Spelling help

On my computer i use Microsoft windows 7 Home edition and for some reason when I am typing a letter I no longer get a wrong spelling highlighted, with options of the spelling and word used.
Can some one go thro the process of reactivating this tool please. please remember I am 86yo and never was much good with computers.

Hi there, Iā€™m assuming you have an old version of word so try this

open word doc
click on ā€œFileā€ tab top left
click on ā€œoptionsā€ 2nd from bottom on left hand side
this will open up new window
click on ā€œproofingā€
is there a tick in the box that says ā€œcheck spelling as you typeā€?

Unfortunately I am on OPEN OFFICE 4.1.3

This should help

Hi Pollyanna,

I always have a decent version of the Collinā€™s English Dictionary by my computer.
ā€œOld Schoolā€ Canā€™t beat it!
Regards

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I was gonna say the OED but the Collins is good too!

Try pressing the F7 key. Works on Apache OpenOffice I think, which is probably what you have going by the version number.

There are two main forks of OpenOffice now, the Apache OpenOffice and LibreOffice.

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I moved from Open Office to Libre Office a few years ago.

LO allows comprehensive configuration of almost every possible aspect of the ā€˜officeā€™ environment on the machine, including spelling. The default config is suitable for most people, but the options are there.

It has lots of other nice features.

But I still use an updated old version (2003) of Word for most writing because it is much quicker to load, simpler, and is fast as well, and I can work around the bugs Iā€™ve identified in it. Later versions have the same bugs plus others and I find them less friendly.

Mine is the Readers Digest Wordpower Dictionary from about 40 years ago.

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I wouldnā€™t trust anything with a missing apostrophe in its title ā€¦ Itā€™s Readersā€™ Digest

That is why I need the spell checker. the best I have got is F7.

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I think itā€™s actually Readerā€™s Digestā€¦

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Iā€™ve looked online and that appears to be Apacheā€™s Open Office version, so I think the information online will hold true:

Under the Tools Menu, you should have a toggle to turn on Automatic Spellcheck, failing this the online documentation site also mentions an icon on the top toolbar to toggle automatic spellcheck:

Additionally, Libre-Office has both the Tools Menu toggle, and also the hot key set up as Shift+F7. As both products stem from the original Sun/Oracle Open Office, that hot key might be the same in your version of Open Office, and itā€™s a bit easier than rooting through the menus.

Libre-Office has its auto-correct options in its Options>Language Settings>Writing Aids, again itā€™s possible the options/preferences window in your Open Office is of a similar setup.

Hope that helps :slight_smile:

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Happy with either- Iā€™d assumed the reference to readers was plural . Wouldnā€™t be surprised if only one were left - awful rag :grinning:

They did issue some good books and record (LP) sets though! :smiley: :+1:

You might need to get someone to upgrade your version of Windows. On the launch of Windows 11 last Tuesday, Windows 7 no longer be supported. This means that you will no longer have security updates which leaves your computer increasingly vulnerable to malicious attack.

Didnā€™t they stop supporting Windows 7 in Jan 2020?

Can you give me some idea of what is involved to upgrade to windows 10 please?

I suppose I should have typed Windows 11?

First thing would be to find out whether your Windows 7 machine is a high enough specification to run Windows 10/11 successfully.