Spell Checker not working

[Howard M. Stark]

I'm using thunderbird 6.01.

Th spell checker has stopped working. It opens but does nothing. I have
intentionaly misspelled two word in this email to demonstrate the problem.

Thanks for any help.

Howie

[Chris Ilias]

Under "Languages", make sure it is set to an actual language, rather
than "Download more dictionaries".

--
Chris Ilias <http://ilias.ca>
Mailing list/Newsgroup moderator

[James Silverton]

On 9/6/2011 1:59 PM, Chris Ilias wrote:
> On 11-09-06 8:11 AM, Howard M. Stark wrote:
>> I'm using thunderbird 6.01.
>>
>> Th spell checker has stopped working. It opens but does nothing. I have
>> intentionaly misspelled two word in this email to demonstrate the
>> problem.
>>
>> Thanks for any help.
>
> Under "Languages", make sure it is set to an actual language, rather
> than "Download more dictionaries".
>

Funny, I see only "intentionaly", tho I guess uncapitalized
"thunderbird" counts. The spell checker doesn't like "uncapitalized" either.

--
Jim Silverton,
Potomac, MD.

[UCLAN]

Try "Th" instead of "The."

[Howard M. Stark]

Thank you all. I got it to work by reinstalling 6.01. Probably
unnecessary but effective.

[James Silverton]

On 9/6/2011 2:35 PM, UCLAN wrote:

I have to admit, as a fast reader, that I don't always notice spelling
mistakes and would rely on the spell checker to find them for me. It did
*not* find the "Th " tho I see it now you have pointed it out.

[Ron Hunter]

Funny, but the TB spellchecker lets that one get by. Another reason to
hate spellcheckers.

[Rav]

Perhaps it's considering Th as an acceptable abbreviation for Thursday.
It seems to allow Mo, Mon, Tu, Tue, We (of course), Wed, Th, Thu, Fr
(also an abbreviation for Father), Fri, Sat and Sun, although oddly not
Sa or Su. But at any rate, I agree, don't rely on spellcheckers.

[Greywolf]

On 06/09/2011 6:43 PM, Rav wrote:
> On 9/6/2011 5:56 PM, Ron Hunter wrote:

[...]

>> Funny, but the TB spellchecker lets that one get by. Another reason to
>> hate spellcheckers.
>
> Perhaps it's considering Th as an acceptable abbreviation for Thursday.
> It seems to allow Mo, Mon, Tu, Tue, We (of course), Wed, Th, Thu, Fr
> (also an abbreviation for Father), Fri, Sat and Sun, although oddly not
> Sa or Su. But at any rate, I agree, don't rely on spellcheckers.

There are two kinds of misspelled words: those that are just plain
worng; and those that are rite but in the wrong place.

That's why in the Olden Days newspapers employed copy editors.

Wolf K.

[Ron Hunter]

Wrong words, and misspelled words can be confusing. Unfortunately, a
spell checker can't tell if something is a site for sore eyes (an eye
doctor), or a sight for sore eyes (a pretty girl). Should we ever
really achieve artificial intelligence, maybe that will become possible.

[Greywolf]

On 06/09/2011 9:19 PM, Ron Hunter wrote:
> On 9/6/2011 6:25 PM, Greywolf wrote:

[...]

>> There are two kinds of misspelled words: those that are just plain
>> worng; and those that are rite but in the wrong place.
>>
>> That's why in the Olden Days newspapers employed copy editors.
>>
>> Wolf K.
>
> Wrong words, and misspelled words can be confusing. Unfortunately, a
> spell checker can't tell if something is a site for sore eyes (an eye
> doctor), or a sight for sore eyes (a pretty girl). Should we ever really
> achieve artificial intelligence, maybe that will become possible.
>

I was once told that the Japanese believe that you have not learned a
foreign language until you master puns in it. I think that would a good
test for AI, too. ;-)

Wolf K.

[Ron Hunter]

Perhaps better than the Turing test, which I believe can be passed by
some fairly simple programming, but then some would say it depends on
the person doing the testing. In any case, TB/FF spelling checker
certainly isn't any candidate for AI status. It does a pretty good job,
but like most spell checkers seems amazingly ignorant about computer
terms, and even product names. I would expect words like 'Thunderbird',
and such to be in its base directory. I use the free version of WordWeb
to supplement the TB/FF dictionary.

[Joy Beeson]

On Wed, 07 Sep 2011 03:13:37 -0500, Ron Hunter <rphu...@charter.net>
wrote:

> I would expect words like 'Thunderbird',
> and such to be in its base directory.

Is there any spelling checker that has its own name in its dictionary?
--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net

[Jay Garcia]

On 07.09.2011 20:50, Joy Beeson wrote:

--- Original Message ---

> On Wed, 07 Sep 2011 03:13:37 -0500, Ron Hunter <rphu...@charter.net>
> wrote:
>
>> I would expect words like 'Thunderbird',
>> and such to be in its base directory.
>
> Is there any spelling checker that has its own name in its dictionary?

thunderberd is flagged and thunderbird is the first recommended change
in ths spellchecker here in TB 6.0.2

--
*Jay Garcia - Netscape Champion*
www.ufaq.org
Netscape - Firefox - SeaMonkey - Thunderbird

[Ron Hunter]

On 9/7/2011 8:50 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:
> On Wed, 07 Sep 2011 03:13:37 -0500, Ron Hunter<rphu...@charter.net>
> wrote:
>
>> I would expect words like 'Thunderbird',
>> and such to be in its base directory.
>
> Is there any spelling checker that has its own name in its dictionary?

Not that I know of. Just checked WordWeb for its name, and it's not
there. Rather amazing when you think about it.

