"No dictionary available" error (EdeavourOS / Arch Linux)

English
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#1

I’ve been using LibreOffice on my EndeavourOS Linux system since it was set up roughly 18 months ago. I have just realised that at some point, maybe the most recent LibreOffice update, the spell checker stopped working in Writer.

Writer itself runs fine but attempting to spellcheck a document fails with the error “no dictionary available”.

The LibreOffice installation is the libreoffice-fresh-en-gb package from the Arch “extra” repo.

I have checked that the settings under Tools->Options-> Languages and Locales->General have UK English set for-

  1. UI language
  2. Format (Locale)
  3. Default Language for Documents

I have searched this site and found at least one similar issue, but the recommended fix (installing “hunspell” dictionaries) was described as only being necessary for old versions of LibreOffice (back to v4).

What should I be checking to determine what is missing or broken?

**System Setup**
OS: EndeavourOS (Arch based), Kernel version 6.18.9-arch1-2 (64 bit)
Desktop: KDE Plasma 6.5.5 (Wayland)
LibreOffice: 26.2.0.3 (X86_64)
#2

Yes, but you have the Arch Linux distribution, not the version from the LO site.

Click Tools > Spelling, dismiss the Continue checking… dialogue and then click Options button.
At the bottom of the new dialogue is a link, Get more dictionaries online, click it.
In the new dialogue, start typing the language for which you want the dictionary or find it in the list. Click Install

#4

An observation- because (I assume) there are so many optional UI layouts for LibreOffice now, in the ribbon style UI spelling is under Review, not Tools.

So, does the “English (GB) language pack” (which is the description for the libreoffice-fresh-en-gb` repo package) NOT include the language dictionary?

Anyway, I followed the steps you recommended, installing the Oxford English (English. OED spelling (UK) dictionary. Results-

  • Hitting F7 for a spellcheck still brings up the “no dictionary available” error

  • In the spelling dialog the Text language in a newly created document is shown as [None], even though it should be defaulting to UK English. I can select the OED English option from the pulldown list, but each time I close and reopen the dialog it reverts to [None].

I’m guessing it is this last point that is now the problem? A UK English dictionary is installed, but the document language is [None], so that’s the dictionary language the system is trying to use.

#6

The Arch Linux distribution? Is this the one that loads as a default with Linux Mint? If it is, then I have several questions.

First, I tried to upgrade to 26.2, through Flatpak, and it worked, but caused some problems, including some weirdness with hyphenations, and others, some of which are not yet resolved. One of the problems was (is) that, apparently, the dictionaries remain as the ones appropriate for 24.2, which causes additional compatibility problems, such as the offline Help doesn’t work, even when downloaded from the LO website. Additionally, now the help doesn’t work even in my reinstalled 24.2 (I get a popup saying: "The LibreOffice built-in help for current UI language (English (USA)) is not installed on your computer). So, why would the 26.2 install not bring everything it needs with it. I have had to uninstall 26.2, and reinstall 24.2, through Flatpak. And, why wouldn’t LinuxOffice not offer an automatic upgrade when support for obsolete versions lapses?

EarnestAl
February 16

incans:

I have searched this site and found at least one similar issue, but the recommended fix (installing “hunspell” dictionaries) was described as only being necessary for old versions of LibreOffice (back to v4).

Yes, but you have the Arch Linux distribution, not the version from the LO site.

Click Tools > Spelling, dismiss the Continue checking… dialogue and then click Options button.
At the bottom of the new dialogue is a link, Get more dictionaries online, click it.
In the new dialogue, start typing the language for which you want the dictionary or find it in the list. Click Install

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#3

Both say hunspell…

This Endeavouros Forum topic addresses spelling or this LibreOffice arch wiki

#5

Ok that did it. Installing the hunspell-en_gb repo package got it working.

I have to say this isn’t obvious. It seems to me that the libreoffice-en-gb package needs to have hunspell-en_gb as a (possibly optional) dependency, as it isn’t fully functional without it.

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