Spellcheck quit working - does not read dictionary

[icarus88]

Spell check worked a year ago but confused as to why it stopped. The extension manager shows the spelling dictionary that is enabled. But when I run spellcheck document with known miss spelled words, the spellcheck popup dialog box does not look like it sees a dictionary. On the top left it shows, "Spelling: [none}". It finds nothing that is incorrectly spelled. The text language is blank. And on top is a small dialog box saying that it has completed. I have selected "English(USA)" for the language but the check only momentarily exists until I attempt another spellcheck. That would imply it cannot select English because it cannot read the dictionary.

added: 16/04/30
The extensions manager shows a single english spelling dictionary, English Spelling and Hyphenation Dictionaries and Thesaurus, enabled. The misbehavior occurs whether the dictionary is updated or not (there was an dictionary update available).

I have tried renaming %AppData%\openoffice\4\user then restarting openoffice. Still no misspelled words are found. But thanks for the suggestion. I really appreciate any suggestions you give.

Bill, how do you tell which language variants are available? I assumed that all the variants listed after loading the dictionary were available.

[RoryOF]

To try to get your spellcheck working, start by renaming your OpenOffice user profile. As you are using Windows do this by:

Close OpenOffice and the Quickstarter. Open File Explorer. Copy and paste %appdata%\OpenOffice\4 in the File Explorer Address Bar (not the search engine) and press Enter. Delete or Rename the "user" folder. Start OpenOffice.

This cures most spellcheck problems.

A probable reason your spellcheck ceased working is that you powered off your computer too hastily, before its internal housekeeping was complete. Shut down using the formal "Shut down" method on the Start button, and wait for disk activity to cease before powering off.

[Bill]

Spell check worked a year ago but confused why it stopped. The extension manager shows the spelling dictionary that is enabled.

What is the description of the dictionary that is installed and enabled? Without that information, we have no way of knowing if the correct dictionary is installed.

But when I a document with known miss spelled wordsk, the spellcheck popup dialog box does not look like it sees a dictionary. On the top left it shows, "Spelling: [none}". It finds nothing that is incorrectly spelled. The text language is blank.

That is normal when spellcheck is started and no misspellings have been found between the insertion point and the end of the document.

And on top is a small dialog box saying that it has completed. I have selected "English" for the language buit the check only momentarily exists until I attempt another spellcheck.

"English" in not a selectable language. Only variants like "English (UK)", "English (USA)", etc. are selectable. Some variants have a dictionary, others do not. Which variant have you selected?

That would imply it cannot select English because it cannot read the dictionary.

That would be true if there is no dictionary available for the variant selected. For example if the language selected is English (Eire), then no SpellCheck can be performed because there is no dictionary included for English (Eire). If the variant had a dictionary installed and It later disappeared, then all words would be marked as misspelled.