[James Silverton]

If you have used a spell checker for some time, you will probably have
added some words to it and a number of people have added "Thunderbird"
so it's difficult to have a precise discussion. Is the TBird dictionary
like the MS Word one where added words were in a separate file?

[Ron Hunter]

Yes, the Mozilla programs use a spell checker that has a base dictionary
for each language/locale, and a personal dictionary. In the Thunderbird
profile the file is persdict.dat. It is an editable text file.

[James Silverton]

Thanks! I found the file persdict.dat but, even if it can be opened with
MS Notepad, it has the unlikely name 6jmvkk0z.default and is a mess to edit.

[James Silverton]

May I also add that there is a rather confusing aspect. MS won't let me
use anything but Notepad but if I copy the Notepad contents to a Word
file, each item is on a separate line. I wonder what is the best way to
edit the file? It would be good if it could remain with one item per line.

[Dave Pyles]

I think you'll find that 6jmvkk0z.default is the folder that contains
the persdict.dat file.

Look inside the folder
c:\Users\[USER NAME]\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\6jmvkk0z.default

The persdict.dat file is a simple text file and is easy to edit with
notepad.

Dave Pyles

[James Silverton]

I don't regard a file that opens in Notepad with no dividing marks
between the items as "easy to edit".

[Dave Pyles]

I have posted a screenshot of my persdict.dat file at
http://acousticmusic.com/dict.jpg

If the file you are opening doesn't look similar, then you are opening
the wrong file. (Note: the line numbers are there because I opened it
in notepad3 instead of MS Notepad.)

Dave Pyles

[Rav]

I'm seeing the same thing as Mr. Silverton when I open persdict.dat with
notepad.exe. They're all on one line, with what looks like an odd
character separating each entry. I just checked using a binary file
editor, and each word in that file ends with JUST a linefeed character.
Apparently, in order to work properly, notepad.exe expects each entry
to end with BOTH a carriage-return and a linefeed character. That is
the standard for text files (to terminate lines with both characters, in
that order). So it appears to me that persdict.dat is not a "standard"
text file.

[Dave Pyles]

It will open with each word on a separate line if you use Wordpad to
open it. Wordpad is in the Win 7 Accessories.

MS Notepad is a very poor choice for a text editor. I wish MS would
dump it. I recommend using one of the many other text editors that are
free on the web. Right now my text editor of choice is Notepad3 which
can be downloaded from
http://download.cnet.com/Notepad3/3000-2248_4-10855642.html

Dave Pyles

[James Silverton]

>>>Cile is a simple text file and is easy to edit with

>>> notepad.
>>>
>>> Dave Pyles
>>
>> I don't regard a file that opens in Notepad with no dividing marks
>> between the items as "easy to edit".
>>
> I have posted a screenshot of my persdict.dat file at
> http://acousticmusic.com/dict.jpg
>
> If the file you are opening doesn't look similar, then you are opening
> the wrong file. (Note: the line numbers are there because I opened it in
> notepad3 instead of MS Notepad.)
>
> Dave Pyles

Thanks for your persistence. I'm really a bit embarassed but I went to
C:\users\JVS\AppData\Roaming\mozilla\firefox\profiles\6jmvkk0z.default\persdict.dat

And the file opens in Notepad all in one line without dividers as I
said. Format> Word wrap helps some but the items don't seem to have any
dividers. Windows 7 refuses to let me use anything but Notepad. The
best I have been able to do is to copy the data into Word where the
items are on separate lines.

I'm still shaking my head :-)

[Dave Pyles]

Yeah, I saw that when I finally used Notepad to open the file after I
saw Rav's post. I gave up on Notepad long ago and now have Notepad3 set
as my default text editor. As I mentioned in my reply to Rav's post,
the file will also open in Wordpad with each word on a line. Wordpad is

in the Win 7 Accessories.

If you edit the file with Word or Wordpad, don't forget to save it as
plain text.

Dave Pyles

[Ron Hunter]

That is the name of your profile directory. And, yes, it seems to be
compressed. It used to be a standard text file.
n

[Ron Hunter]

When I display it with my text editor from the xplorer2 package, it
displays each item on a line. You might try another text editor, or
just use Word, but be sure to save it as .txt format.

[Ron Hunter]

That's because Notepad sucks. There are literally hundreds of free
replacements, and all of them are better (opinion).

[Ron Hunter]

Win7 will let you use any text editor you like. Go to the file manager,
and display the directory. Right-click on the file, you want, then
select 'open with', and at the bottom it will let you 'browse' for a
program to use.

[James Silverton]

Sorry to be stupid but what is the File Manager?

[Dave Pyles]

Sometimes better known as Windows Explorer. File Manager is actually a
better mane because people confuse Windows Explorer, which makes it easy
to navigate the files on your computer, and Internet Explorer, which is
a web browser.
Dave Pyles

[Ron Hunter]

Windows Explorer is the Win7 File Manager.

[Chris Ramsden]

All this long thread and no-one's noticed that the Spell Check window
itself provides an editor, which operates upon the persdict file. I'd
like to add a vote for Notepad++ if you have to work in Windows. Gedit
has no trouble with this file.

Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer are largely interchangeable. Type
an URL or a pathname into either; and very often when you think you're
in Windows Explorer, the titlebar actually says it's IE. ;)

[Ron Hunter]

On Win7, there is nothing in my title bar on Windows Explorer. IE and
Windows Explorer share some resident code, so it is rather hard to
define which is which.

Yes, the Spell Check window will let you add a word, if you call that an
editor. Sometimes it happens that you add a word and later find it is
not spelled correctly, and want to delete the word. I don't know of a
way to do that with the spell checker window.

[Steven Latus]

EditPad Lite is another excellent freeware text editor.