Reset your user profile. See https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/F... - important: rename the folder, don't delete it. Resetting the user profile solves many problems.
You have to assign a language to your text, or the spell checker won't work. You can do that in tools - Options - Language settings - Languages - Default Languages for Documents. But you cal also modify the Default paragraph style, select the Font tab and select a language there.
Please note that the spell checker doesn't automatically correct any errors, it just highlights them. Lowercase changing to uppercase is Autocorrect's work. Take a look at Tools - Autocorrect - Autocorrect options to see what it will do for you (and disable anything that you don't like).
EDIT: Make sure that hunspell is also ticked, that's the actual spell checking module. There's a bug in Apache OpenOffice, and maybe in Libre as well, that messes up spell checking for files created in Windows Explorer (the file manager, not the Internet browser). Can you get the spell checking to work in files created within Writer? If you can, upload a sample file for testing purposes.
You can also try Tutorial Spell check and Language configuration - and check in at that forum to get more help. When you register, you need to provide a (fake) version of OpenOffice that you use, a trick to defeat spam bots.
When I go to >Options - Language Settings - Writing Aids< the only module shown is "Lightproof grammar checker (English)
Hunspell is not there under Writing aids or anywhere elsse.Lacking any further instructions on how to install Hunspell into the list I guess that I am to select Edit - get more dictionaries online but find I am unable to find Hunspell. Please tell how to find and install Hunspell . . . .Thanks.
I deleted the previous version of LO and installed a new one - nothing has changed. Both downloads were from www.Libreoffice.org/download
Still no hunspell module? It seems to me that direct access to your computer is necessary to solve this. That means: ask a friend who is more comfortable with computers than you are to sort this out. Questions can be asked at http://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/ (easier comnnumication than here, for registration you have to add a (phoney) version of OpenOffice).
In my case, all of the above tips checked out as "working". Safe Mode showed the problem wasn't with my profile, the Language Options were set correctly.
It turns out that my specific problem was that I'd selected Canadian English as my default language, but sudo apt policy hunspell-en-* indicated that only the US English dictionary was installed. sudo apt install hunspell-en-ca fixed my problem. I restarted Libre Office Write after installing the dictionary just in case, I'm not sure if that step was needed or not.
This problem was particularly vexing because the spell check claimed to be working but never flagged any of the purposefully wrongly spelled test words so very clearly wasn't working. Just "Spell check complete" every time. As a programmer, functionality should never fail and be able to claim success.
I'm not sure how my system got into this situation, but I have a theory. I wiped and reinstalled from scratch Ubuntu 18.04 a few months ago. Then I restored various data from backup, including a number of spreadsheets and documents. I suspect that on my pre-wipe system, when I set Canadian English, it auto-installed the proper dictionary. When I opened an old document on my post-wipe system, the old settings in the document were used to update my new fresh profile, but the proper dictionary install step was not done.
Posted in case this helps someone else.
Thank you studog. You solved my problem! I had the exact same issue and could not figure out what was wrong. Changing settings had no effect at all, but once I installed hunspell-en-ca everything worked properly. I agree that the absence of any warnings or error messages makes the problem especially confusing.
I am a new user who has poured over the questions and answers with no success.
LO version 5.2.3.3 MS Windows 10 with current updates. The spell checker never worked except once there appeared a squiggly line under a word but it wouldn't give me a suggestion and has never done it again. Typing a sentence with obvious errors then selecting "Tools/Spelling and Grammar" results the message: "Spellcheck is complete". Selecting Tools/Language - gets a check mark for English (USA) and no others.
Looking in: "Tools->Options ..., Language Settings->Writing Aids" Items with checks are the following:
Lightproof grammar checker English.
Standard all English. en US english USA. Technical all. IgnoreAllList all.
Check spelling as you type. Check uppercase words. Check special regions. Minimum number . . . . . 5 Characters before . . . . 2 Characters after. . . . . . 2 Hyphenate special regions.
You say "Repost as a question" then say "You can't have more than one specific question in one thread." That only serves to further confuse me. My second posting was not a question but was an attempt to supply more information as I was told. (???) Doesn't the information I posted answer your questions? Also how do I turn on "Hunspell spell checker"?
Asked: 2016-11-22 07:16:10 +0200
Seen: 34,650 times
Last updated: Jul 10 '20
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Have you checked in
Tools->Options ...,Language Settings->Writing Aidsthat the modules, dictionaries and desired options are enabled?Please provide more information for questions like this. Like: has it worked before but is this a sudden change in behavior of Libre, or have you just installed it and doesn't it work out of the box, like that. If you are completely new to LibreOffice, you don't need to reset the user profile as in my answer.
Mine did not work. I downloaded the extension for English (USA) which was part of the latest bundle and installed the bundle and I think I added English (USA) to my dictionaries. Still it did not work. I searched here and found all the options suggested in the other answers were checked already including hunspell. So then I changed from the default English USA to this one I had downloaded in the Options > Language Settings > Languages > Default Languages for Documents. Then after Libre Office restarted, it worked.
I had to make sure LibreOffice knew my text was English. Select all text, right click > Styles > Edit Style. Click the Font tab. Don't change the font, just change the language to "English (USA)"
You can make this automatic for new documents in the Options menu, as Stephen Mikesell notes above.
This Worked! My LibreOffice had been working great for years, then suddenly the spell checker just gave me blank forms. I did the "Writing Aids" but it didn't help me. The "Default Languages" was set to German. I don't know how that happened, but I speak English (American Southern Style!). That change fixed it. THANK YOU!