[Solved] Squiggley red lines are back again

[Fred22]

I just dumped my 10 year old HP desktop and bought a new Lenovo (8gb ran 1tb hard drive). I have OpenOffice and OfficeLibre both installed on the pc. I use OfficeLibre to open my old .wps files, which it converts to .odt. and then when I open them they are opened buy O.O. Everything was running smoothly when suddenly the dreaded red squiggley lines began to appear. I copied and pasted the "appdata" phrase, changed the name of the folder and it solved the problem...for about 1 day. Today I checked and I had 2 folders; the one I renamed yesterday and a new user folder which I deleted and solved the problem again. Can anyone tell me why I keep having to do this or possibly another way to solve the problem. I was having the same issue with the laptop that I'm on right now, but I fixed that months ago and it's kept working all this time. Help please.

[RoryOF]

You are probably powering off or making the computer hibernate too quickly, before OO's internal housekeeping is finished. Modern computers do not write their files directly to disk; instead these are queued in a software write buffer and written out after a short delay(a few seconds). The hard disk then queues this information internally, sorts it into order of the areas on disk for which it is destined, then makes one movement of the heads across the disk to write the information in one pass.

When you have finished with your computer, close OO, then go through the formal computer shut down procedure and wait for a few seconds after the OK message for all disk activity to cease before powering off or snapping the lid shut if a laptop.

[Zizi64]

How you installed the LO? Maybe you not installed the languages and language tools that are used in the problematic files.

[Fred22]

You are probably powering off or making the computer hibernate too quickly, before OO's internal housekeeping is finished. Modern computers do not write their files directly to disk; instead these are queued in a software write buffer and written out after a short delay(a few seconds). The hard disk then queues this information internally, sorts it into order of the areas on disk for which it is destined, then makes one movement of the heads across the disk to write the information in one pass.

When you have finished with your computer, close O.O., then go through the formal computer shut down procedure and wait for a few seconds after the OK message for all disk activity to cease before powering off or snapping the lid shut if a laptop.

Nope...I always do that. Besides, even if it didn't shut down properly it wouldn't cause new folders to appear. Are you familiar with the procedure I mention? (putting "appdata" phrase in search box and changing the name of the folder.) I need someone who is familiar with this concept. In fact, the last time I had the problem someone mentioned another method for resolving this issue. It's a flaw in O.O. that needs to be fixed. Thanks for your response.

[RoryOF]

Nope...I always do that. Besides, even if it didn't shut down properly it wouldn't cause new folders to appear. Are you familiar with the procedure I mention? (putting "appdata" phrase in search box and changing the name of the folder.) I need someone who is familiar with this concept. In fact, the last time I had the problem someone mentioned another method for resolving this issue. It's a flaw in O.O. that needs to be fixed. Thanks for your response.

You only have to be overhasty in close down once for the red lines to occur; they are a sign that the OO user profile has not been properly written. The appdata process finds the user profile; renaming this to user.old means that OO cannot find a user profile and generates a new one, with default values. I've been used OO Writer daily for ten years; the very few occasions I have lost my spellcheck have been caused by power outages (equivalent to over-hasty power off). My best advice is slower close down, but if you want to do something else and look for another cause and/or solution, that is your privilege.

[Fred22]

Thanks. My wife always shuts down the desktop. I'll speak with her about it.

[robleyd]

You are probably powering off or making the computer hibernate too quickly, before OO's internal housekeeping is finished. Modern computers do not write their files directly to disk; instead these are queued in a software write buffer and written out after a short delay(a few seconds). The hard disk then queues this information internally, sorts it into order of the areas on disk for which it is destined, then makes one movement of the heads across the disk to write the information in one pass.

When you have finished with your computer, close O.O., then go through the formal computer shut down procedure and wait for a few seconds after the OK message for all disk activity to cease before powering off or snapping the lid shut if a laptop.

Nope...I always do that.

Thanks. My wife always shuts down the desktop. I'll speak with her about it.

There seems to be a mis-communication here.

[John_Ha]

You are probably powering off or making the computer hibernate too quickly, before OO's internal housekeeping is finished.

Writer continues to write it files for several seconds after the blue dotted line has finished crossing the screen. If you are saving to a slow network disk this delay can stretch to 30 seconds.

It appears that if you power off while this writing is taking place it causes the problem as the files which affects the spell checker are the last to be written.

Also see Spell checker "red wriggly lines" - beta test fix for a quick fix.

If this solves the problem, please click the Edit button on your original post and add [Solved] in front of your subject.

[Fred22]

Wouldn't AOO have to have been open just before the pc was shut down for this to be the problem? Last night I had everything working fine but this morning the red lines are back and as soon as I rename a folder O.O. creates another one. I guess I could try the "python" routine to see if this helps. Do you just paste the appdata phrase into the search box and name the folder python?

[Fred22]

I just got on my desktop and the red lines are there no matter what I do.

[RoryOF]

Wouldn't AOO have to have been open just before the pc was shut down for this to be the problem? Last night I had everything working fine but this morning the red lines are back and as soon as I rename a folder O.O. creates another one. I guess I could try the "python" routine to see if this helps. Do you just paste the appdata phrase into the search box and name the folder python?

OO should only create a new user folder on next startup after deleting or renaming the old user folder. The new user folder should contain a default user profile, which cures most OO spellcheck problems. A new user folder should not be made until next startup of OO. If it does happen immediately, then something is wrong. Also, if the new user folder does not cure the red squiggly line problem then we need to look elsewhere for a solution; possibly the problem is caused by incorrect settings in /Tools /Options /Language settings /Languages and /Tools /Options /Language settings /Writing aids. If necessary we can investigate those. For that we need to know which version of English you wish to use.

[John_Ha]

Ty this document - the text in it is English UK. If your English UK dictionary is correctly installed no words should have red squiggly lines.

[RoryOF]

In John_Ha's screenshot, note English(UK) in the status bar at the bottom. The variety of English shown should match the dictionary selected in .... /Language settings /Languages.

Edit: Also, a file which uses a language (e.g. Eng(US)) opened on a computer set up for a different language (e.g. Eng(UK)) will show red squiggly lines. You need in that case to use /Tools /Languages /For All text to change the file language to the correct language for that OO Installation.

[Fred22]

Ty this document - the text in it is English UK. If your English UK dictionary is correctly installed no words should have red squiggly lines.

Clipboard01.png

I typed The cat sat on the mat and more...no red lines. I uninstalled AOO then reinstalled from disc. Would you call this issue resolved?

[RoryOF]

Un/re-installing OpenOffice does not touch the OO user profile, so it is possible (read: probable) that the problem will continue. Look at the language specified mid Status bar fr any file that red-lines. That language should match the chosen dictionary (as in my last post). If it doesn't adjust it as I set out above.

[Fred22]

Thanks. I'll keep you posted. Right now I'm able to type anything into O.O. without redlining.

[RoryOF]

Then the text language probably matches the dictionary. Spell something incorrectly just to check that it is picking up errors.

[Fred22]

It's the American Standard Dictionary. I'll try misspelling something (shouldn't be to much of a problem), but does it sound to you like this problem is now resolved?

[RoryOF]

Try some wrong spellings and we'll know.

[Fred22]

Just a thought. Could the version I'm using have any bearing on this issue? I'm running AOO 4.1.1. Should I upgrade or is that a bad idea while possibly having issues?

[RoryOF]

The version will make no difference.

[Fred22]

Didn't think so. I like this version and think it's working for now. Thanks for your assistance.

[Winchester]

To RoryOF Thank you very much for posting the fix to the red squiggly line issue. It worked like a charm.

Winchester