[Solved] Set default language for spell check

[Nocton]

I use British English and have the English Language pack extension installed.

When I use Writer, I can go to Tools/Language and from the drop-down choose 'For Selection' from which I can choose English (UK) which remains as the default language for spell-checking.

When I use Calc, if I go to Tools/Language there is no drop-down offering 'For Selection'. The spell-checker defaults to English (USA) although I can select English (UK) for that session, but it does not stay as the default language.

Does anyone know the reason for the difference between Calc and Writer and how I can set the default language in Calc to English (UK)?

Edit: Changed subject, was Default Language  Make your post understandable by others  -- MrProgrammer, forum moderator

[FJCC]

Try going t the menu item Tools -> Options, expand the Language Settings list on the left and select the Languages option There is an option there to set the Default Languages for Documents. If you set that to English (UK), all of your documents should have the language you want.

[Nocton]

TY, but that is already set to English (UK).

[Bill]

I use British English and have the English Language pack extension installed.

The language packs have nothing to do with spell-checking. They do not contain spell-checking dictionaries.

When I use Writer, I can go to Tools/Language and from the drop-down choose 'For Selection' from which I can choose English (UK) which remains as the default language for spell-checking.

That's not how it works. There is no "default language for spell-checking" setting. Tools > Language > For Selection" changes the language attribute for the selected text. It does not change the language attribute for any other text. It doesn't change the default language attribute for the document but may appear to do so if all text was selected before changing the setting in Tools > Language > For Selection. The language attribute is used by SpellCheck to select an appropriate dictionary to check spelling.

When I use Calc, if I go to Tools/Language there is no drop-down offering 'For Selection'. The spell-checker defaults to English (USA) although I can select English (UK) for that session, but it does not stay as the default language.

If you mean that the setting is not the default in new documents, save the setting in a template and set the template as the default template for new documents.

Does anyone know the reason for the difference between Calc and Writer and how I can set the default language in Calc to English (UK)?

Tools > Language > For Selection is probably not in Calc because Calc is not usually used to create text documents in multiple languages. Tools > Language > For Selection is useful in Writer where documents often have text in more than one language.

[Villeroy]

Language is a formatting attribute like font, color, size, border, number format. If the language is set to "English (USA)" and the corresponding dictionary is installed, the text will be spell checked as US English. Any text that is formatted as "English (UK)" will be spell checked as British English.
How to change the text language for a whole spreadsheet document:
Right-click cell style "Default" and choose "Modify..."
On the "Font" tab you can set language to "English (UK)".
Now all the cells where no other language has been set explicitly will have the "English (UK)" attribute and will be spell checked accordingly.

[Nocton]

Thank you Bill and Villeroy for your explanations and suggestions.
Following Villeroy's suggestion of:
- How to change the text language for a whole spreadsheet document:
- Right-click cell style "Default" and choose "Modify..."
- On the "Font" tab you can set language to "English (UK)".
I found that the language on the document of interest is already set to English (UK) and so are new documents when I open them. So that's solved, but I've gained a bit more understanding of the system, thank you.
I don't know how the problem has arisen, but maybe because recently I opened a spreadsheet from someone else and that somehow changed my settings. Also I recently did an OO update.

[robleyd]

recently I opened a spreadsheet from someone else

Possibly that spreadsheet had another language set, or no language set. If I recall correctly, if language is set to "none" no dictionaries are available for spell checking.

[Villeroy]

I don't know how the problem has arisen, but maybe because recently I opened a spreadsheet from someone else and that somehow changed my settings. Also I recently did an OO update.

The update will not change your personal settings. The only setting affecting the language of new documents is Tools>Options>LanguageSettings>Languages>"Western Language" which affects all new documents created from scratch, not created from a template. A template carries its own set of formatting attributes.