I updated OpenOffice today and discovered that the spell checker wasn’t working. I know because I’m used to seeing a sea of red squiggles on my page. So either I just became a champion speller or more than likely there was something wrong with OpenOffice.
The strange thing is that when I switched to LibreOffice, same problem. Did that update also screw up LibreOffice or was it already screwed up and I didn’t realize it because I really don’t use it that much?
No matter, the solution was simple.
OpenOffice
Click on Tools – Language – For all Text. And in my case, I clicked on English (Canada). And that’s it.
LibreOffice
In LibreOffice, go to Tools then click on Automatic Spell Checking.
I don’t like the icon they use in front of this option because it’s a checkmark and could give the impression that it is already active. When you click on it, if it’s active, you should see a square border surrounding the “ab” icon.
The best way to check in both cases is to open a document and start typing. Misspell a few words on purpose. (I don’t have to try that hard.) 🙂
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I turned off spellcheck in my open office suites. I use Open Office for spreadsheets but Libre for writing text.
Originally I trained both dictionaries to handle Aussie slang since that is what I write the most and the spelling, punctuation and grammar are very different to ‘normal’ English.
It drove me mad having to go back over and over to redo a spelling.
But what I want an answer to, is how to prevent Open Office from being the default opening app when I click to open a doc.
I made it such during the setup process when I originally installed it. But now can’t find where to change that.
Do I have to uninstall and reinstall to get to that question in the setup?
Right-click on a document, click on Open With, then click on Choose another app, Click on LibreOffice Writer (or click on More apps and find it in the list) and check the box Always use this app to open .odt files and OK.
Thank you Terry, that’s how I am currently getting around it.
But I want to make Libre the default opening software so I don’t have to go through all those clicks 20 times daily.
Yes, I could open each and make it ‘open with’.
But there are 100s that I use each month.
It only takes 10mins to uninstall and reinstall both softwares.
It will be easier to do that.
I don’t use OpenOffice for text docs anymore and I don’t want it to remain to be the default opening software.
Once you choose “Always use this app to open .odt” it should automatically open up those documents in LibreOffice without right-clicking on it. Otherwise, open LibreOffice, click on Tools, then Options, down the left-hand side click on General. Under the Windows Default apps box check “Perform check for default file association on start-up”. Click OK. Now close this out. Close LibreOffice and reopen. Now you’ll get the option to set LibreOffice as the default. Just click OK in the box that opens.
Didn’t resolve anything for me. Spell checker just stops working after 50 pages is exceeded. I I delete the pages above 50, the lower 50 pages will populate with the spellcheck red-underline. Not sure why they would cap the usage of autospellchecker like this.
I don’t think it’s a cap. I just created a 70-page document, I didn’t write it just took a 12-page document and copy and pasted the info to get over 50 pages. The spell checker kept working right through the document. No, it’s not a cap. it’s just broken.
So a bit of an update. I uninstalled and reinstalled Open Office and made Libre the default. Now things work as I wish them to.
As for spellcheck. Yes, I had to start again for the third time. But along the way, I reduced my writing significantly as my 3 aging horses took over my life.
Now they are gone to God but I have not picked up the writing again yet. I may, but it is only a few weeks since I became horse free for the first time in 50yrs. So things are going very slowly here.
I never seemed to have that 50day issue that I know of. But I will check to be sure.
Strange one that. Thought I was the only person who had crazy issues like that. Glad others also have unusual incidents as well.
Sorry for your loss. As for unusual incidents with computers, that’s why sites like this exist.