Spell Checker and Thesaurus Not Working

[shirley1]

Hello,

I recently downloaded open office for windows 10 onto my laptop, and neither the spell checker or the Thesurus work. It is set for US English.

[RoryOF]

Rename your OO User profile.

As you are using Windows close OpenOffice and the Quickstarter. Open File
Explorer. Copy and paste %appdata%\OpenOffice\4 in the File Explorer (sometimes called Windows Explorer)
Address Bar and press Enter. Rename the "user" folder - "user.old" is a good choice. Start OpenOffice.

[shirley1]

Thank you for your reply, Rory.

I cannot find it in the File explorer?

[Bill]

The File Explorer icon should be on the Taskbar near the Start button. If not, click the Start button and type File Explorer to search for it.

[shirley1]

Thank you Bill, but it still hasn't found it.

I am using open office all the time, and just finished 10 minutes go, so it is there.

[Bill]

Windows 10 Tutorial File Explorer in Windows 10 Microsoft Training

[shirley1]

Thank you Bill.

I still cannot find it. I am trying to look manually under c files...

Please see screenshot.

Do you have any suggestions?

[shirley1]

Nothing!! s per new screenshot

[Bill]

Sorry, I misunderstood the problem, but now I see it. Your screen shot shows that you entered %appdata%\OpenOffice\4 in the Search box. That doesn't work. You have to enter %appdata%\OpenOffice\4 in the Address Bar which is between the forward/back buttons and the Search box.

[shirley1]

Nothing! See screenshot. I did this in the beginning as well.

[RoryOF]

Click your cursor after the 4 in the top righthand box and press Enter key on the keyboard.

[shirley1]

I naturally did that in the beginning, if you see the first screenshot.

[RoryOF]

Change the 4 to 3 and try again.

[shirley1]

Nada!!

[shirley1]

How about if I just remove Open Office from my programs, and then download it again??

[shirley1]

Thank you to Bill and Rory for your help, it is greatly appreciated!

I have done away with the Open Office I had, and now have downloaded it again (x86). It is all functioning as it should.

[Bill]

Nada!!

You're still using the Search Box instead of the Address Bar. The Search Box is used to search for a file or folder by name. The Address Bar is used to open a folder by entering the folder's address in the Address Bar. You need to use the Address Bar because %appdata%\OpenOffice\4 is a folder address, not a file or folder name.

[shirley1]

The spell checker and the Thesaurus have stopped working again

[shirley1]

This is what I get from Explorer

[shirley1]

I get this as well. Could you please tell me what I have to do now?

[RoryOF]

The presence of the .lock file in your first screenshot suggests that OO/LiBO may still be open.

First, start TaskManager (Ctrl Shift Esc) and kill any "soffice" processes shown on TM's Details tab (Processes tab on earlier Windows). Then right click on ".lock" and choose Delete from the popup. Now Right click on "user" and choose Rename from the popup - user.old is a good choice. Now start OpenOffice and all should be well.

The question arises as to why this happened: did your computer crash? If not, you are not closing OpenOffice correctly (too hasty - Close your file, then exit OpenOffice and wait a few seconds: 5 or 10 is sufficient, before powering down your computer)

Do not allow the computer to sleep with OpenOffice open. This is a bad idea.

[shirley1]

Thank you very much, Rory. I did not know about closing down open office.

I will try to follow your instructions now.

[RoryOF]

The OO file format is complex; after a file is closed and OO is shut down, OO writes a complex piece of housekeeping back to is configuration. This takes a little longer than a flat file; incomplete writing of this file due to over-hasty shut down of the computer before the software/hardware write buffers have flushed to disk can cause loss of spell checking. The few extra seconds needed to allow this to complete (even cumulatively over time), are much less than the time to repair spellchecking or (worst case) to repair or, more likely, to rewrite a damaged file.

[shirley1]

Yes, I will ensure that I do this correctly from now on. It has happened to me numerous times as well.

I have removed the soffice processes - there were around 6. But now I cannot open my OO files. I am now downloading OO again. I trust that will work...

[shirley1]

I can now open the files, but the situation is the same as before????

[shirley1]

I have downloaded OO twice now after closing OO files, and the same original problem persists. It is a nightmare. Everyone who uses word, needs a spell checker, it is a fundamental part of the process...

[RoryOF]

When you renamed the OO user profile, did OO prompt for your name/initials on next startup?

[shirley1]

No Rory, neither time.

Also, please see the base of the upload. If I tick US as the language, it immediately reverts back.

[RoryOF]

Them if you weren't prompted for your name/initials you didn't delete the OO user profile, possibly because OO was open, or alternately because you renamed the wrong file.

[shirley1]

Language selection problem as well