• Spell checking UK/US error (MS Word 2003 SP3)

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    #446846

    Spell checking has become a problem for me as although all my settings are for English (UK) the spell checking is in English (US).

    This is my check list:

    1. Control Panel | Regional and Language Options
    Regional Options | Standards & Formats | English (United Kingdom) – Location | United Kingdom
    Languages | Text Services & Input Languages | Details | Default Input Language | English (United Kingdom) – United Kingdom
    Installed Services | EN English (United Kingdom and Keyboard | United Kingdom
    Advanced | Language for non-Unicode Programs | English (United Kingdom) and Code page conversion tables are default settings

    2. MS Word 2002
    Tools | Options | Spelling & Grammar | Custom Dictionaries | Dictionary list | English (UK) | CUSTOM.DIC (default)
    Tools | Language | Mark selected text as: English (UK) is highlighted.
    This is true for the normal.dot files, of which there are three in different locations, and for all the other template files I have. Before setting the default language I always select the contents of the open file by clicking Edit | Select all (Ctrl+A).

    Before posting this message I have rechecked the behaviour of my spell checker. I opened a current in progress document and typed `centre’. On spell checking the spell checker tells me it is set to English (UK) and also tells me that `centre’ is spelt `center’. I have tried other words were my American cousins and I differ as to their spelling and for the examples I have tested the result is always the same – my spell checker is using an English (US) dictionary!

    Edit: And I have `Repaired’ my MS Office installation

    Can anyone throw any light on this behaviour please?

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    • #1087616

      Try this…

      Select all your text in the document. (Press CTRL + A)
      Choose, Tools | Language | Set Language and change it to English UK (The staus bar should confirm with English UK)
      Then rerun the spelling check.

      I have seen documents where individual paragraphs have different language to them. You click in one paragraph and the status bar indicates US and in another the status bar indicates UK.

      • #1087620

        Thank you but:

        Quote from my message `Before setting the default language I always select the contents of the open file by clicking Edit | Select all (Ctrl+A).’

        • #1087621

          oops – i overlooked that part blush

          Its the first thing that came to mind as I have had this issue often when the spelling checker tends to run amok

    • #1087618

      You could also try this:
      – Open Normal.dot (use the one in your user templates folder).
      – Select Format | Styles and Formatting…
      – Right-click the Normal style and select Modify… from the popup menu.
      – Select Format | Language in the Modify Style dialog.
      – Make sure that it’s set to English (UK).
      – OK your way out.
      – Save Normal.dot.

      But I fear the problem lies deeper.

      • #1087622

        Hans – Thank you for your suggestion. I have checked and Language is already set to English (UK).

        I agree that your fear is correct.

        • #1087626

          I see that you also asked this in the MS Word newsgroups (Spellcheck set to English UK but checking is in English US!). If the registry edit suggested by DeanH doesn’t help, you may have to uninstall Office 2003 completely, then reinstall. Or submit to US world dominance…

          • #1087695

            Yes indeed DeanH suggested a Registry fix but you may have noted it was non specific. I have searched the Registry with keywords that seem appropriate so far without finding anything to account for my problem. If a fresh installation will fix the problem that is how I will go forward. As to being dominated – never!

            Thank you for your input – as always very much appreciated.

          • #1087933

            Having run the MS Word 2002 install programme my spell checking has resumed its English (UK) behaviour.

            I thank you all for your contributions.

        • #1087693

          Are there really a lot of differences? Just wondering whether a dozen entries in the exclusion dictionary and in the custom dictionary might address the majority of issues.

          • #1087697

            Thank you for your suggestion and I agree that it is not a big deal. But it’s a source of curiosity to me as to why.

            Anyway I had already tried your suggestion unfortunately without success.

            • #1087727

              Odd. Our settings are English (US), and we have had to add “centre” to our exclude dictionaries because spellcheck does not otherwise stop on it.

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