[2004] Word spell-checks using US English despite the dictionary being set to UK

[Evadne Cake]

Hiya - me again.

Slight problem here. Running Word 2004 (fully updated) on a fully updated
Tiger. My system is fully set up for UK English (it uses the UK English
dictionary in my news client for example).

I have begun to type a new document and Word is consistently flagging
'behaviour' as being spelt incorrectly (it wants to change it to 'behavior').
I have checked the default dictionary within in Word and it's set to English
(UK). Is there anything else within Word that governs the language setting?
I'm at a complete loss.

Any suggestions...?

Thanks

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

I think part of your problem may be that you are working between PC Word and
Mac Word. PC Word has the ability (I would call it a "bug"...) to
automatically "guess" the language in use. It does this word-by-word as you
type.

The Macintosh Business Unit were sensible enough to remove this feature from
Mac Word, because it causes this kind of problem. But documents you open on
the PC will still be subjected to it.

To get the language to stick, you have to painstakingly hunt back through
the chain of inheritance to ensure that everything is pointing in the same
direction:

The Operating System
The Normal Template
The Attached Template
The Document
The Style
The Paragraph
And finally, the Text...

Each of these can have a language. The language can be inherited by each of
them. First, get your OS set correctly (you've done that...)

Now, get your Normal template right:
1. Close ALL documents.
2. Use File>Open to open your Normal template
3. Turn your paragraph marks on so you can see what you are doing.
4. Add at least one character of text to the blank paragraph in the Normal
template.
5. Use Tools>Language to set your language
6. Now use Format>Style to run through ALL the styles in the template and
check that NONE of them have a language, or if they do have a language, it
is UK English.
7. Save the template using File>Save
8. Remove the extraneous characters you added
9. Save the Normal template, CLOSE it, and QUIT Word.

That last step is the most important. The Normal template is held in memory
whenever Word is running. If you make a change and save, then unmake that
change and quit Word, the version saved to disk will not have the change.

There you go: Every NEW document you create in Mac Word should now have its
language correctly set, and it should persist.

Be careful what you copy from other documents: language can be copied, and
if it is, you get a dud language in your new document.

Learn to use Find to "find" instances of languages that are NOT UK English
and fix them.

Hope this helps

Hiya - me again.

Slight problem here. Running Word 2004 (fully updated) on a fully updated
Tiger. My system is fully set up for UK English (it uses the UK English
dictionary in my news client for example).

I have begun to type a new document and Word is consistently flagging
'behaviour' as being spelt incorrectly (it wants to change it to 'behavior').
I have checked the default dictionary within in Word and it's set to English
(UK). Is there anything else within Word that governs the language setting?
I'm at a complete loss.

Any suggestions...?

Thanks

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi John,

As far as I can tell, *quitting* Word is not necessary (saving and closing
Normal *is*). I just tried it several ways by changing my default font. It
stuck regardless of whether or when I quit Word. Try it.

Beth

 

[Beth Rosengard]

I misspoke. It is not even necessary to *close* Normal! As long as you
*save* it, the change will be apparent in the next new document you open
(but not, however, in documents that were already open).

I would not advise leaving Normal open, though, any more than you would, I'm
sure. It would be too easy to forget it wasn't just an ordinary document
and start typing away in it. Then, if you save it, all that text will show
up in the next new document you open, along with any other changes you may
have made.

Beth

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Beth:

No: "Now" you're misspeaking

Word can potentially have multiple images of Normal in memory.

Rather than talk the user through a lengthy list of preconditions to ensure
that it hasn't, close and quit Word when you are done.

I thought you were on your way to the studio when we last spoke??

Cheers

I misspoke. It is not even necessary to *close* Normal! As long as you
*save* it, the change will be apparent in the next new document you open
(but not, however, in documents that were already open).

I would not advise leaving Normal open, though, any more than you would, I'm
sure. It would be too easy to forget it wasn't just an ordinary document
and start typing away in it. Then, if you save it, all that text will show
up in the next new document you open, along with any other changes you may
have made.

Beth

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410