Default Spell check Language

[y2k1981]

can somebody tell me how word determines what language it should run spell checker in. I've found an article on M$ website that says it looks at the InstallLanguage key in registry (which doesn't exist on my PC!!) and uses this. Or does it just use the input language (assuming the "auto-detect" is switched off)??????????

 

[carrr]

Read this:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP051895581033.aspx

Tired of waiting for an answer? Try asking better questions. See: faq222-2244

 

[y2k1981]

Thanks for your reply, but that's about custom dictionaries. I want to know what language word will use as default when checking spelling and grammar. I've searched on the net and on this site but found nothing.

 

[cheerio]

The default language is picked up from the template - by default this will be normal.dot.

If you open normal.dot, set the language as required and save it as a template the language default should have been reset.

Note there may be more than one copy of this file on a PC. If so you need to change the right one (or perhaps all if unsure)

 

[y2k1981]

OK, I need to ask two questions. In word, I go tools > language > set language - this says mark selected text as: Then I've also got an option to set as default, which as you said is supposed to make it the default language in normal.dot - but it doens't !!

Second question, if I go start > programs > office 2003 > tools > Language Settings, there's an option in there that says :
Choose the language that defines default behaviour in office applications.

So what does this do? Originally in our group policy, we had set installed office version to english and this was set to english with (by policy) in brackets. Now I've removed that policy we can change it, but I don't see what effect it has.

Can you please help me figure out what these are all for?

 

[cheerio]

I can only speak for Office 2k from work as we live a little in the past.

On your first point, my PC does reset the default language when you click the option to set as default from within Word.

However, this is subject to:

a) quitting Word
b) accepting a request to allow Normal.dot to be updated if confirmation is turned on
c) Normal.dot not being write protected
d) your target language being available. For example, on my work PC the French spelling/grammar checker is not installed so changing my default to French just means Word cannot spell check.


The point about (a)(b)(c) is that until the template is updated on disk the old copy will be used and while Word is open it may not save the changes.

Your second option does not apply to my Office 2k installation. However, it sounds as if a change made there would be global (ie it would be picked up in Excel for example). It may be desirable not to have any Office Apps open while you make the change.

If you need to work with different languages in Word just create a temlate for each so you might have French.dot, German.dot, etc

Then create new documents with File, New and pick the specific template. One advantage of this route is that Normal.dot can get corrupted and that is less likely with custom templates. It also means you can work around any policies regarding Normal.dot.