been terminated with prejudice. I would have deserved it. Had I done this it would have been appropriate for me to change careers to something I was qualified for, like washing dishes and bussing tables at Denny's (which is how I paid for my university education - a 21 credit load per term, and a full time job).

If you can't do better than this that hire somebody who can.
If your managers seem unable to hire people better than this, then transfer them over to "janitorial services" and hire new managers.

Please just hire some good people and treat them properly. Taking that single step will clean up most of your problems. And dear lord, no new College Graduates *PLEASE*.
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Villeroy
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by Villeroy »

We have seen this retired engineer type of troll too often.
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
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Bill
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by Bill »

barleysinger wrote:That said - Open Office 3.4.1 should never ever have been released. It has enough flaws to not even qualify as a beta version. It crashes constantly. It has a large number of errors associated with handling proper "clean up" after crashing. Nobody should ever have to do that clean up for the software. It also has dreadful flaws in its "Spell Check" functions.
barleysinger wrote:Now I know that this is an old copy (oh god yes) but it came with the newly installed software on the computer (straight from the company that put it together).
So you didn't download AOO 3.4.1 from the official download site and install it yourself. How do you know that what you have is official AOO code and not something that has been modified? I recommend that you use Revo Uninstaller to remove the version you have now, reset your user profile, run a registry cleaner and do a complete malware scan before downloading and installing AOO 4.1.1 or AOO 4.1.2. I had no Spell Check problem with any version of AOO from 3.4.1 through 4.1.1 and am having no Spell Check problem with AOO 4.1.2. I'm also not seeing the problems downloading AOO that you've reported elsewhere.

Some dictionaries were added when AOO 3.4.0 was released that caused problems with Spell Check. If I recall correctly those dictionaries were removed with AOO 3.4.1. If, for some reason those dictionaries are still in your AOO 3.4.1, then they could be contributing to the problem.
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scott1x
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by scott1x »

I opened a document on my laptop this morning and discovered the infamous spell check problem. There had been no changes to the lap top overnight and the document works fine on my desktop. Since no changes had occurred on the laptop, I don't even know where to start looking.

It does appear that words that I have added to the dictionary work where as words preloaded do not. Is there any hope here? What do I look for?
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RoryOF
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by RoryOF »

The usual starting point for spellcheck problems is to delete or rename your OpenOffice user profile. As you are using Windows do this by:

Close OpenOffice and the Quickstarter. Open the file explorer. Copy and paste %appdata%\OpenOffice\4 in the file explorer Address Bar and press Enter. Delete or Rename the "user" folder. Start OpenOffice.

This cures most spellcheck problems.
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scott1x
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by scott1x »

Think you for the quick response. I needed to upgrade so I just decided to hit it with a hammer and did a revo uninstall and reinstalled. I saved my personal dictionaries and moved them back to the new installation. Most of my writer macros are simple, so that's not a big deal. However, I really would have HATED to lose my dictionaries, but worked perfectly. I need to reset a few shortcut keys, but that's about it. I have a squeaky clean installation that I'm happy with. HOWEVER, should it happen again I WILL remember the rename trick.

Thanks again.
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RoryOF
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by RoryOF »

You may avoid this happening again if you remember that OpenOffice files are complex and take longer to write than flat files. This loss of spellcheck seems frequently to occur if a user tries to close down his computer too hastily,without allowing time for the hardware/software write buffers to flush, say by closing the file and immediately snapping a laptop lid shut or the power switch off. The few extra seconds taken to go through the correct Power Off sequence will (cumulatively) be less than the time to rebuild a thesis or other important document. In any event, for important documents we recommend frequent backups under timed/dated names.
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farfields
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by farfields »

I've recently installed OO 4.1.2 on Win 10 and immediately have problem of spell check not working.

Closed OO, Deleted user account, Reinserted user account. Not fixed.

Solved: Change the Default Language to Documents to English(UK), same as the Language of User interface. This SOLVED the problem.
I had language set to English(NZ), and this was the cause of the problem.

Agree with many others that this is a bug in the interface. It's not obvious during the install (newbie) stage that selecting a language where a dictionary does not exist will mean that spell check is redundant. When doing Spellcheck, if no dictionary exists there should be a warning.
OpenOffice 4.1.2
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Spiff
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by Spiff »

Call me a Newbie if you want.

I have been using 4.1.1 for years without trouble. About a month ago I opened a document and every word was red-underlined. I manually added many
words, but I won't enter the entire dictionary manually. Oh, well.

Since 4.1.2 is available, I updated to it (as Administrator) rather than troubleshoot. Spellcheck seems to be working the same - still have many red
-underlined words. Apparently the upgrade did not change that.

Checked the forums here and am more befuddled. > Where is "Quickstarter"? < How do I turn it off?
I searched without it anyway. Windows Explorer cannot find %appdata%\OpenOffice\4 - - not even from
a window open at C: level.

Cannot find anything about User Profile - not even in Help. > Where is it? <
Full paths, please.

I don't work in this field. OpenOffice is NOT my career. I only use it occasionally at home.
The very fact that spellcheck is a persistent issue indicates there is a problem with setup, user interface,
or documentation. I don't know which.

Using 32 bit Vista, Intel Core2 Duo E4500 @2.2 GHz, 2GB RAM.
OpenOffice 4.1.2 on Vista
Bill
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by Bill »

Google search "openoffice quickstarter" and "openoffice user profile".

