Missing Diction in Word

[Chase A. Hurst]

Hi everyone.

I have a user who is using Mac Office 2004 on Mac OS X 10.3.x and is having
difficulties with the Dictionaries in Word. As this user is offsite I'll
post the length of my conversation with him thus far:

<BEGIN MESSAGE>

[On Sep 5, 4:36pm Maeve wrote:]
The spellchecker is not working in my Word:mac 2004 reference toolbox. The
Encarta Dictionary looks to have disappeared.
I am an editor and I desperately need to have access to this dictionary.
Since I can't find any support for the software I'm wondering if the
simplest thing would be to reinstall Word. Can you tell me if I need to
un-install it first? And, if so, how to do that?

Perhaps you could refer me to online help with Word:mac?

Thank you so very much,

Maevenwood

32478[On Sep 5, 6:05pm Chase H. wrote:]
Hi Maeve,

My name is Chase and I will be assisting you with your question.

The most common problem associated with spell checker and Microsoft Word for
Mac 2004 is an incorrect language setting especially when a file crosses
from a Windows based PC to a Mac. In order for spell check to run at all
the Word language settings must be set to the exact language setting that
the file was originally written in.

For instance, my version of Word 2004 lists all of the following as
derivations of the English language:

English (AUS)
English (UK)
English (US)

While all of the above are most certainly the English language they are
considered different by Word. So, if you have a document that was written
in English (US) and your language setting is set to English (UK), spell
check will not run at all. Experiment with the different derivations of the
English language listed above until you can get spell check to run. This
issue also occurs when documents from older versions of Office are brough to
a newer version of Office.

You can find the language settings, after starting Word, by clicking "Tools"
-> "Language..." Also ensure that while in the language settings, "Do not
check spelling or grammer" is not checked.

Try everything above and let me know if you are still having problems.

-Chase

32670[On Sep 6, 2:23pm Maeve wrote:]
Hello, Chase,
Thank you so much for responding!
I tried your suggestions but to no avail.
What's weird is that when I click on Dictionaries in Word preferences
under Spelling there is only the Custom dictionary (and this has about 8
words in it!) Also when I click on the Reference Tools icon and then the
Encarta Dictionary it doesn't open--it only gives me the little error sound.
Do you think I've somehow lost my dictionary?

Thanks again,
Maeve

<END MESSAGE>

Can anyone give me any suggestions as of how to rectify this situation?

Thanks!

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Well, the reference toolbox has nothing to do with spellchecking. So it
isn't clear whether her problem is
"word doesn't catch misspelled words"
Or
"nothing happens when I select Tools | Dictionary"

Try asking her which is the difficulty, or both, but make clear that they
are two *separate* issues.

I don't think she tried your suggestions--or, that is, I don't think your
suggestions made it clear that she needs to *select* the text that is not
being spellchecked and *apply* a language to it. Your information was
correct, but didn't actually explain a fix. And if her problem wasn't "word
doesn't catch misspelled words" then it wasn't going to help anyhow.

You can borrow the wording here, or send her to this page, for the "word
doesn't catch misspelled words" problem.
http://daiya.mvps.org/spelling.htm

Also her Preferences sounds correct--Dictionaries is only *supposed* to list
custom dictionaries.

For the "nothing happens when I select Tools | Dictionary" I haven't a clue.
Ask her to try the Tools | Dictionary menu route instead of the toolbar
route and see what happens. If that doesn't work, try the standard
troubleshooting tips here, which includes best practice on Remove and
Reinstall.
http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/TroubleshootingIndex.htm
(hit refresh a few times in Safari, or use a different browser)

Hi everyone.

I have a user who is using Mac Office 2004 on Mac OS X 10.3.x and is having
difficulties with the Dictionaries in Word. As this user is offsite I'll
post the length of my conversation with him thus far:

<BEGIN MESSAGE>

[On Sep 5, 4:36pm Maeve wrote:]
The spellchecker is not working in my Word:mac 2004 reference toolbox. The
Encarta Dictionary looks to have disappeared.
I am an editor and I desperately need to have access to this dictionary.
Since I can't find any support for the software I'm wondering if the
simplest thing would be to reinstall Word. Can you tell me if I need to
un-install it first? And, if so, how to do that?

Perhaps you could refer me to online help with Word:mac?

Thank you so very much,

Maevenwood

32478[On Sep 5, 6:05pm Chase H. wrote:]
Hi Maeve,

My name is Chase and I will be assisting you with your question.

The most common problem associated with spell checker and Microsoft Word for
Mac 2004 is an incorrect language setting especially when a file crosses
from a Windows based PC to a Mac. In order for spell check to run at all
the Word language settings must be set to the exact language setting that
the file was originally written in.

For instance, my version of Word 2004 lists all of the following as
derivations of the English language:

English (AUS)
English (UK)
English (US)

While all of the above are most certainly the English language they are
considered different by Word. So, if you have a document that was written
in English (US) and your language setting is set to English (UK), spell
check will not run at all. Experiment with the different derivations of the
English language listed above until you can get spell check to run. This
issue also occurs when documents from older versions of Office are brough to
a newer version of Office.

You can find the language settings, after starting Word, by clicking "Tools"
-> "Language..." Also ensure that while in the language settings, "Do not
check spelling or grammer" is not checked.

Try everything above and let me know if you are still having problems.

-Chase

32670[On Sep 6, 2:23pm Maeve wrote:]
Hello, Chase,
Thank you so much for responding!
I tried your suggestions but to no avail.
What's weird is that when I click on Dictionaries in Word preferences
under Spelling there is only the Custom dictionary (and this has about 8
words in it!) Also when I click on the Reference Tools icon and then the
Encarta Dictionary it doesn't open--it only gives me the little error sound.
Do you think I've somehow lost my dictionary?

Thanks again,
Maeve

<END MESSAGE>

Can anyone give me any suggestions as of how to rectify this situation?

Thanks!

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

For the "nothing happens when I select Tools | Dictionary" I haven't a clue.

Ask her to try the Tools | Dictionary menu route instead of the toolbar
route and see what happens.

PS. Turns out, according to a very quick test, that in applications/ms
office 2004/office/, there should be two files named English Dictionary and
English Dictionary 2. Those are the Encarta files. If they aren't there,
then Word will not have a Tools | Dictionary item, and the Dictionary pane
in the toolbox will only offer the thesaurus. Ask her to see if those files
are there.

Conceivably, they may have gone missing or gotten corrupted somehow?