It's a good thing you checked, because if you re-install Office, chances are
high that you will make the problem worse.
I think your problem will turn out to be simple. Let's describe where we
are at now, just for reference:
Reinstalling makes it worse because the files that get broken are not on the
Office disk, but without a full set of service packs, Office 2004 will
behave rather badly on OS 10.6. As I am sure you already know (but for
others who may be reading...) in a Graphical User Interface application
(such as Office) 80 per cent of the "work" is done by the operating system.
If you change the operating system for one that was not even invented when
the application was sold (as you just did) you have changed 80 per cent of
the code for stuff the application was not designed for. Something always
breaks, so you need to test very carefully before upgrading an operating
system.
In your case, when Word 2004 re-started, it started up in the Language you
have specified for the operating system.
If it then opens a document that is set to a different language, and that
language is not installed, the proofing tools will be disabled.
We also have a bug where converting to OS 10.6 corrupts the Custom
Dictionary in Word. If that happens, parts of the spelling are greyed out.
To resolve both problems, first make sure all Microsoft applications are
quit (not just minimised).
Then drag your Normal template and your spelling Custom Dictionary to the
desktop (so Word can't find them).
Then shut down the computer, turn the power off, wait one minute, then
restart. When you do this, Word will re-create the Normal template and
start up in the same language the OS is set to.
Now go to the Spelling preferences and create and add a new Custom
Dictionary. Make sure you set the custom dictionary to "No Language".
All should be working now.
If you want to retrieve the words from the old custom dictionary, you can,
provided that you first save the old dictionary as a play text file (open it
in TextEdit, choose "Make plain text" then save it with a .txt extension.
Then re-open it in Text Edit, copy, open your new custom dictionary and
Paste.)
You must make sure that you convert the old dictionary to plain text first
before you copy, otherwise you will copy the corruption and go around this
circle again...
Cheers
Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
Processor: Intel
I've had word 2004 installed on my Macbook pro for a year and am now back in
school. The spelling and grammar is not working (grayed out). I recently
installed the upgrade to snow leopard, perhaps it broke something, but it
tested fine on my desktop. Word is saying its spelling and grammar is not
installed. I notice a lot of posts about dictionaries and fonts, but this
spelling is completely broken on the laptop. Is there something simple, or do
I try re-installing office? I have deleted word's preference files, and I
think the proofing tools are there. You can't select spelling in the word
preference screen either. Before I try re-installing I thought I'd check here.
This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!
--
John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:
[email protected]