Spellcheck set to English UK but checking is in English US!

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Malcolm Walker - 02 Dec 2007 01:00 GMT

I have Word 2002 and Tools | Language | `Mark selected text as: English
(UK)' is highlighted. `Do not check spelling or grammar' and `Detect
language automatically' are unticked. In confirming the settings I have
clicked the Default button and a dialogue appeared asking for
confirmation that I want to change the default language to English
(UK). I then clicked Yes and OK.

When I open the spell checker its window has the title `Spelling and
Grammar: English (U.K.). But the the highlighted spell checking errors
are to change correctly spelt words in English (UK) to their English
(US) spelling. For example: `centre' to `center' with the alternative
of `canter'. Another example is `organiser' to `organizer'.

I have checked the custom.dic file for these words and they do not
appear in that file. I have also checked the Regional and Language
Options in Control Panel and all appears to be in order there set to
English (United Kingdom).

I would appreciate any help to correct this strange behaviour.

Malcolm Walker

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DeanH - 03 Dec 2007 08:54 GMT

You have hit a main problem with Word, you may see the Custom.dic but behind
that is Word's own built-in dictionary, which contains both US and UK
spellings, and unfortunately this built-in cannot be edited.

But all is not lost, to counter this dictionary you can create an
"Exclusions" dictionary which can counter the US spellings (if that is the
language you wish to counter), have a look at this site:
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/excludewordfromdic.htm
The instructions are a bit long winded, but once you have this file it is a
god-send.
The inclusion of words into the exclusions dictionary is a manual process,
ie not through the "add to dictionary", but through Notepad or some-such
application.
Hope this helps
DeanH

Hope this helps
DeanH

> I have Word 2002 and Tools | Language | `Mark selected text as: English
> (UK)' is highlighted. `Do not check spelling or grammar' and `Detect
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> Malcolm Walker

Reply to this Message

Malcolm Walker - 03 Dec 2007 16:51 GMT

Thank you very much for your reply; I am grateful but I don't think it
is the answer. When I created the exclusion file all it did was to
ignore `center'. It did not correct it to `centre'. I think this is
because the spell checker has reverted to English (US) and refuses to
accept as default English (UK). So I am now worse off than before I
created the exclusion. Then I had a spell checker telling me it was in
English (UK) and checking in English (US). Now by default it is in
English (US) and checking in English (US)!

For the two years I have used Word 2002 English (UK) has been the
default language and the accuracy was 100%. What caused the current
behaviour I have no idea. I have to wonder if it could be a recent MS
Windows Update?

Malcolm

> You have hit a main problem with Word, you may see the Custom.dic but behind
> that is Word's own built-in dictionary, which contains both US and UK
[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]
>>
>> Malcolm Walker

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DeanH - 03 Dec 2007 17:02 GMT

Try selecting the whole document (Ctrl+A) and reseting the language to
English UK.
The Exclusion Doctionary will not change the language settings in any
template/document but will for example always 'not' allow "center".
Check the language settings of your Styles in all of your templates. Some
may have picked up the English US default.
Clicking the Default on the Language dialog box unfortunately wont change
these settings.
Try to perserve with the exclusion dictionary, it will (eventually) sort
this problem out (cross-fingers).
Hope this helps.
DeanH

> Thank you very much for your reply; I am grateful but I don't think it
> is the answer. When I created the exclusion file all it did was to
[quoted text clipped - 55 lines]
> >>
> >>

Reply to this Message

Malcolm Walker - 03 Dec 2007 22:32 GMT

>Try selecting the whole document (Ctrl+A) and resetting the language

to English UK.

This is how I reset the language whenever I have had a document reach me
with the spell check not set in English (UK). It is also how I have
been trying to reset the default language following creating the
exclusions file.

I'll try the three pees - patience, perseverance and when they fail
prayer! (How does one spell `p'? {8;-))

Malcolm

> Try selecting the whole document (Ctrl+A) and reseting the language to
> English UK.
[quoted text clipped - 71 lines]
>>>>
>>>>

Reply to this Message

DeanH - 04 Dec 2007 07:44 GMT

Hmmm, puzzling. You seem to have been doing everything right from what I can
see.

