Spell check not working.

Neil Maxwell · General User Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 7

There is no language box to make a language selection in the Paragraph Style: Default.

I have spent hours trying to fix this problem and I always run into a dead end. Is having a spell check option really that difficult to activate or ????

floris_v · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:06 am Post subject:

Try the Font tab (yes, that makes sense - j/k).
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Neil Maxwell · General User Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 7

OK..... I found it under font but it has no blue check mark and it says I have to downlod it.
When I go to the dictionary page of extensions I am supposed to download the .oxt file on your HD. What does that mean?

floris_v · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 12:14 pm Post subject:

Download the language extension and save it on your hard disk, then install it in OOo. If you have only one version of OOo, all you have to do is double click the oxt and OOo will open to install it. If you have more than one, open each and install it with the extension manager.
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Neil Maxwell · General User Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 7

I have tried this before but I get stuck on the commands. See my previous post..what is oxt and where is HD. Where do I find .oxt and is HD hard drive? In other words I need my hand held in order to get this done step by step. I am lost. Does one have to be that computer literate to get this simple spell check working? It seems that I will have to abandon OOo. Is there a simple version of this OOo for computer dummies?

floris_v · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 1:07 pm Post subject:

Oh dear. It's that bad. Wink

There's OO Light with a simpler interface, but for the rest it works just the same. OOo is a program for advanced users, so you will need to learn something. That's not bad, that's what we got brains for. Now to the topic. Wink

It really helps if you tell us what kind of computer you are working on. Or rather, the program that runs the computer. I'll just suppose that your computer starts with Windows.

1) Visit http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/en/dictionaries and click the language that you need for spell checking (third column from the left). A new page opens with a description of the extension, click the green button with the caption Get it. The file will be automatically downloaded and saved in the folder where you save all your downloads - that's on your hard disk, but never mind that.
2) Open Windows Explorer, navigate to the downloads folder (I suggest you make that a favourite, so you can always go there with one click) and double click the extension - it's a file named for instance dict-en.oxt - that's for English. For Dutch it's dict-nl.oxt. Never mind the extension, just double click that file, that opens OOo and the Extension Manager, which will install the extension.
3) Close OOo. If you have an OOo icon in the systray, that's the list of icons on the bottom right corner of the screen with the clock etc, close that icon as well - it's the quickstarter, that you shouldn't install anyway, but never mind that for now. The reason that you have to quit OOo is that extensions will only be loaded when the program starts, so OOo won't know that a new extension is ready for use until you restart it.
4) Start OOo and check that the dictionary works (the language should have a blue check mark to the left).

Hope this is simple enough.
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Neil Maxwell · General User Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 7

Yes, I am on Windows XP Home Edition. I have been and done your point 1) many times already and have clicked the green "get it" button many times. It has been saved as you have suggested some where on my hard drive but as you have suggested "never mind that". I can follow that advise quite easily. On your second point I have opened up Windows Internet Explorer but when you say "navigate to the downloads folder" I can't because I don't see it and don't know where to look for it. So where is it ? Under "file" or "Edit" or ? Thanks floris_v for the patience that I seem to be running out of. In my defense I am 72 years old and I feel the software world is missing out on a large segment of the market (boomers plus) by having programs become larger and more difficult. We don't want to know anything about computers....we just want friendly programs to help us through our everyday simple world. Spell check was something we never had to add in......it was just there. What happened???

floris_v · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:08 pm Post subject:

Not Internet Explorer but Windows Explorer. Big difference. How did you get OOo to work, did somebody download and install it for you? Because downloading an extension works in exactly the same way and installing it is even easier, because you don't have to answer any questions.
I suggest that you ask a friend to explain the basics of computers to you and tutor you for a while until you're past the lowest levels of learning.
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Neil Maxwell · General User Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 7

After my computer crashed about a year ago I took it into a techie to get it fixed. That person loaded the OOo software but I have loaded a number of operating programs over the years without too much trouble. I just reloaded my Microsoft Works program again yesterday and it took less than 15 minutes. Spell check was immediately operational without any additional steps. It also has the ability to check the spelling on my Outlook Express e-mails. Although I never had to disable my AVG protection to do this I was thinking that AVG was stopping me from getting the spell check to work. I'll try disabling AVG and try the steps as outlined in the Tutorials. I might get lucky. Failing that I will go back to using my Works program.
I have never wanted to know more about the workings of a computer other than to load and use good operational programs or to uninstall them when I find better software. OOo has worked fine except for spell check. I don't understand how a "word" software program can be downloaded without spell check being a part of it. I guess I bit off more than I could chew with OOo.

Neil Maxwell · General User Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 7

After disabling AVG I was able to install spell check and it is now working. The solution was simple in the end but there was nothing in the tutorials about disabling a virus protection program before proceeding. For those of us who seldom install program we need to be reminded of the basics. When I think of all the hours that I spent on this....aaagh! Thanks for your help floris_v. In the end I really didn't need to know all that stuff about .oxt, HD and Windows Explorer.

floris_v · Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 11:58 am Post subject:

I have AVG and I can install any dictionaries I like without first having to disable it. Something is wrong at your end.
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Neil Maxwell · General User Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 7

I noticed that, since I bought the AVG protection as opposed to the AVG Free Version I had previously, there was a problem in updating a trading software to a newer version. I don't understand why except that my computer only installed the dictionaries and the trading platform updated version after I disabled AVG. I had tried many times before disabling AVG but to no avail. It might be worth mentioning in the tutorials. Thanks again for your assistance. It was only because of your instructions that I realized there was something else at play.