Paste %appdata%\openoffice\4 in the Windows Explorer address bar and press enter. Do not use the Search box.

Edit: corrected typo. %appdata%\ was %appdata\
Last edited by Bill on Fri Apr 15, 2016 11:49 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Spiff
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by Spiff »

Thanks for your reply.

I did Start > All Programs > Startup. OpenOffice is not in Startup, so how do I turn off Quickstarter?

In the OOo menu Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Paths are AutoCorrect, AutoText, Backups,
Gallery, Graphics, My Documents, Templates, and Temporary Files.

However, at \users\(my user name)\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice.org there is a folder labeled
"3" (I'd guess that since I've installed Ver. 4.1.2 that should be "4," - but who knows?)
It contains a user folder, which in turn contains the folders autocorr, autotext,

backup, basic, config, crashdata, database, extensions, gallery, Scripts, store, temp,
template, uno_packages, wordbook (which contains standard.dic)[many of these seem to at
least complement the above files], and a bunch of cryptically named files.

No Quickstart found in either. No Quickstart icon present in the tray.
Clicked the Microsoft Meatball. Typed "Windows Explorer." Pasted %appdata\openoffice\4
in upper left text box of the Explorer window (or whatever it's called.) File not found.

Pasted it in the top right text box - the one with "search" and the magnifying glass.
File not found.

Changed the search string to %appdata\openoffice\3 and tried both searches again as above.

File not found.
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Bill
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by Bill »

Spiff wrote:I did Start > All Programs > Startup. OpenOffice is not in Startup, so how do I turn off Quickstarter?
If OpenOffice isn't in Startup, then the Quickstarter should already be off.
Spiff wrote:Changed the search string to %appdata\openoffice\3 and tried both searches again as above.

File not found.
I'm sorry. There was a typo in my post. If you're using AOO 4, then you should paste %appdata%\openoffice\4 in the Windows Explorer address bar. If you're using OOo 3, then you should paste %appdata%\openoffice.org\3 in the address bar. These are addresses, not file names. The search box searches for file or folder names. It doesn't search for addresses.
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Spiff
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Re: [Solved!!] Spellcheck not working??

Post by Spiff »

Thanks! That did it! Typos do happen, and they're often not obvious. After opening a new document I registered by entering my name and initials. I noticed the "user" folder was re-created. It's 79 Megs!
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Spiff
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by Spiff »

As a fortunate sidelight, my PC seems to run better now. There's less bogging down and high-winding fan noise
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Oodebbieoo
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by Oodebbieoo »

For some reason, my Hunstar check box was not visible? Now it is and spell check is working but grammar check is not. Thanks again.
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by RoryOF »

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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by Tiger_words »

Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??
Postby splatman » Tue Aug 28, 2012 3:09 am
This is pathetic. I download OO, I install OO, and I expect the spellcheck to just work. No amount of setting the default language etc makes it NOT forget on new documents.
I am just a user. Trying to use an office suite. I am not a geek and should not have read eye-glazing instructions on how to hack files, download new bits or anything else beyond setting some options.
So listen up all you developers: If you want to take on the Big Boys in Redmond, you have to produce something that Just Works.
And no, I am not ungrateful. I sit in a roomfull of geeks and I am the only one who has the patience to persist or even bother with OO. Seriously, you have to get rid of these kinds of glitches.
And yes, I am frustrated.
splatman
I completely agree with Splatman. It is SO PATHETIC and STUPID. I type edits into a OO doc (originally MS Word) and the document thinks it's still spell checked - BUT IT'S NOT and therefore doesn't find the type-o that I just found. It is indeed SO STUPID which is why I use WordPerfect. Check entire document means that it checks the entire document. So rather than figure out how to undo all the stupid things and waste time trying to figure out what to do, I just copy and past the document into WordPerfect and spell check there and go back to the OO document and make the changes. Lame, but it gets it done.
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Hagar Delest
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by Hagar Delest »

If it works fine in a new document, it may be a problem with direct formatting sticking to the remnants of the .doc document.
Else there are tutorials with a macro to fix it.

Very stupid indeed. But we are not developers, only users like you.
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by John_Ha »

For those searching, see [Solved] Spell Check Not Working (words red underlined) for the definitive solution.
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See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by matti_the viking »

note: when I say "switch languages" then I mean I press alt+shift to do so.
note: this requires that you have atleast 2 languages on your operating system.

I solved my issue, with spelling checker not working, by
switching languages on my keyboard into another language and then back again.

So i was in openoffice writer (the focus was there)
which means I could see the text blinker indicate that it was ready to recieve text input.

So i switched languages,
and then I wrote something down in that language
then i erased it (what ever i just wrote) and switched languages back again.

Only from that point onwards does the spell checker work, so
text behind that point --where i switched languages-- does not get spell checked.


I have tried this on 2 different computers with same version of open office,
and the 2 computers have windows 7 but different versions (ultima and the other home edition).
OpenOffice 4.1.3 on Windows 7
Bill
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Re: [Solved] Spellcheck not working??

Post by Bill »

matti_the viking wrote:Only from that point onwards does the spell checker work, so
text behind that point --where i switched languages-- does not get spell checked.
That implies that the language setting is wrong "behind that point". IIRC, changing the keyboard input language in Windows also changes the language setting in the document. I can't think of any other reason that Spellcheck would work in one part of a document but not work in another part of the same document.
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