How to correct spelling and grammar in OpenOffice

[Spykar]

Correcting spelling and grammar
This subject is a real sea serpent, I will try to synthesize some in this thread about correcting spelling of OpenOffice.org (OOo).

My dictionary is installed?
This is the basic question to ask. To check, just to see if the language is preceded by the ABC brand (in any drop-down selection in the Font tab styles or in the window spell check - F7 - for example ). If this is not the case, install the dictionary as indicated below.

OOo 3
The dictionaries are now delivered in the form of extensions. It is therefore sufficient to use the Extensions Manager (Tools menu) to install. OXT downloaded from the top Dictionaries for extensions.
If you want to use old versions of files or not yet turned into extensions, you can use an existing extension: open it with an archive manager (this is a zip file), replace its language files by yours and edit dictionary.xcu to replace local and file names, change the file description.xml to differentiate the dictionary in the list of extensions in the manager and install the new extension.
NB: If you want an extension (to remove local you do not want to appear in the list of available languages), it is best to first uninstall the extension, edit the file and the dictionary.xcu 'Then install. Otherwise, you can edit the file directly dictionary.xcu in its directory of extension (in the user profile or in the installation directory) but you must disable the extension before.

OOo 2
With the File menu> Wizards> Install new dictionaries. If the wizard is not (it could happen), download it here. NB: the installation can be done offline recovered after the archive of the language to install. See page OOo wiki on their dictionaries.

NB: since version 2.3, you must press CTRL and click to follow the link on the front page into the language of installation. In addition, the level of macro security has been changed, they are almost always off (without the application to the opening), then lower the security level to temporarily run the wizard (Tools> Options> Security> Macro Security).
Do not forget to close OOo and Quick Launch icons in the system (bottom right of the screen in Windows for example).

Setting the language for spell checking.
So I will rebuild a little over 2-3 for explanations.

Following the recurring problem spellchecker is not working on documents imported from MS Word: Do not forget to select all the text and go to Format / characters for the language.

Attention, direct formatting, very strongly discouraged. Why? ecause if later, it resets the formatting (right click Default), we lose the language setting.

To resolve this problem only occurs on imported materials (including MS Word), we must amend the paragraph style Standard, go to the Font tab and correct language.

Why does the installer does not like itself, it knows the default language, right?

The installer can not handle it because the language is a parameter related to style. The option to default language for new documents only change the value set in this field as value of the Standard paragraph style for new documents. So this parameter is not taken into account in the documents they already have a setting.

For info and recall:
- The language setting default (Tools> Options >...) first applies for any new documnet. This setting is crushed by
- The parameter stated in paragraph style, in turn crushed by
- The setting out in the styles of characters or direct formatting.

This can have a document written in French, with paragraphs automatically declared as written in English (paragraph style necessary) with within these paragraphs certain words in Italian (direct formatting or specific character style). OOo therefore adjust the correction under each type of language encountered.

[Spykar]

How do I disable unnecessary dictionaries?

OOo 3
The dictionaries are now delivered in the form of extensions, much easier to manage.
Just use the Extensions Manager (Tools menu) to uninstall a dictionary.
For systems * NIX, we must start OOo in contrast to uninstall root dictionaries supplied by default with OOo.
Note that, an updated version of OOo should reinstall the default dictionaries which have been uninstalled thereafter.

OOo 2
OOo book default many dictionaries which does not usually need (Swahili, Russian, Thai, ...). But their activation can seriously degrade the performance (if the check is made in all languages, for example).

The configuration of the Dictionary is used in the dictionary.lst which is located in the C: \ Program Files \ OpenOffice.org 2.0 \ share \ dict \ ooo (the Linux easily adapt the way).

To remove unnecessary Dictionary, you have to edit the file and delete dictionary.lst lines whose local (2 letters that characterize the language) does not interest us (or comment lines with a # in case we would need one day).
The packages are generally composed of 3 files: DICT (dictionary), THES (synonyms) and hyphae. I will not go further, the explanation is at the beginning of the file in question.

Therefore, to have only English dictionaries (U.S. version) and French for example, must have the following and only these:

DICT en US en_US 
HYPH en US hyph_en_US 
THES en US th_en_US_v2 

DICT fr FR fr_FR 
HYPH fr FR hyph_fr_FR 
THES fr FR th_fr_FR_v2

DICT fr FR fr_FR-1990

In my case, The 2 dictionaries French: I actually added the latest version which takes into account the spelling reform, therefore accepts OOo 2 proposals for the words concerned.

To verify the change, close OOo and QuickStarter if activated, restart OOo and go to Tools> Options> Language Settings> Language, in the language modules available, click on Edit .... The drop-down list of languages should no longer contain the desired dictionaries.

Precautions before upgrading OOo

OOo 3
The extensions added after the installation of OOo should be retained.
If you removed dictionaries installed by default, they should be resettled during the update, however. In this case, you should uninstall again.

OOo 2
Note: When you install a new version of OOo, the directory ... / dict / ooo is overwritten so you lose your settings. I therefore advise you to make a backup of this file and put its contents to the new version of the directory after the update.

Or, especially if you're the only user, you can put a custom dictionary.lst (with only non-standard dictionaries added) and associated files in your personal profile OOo: <profil utilisateur> / OpenOffice.org2/user / wordbook. These settings are used with those reported in the main directory. But after the update, it will still remove dicos delivered default will revenue in the new dictionary.lst!