Have you checked the language assigned to the dictionary, i.e. Tools,
Options, Spelling & Grammar, Custom Dictionaries, Modify. Do you see English
UK, US, or All Languages?
Also have you checked all your styles and templates, that none of these have
English (US) in their settings?

If this is all OK, then the only thing I can think that is causing the
conflict is the Language Registry Code, which is set upon install. Sometime
ago I had a spurious French (France) appearing, as well as English US, and it
turned out that because my new build (going from Word 2000 on 2000 to Word
2003 on XP) was done in-house and the disks were bought in France (I work for
a French company – stop… don't turn-off), and even though the IT chappie did
the build in English and told everything to be in English, the default
language was French! So the only remedy was to go into the Registry and
change the Language code to English (UK), which has solved my problems of
both French and US.

English (UK) code is 2057 (LCID Dec) but please check on
http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/reference/lcid-all.mspx
Where this is changed I am not entirely sure as I tend to stay away from the
Registry like the plague ;-)
Maybe someone else on the Newsgroup will chip in here with the correct
procedure for Registry changes.

ps. I am happy with 'pee' for 'p'.
My philosophy is the 3Rs, Rest, Recuperation, and Remuneration!

Hope this helps and best of luck.
DeanH

> >Try selecting the whole document (Ctrl+A) and resetting the language
> to English UK.
[quoted text clipped - 85 lines]
> >>>>
> >>>>

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Malcolm Walker - 10 Dec 2007 22:20 GMT

My apologies for this tardy response. I too think I have been doing
everything right!

>Have you checked the language assigned to the dictionary, i.e. Tools,

Options, Spelling & Grammar, Custom Dictionaries, >Modify. Do you see
EnglishUK, US, or All Languages?

It was set to `All languages' so I reset it to English (UK) and the
spell checking behaviour did not change.

>Maybe someone else on the Newsgroup will chip in here with the correct
>procedure for Registry changes.

Not so far; my searches are based on your pointers and my guesswork. I haven't turned up with anything relevant yet.

> Hmmm, puzzling. You seem to have been doing everything right from what I can
> see.
[quoted text clipped - 124 lines]
>>>>>>
>>>>>>

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Brian - 13 Dec 2007 13:16 GMT

Sorry for joining in so late.

I had this problem a few months ago with a set of documents for edit. It
turned out that someone had created styles, and included the language setting
within the styles. This over rides the default settings.

Hope this suggestion helps,

Signature

Brian McCaffery

> My apologies for this tardy response. I too think I have been doing
> everything right!
[quoted text clipped - 139 lines]
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>

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AJM - 09 May 2008 05:08 GMT

has anybody in the Australian, New Zealand, or United Kingdom English
speaking world, developed an "Exclusion Dictionary" as suggested in the
thread?

> Sorry for joining in so late.
>
[quoted text clipped - 147 lines]
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>>

Reply to this Message

Swifty - 11 May 2008 14:04 GMT

> has anybody in the Australian, New Zealand, or United Kingdom English
> speaking world, developed an "Exclusion Dictionary" as suggested in the
> thread?

I have an exclusion dictionary and both my PC and myself are set to
English(UK).

My needs were simple; to exclude the word "poser" from the built-in
dictionary, so it becomes a mis-spelling, as in "the poser supply in
your PC".

I don't see any previous posts in this thread, so cannot comment on the
creation mechanism. It involved manually editing the exclusion list; I
remember doing that.

Signature

Steve Swift
http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html
http://www.ringers.org.uk

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ajm - 13 May 2008 03:28 GMT

cheers Swifty. the earlier posts suggest setting up a list of exclusion words
based on the American spelling of words. The file would contain "center",
"organize", etc. I was hoping to save some time by leveraging off someone
else. Many thanks for your response though. cheers.

> > has anybody in the Australian, New Zealand, or United Kingdom English
> > speaking world, developed an "Exclusion Dictionary" as suggested in the
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> creation mechanism. It involved manually editing the exclusion list; I
> remember doing that.

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