Bug 92150 - spell checking does not work
Summary: spell checking does not work
Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: LibreOffice (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
4.4.3.2 release
Hardware: Other Windows (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2015-06-18 11:25 UTC by Jacques
Modified: 2015-06-25 19:57 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Content of /LibreOffice4/share/extensions (15.40 KB, image/png)
2015-06-21 15:35 UTC, Jacques
Details
Content of /dict-en directory (20.83 KB, image/png)
2015-06-21 19:41 UTC, Jacques
Details

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.
Description Jacques 2015-06-18 11:25:34 UTC
This seems to be a very old problem, and it is still not fixed.
My previous versions never had this problem, and since upgrading to Version: 4.4.3.2 spell checking does not work. 
There are some convoluted fixes in some forums (such as deleting default language, and changing), but none of them worked either -- e.g. conflicts between different English dialects.
So what is the fix, please? 
Thanks
Comment 1 Buovjaga 2015-06-21 15:09:39 UTC
If you go into your folder C:\Program Files (x86)\LibreOffice 4\share\extensions
is there a dictionary for your language?

Set to NEEDINFO.
Change back to UNCONFIRMED after you have provided the information.
Comment 2 Jacques 2015-06-21 15:35:51 UTC
Created attachment 116708 [details]
Content of /LibreOffice4/share/extensions

There is an EN dictionary in this directory /LibreOffice4/share/extensions (with backslashes, obviously). Screenshot attached.
Comment 3 Joel Madero 2015-06-21 15:42:59 UTC
Removing highest - please don't prioritize your own bugs - it's impossible to be objective
Comment 4 Joel Madero 2015-06-21 15:44:58 UTC
Can you describe the issue clearer - what do you mean there is a conflict between different English dialects? What dialects are you referring to? You also suggests forums talk about the issue but don't provide links to any of those. With the given information it's really impossible to confirm the issue.

1) Your OS;
2) What dialects;
3) Reproducible steps;
4) What forums
Comment 5 Jacques 2015-06-21 16:14:53 UTC
Let me clarify the problem.
I used LibreOffice on my Apple for several years - with no Spellcheck problems.

January this year I was forced to switch to a Win 7 box, but Spellcheck never worked. 

When running the Spellcheck, the Window pops up: "The spell check is complete". But it has not checked the spelling.  

So I tried to find a solution on forums, and noticed that this has been a problem since 2012 and even earlier -- e.g. http://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/1678/spell-checking-not-working-in-v342/ - although more on Ubuntu etc.

After much searching, in found some non-doc-foundation forums where it was suggested that to fix this bug, one should follow some cumbersome steps of which the details I now cannot remember. It involved changing the language settings in Options, restart, and then do it again for the preferred language. That did not work for my system.


So I posted here.

What I still need to try is to revert back to an older version and see if Spellcheck works there. Also, it might be a Win 7 problem -- which is the worse OS I have ever used.... :(
Comment 6 Buovjaga 2015-06-21 16:23:09 UTC
Just to be sure, do the dictionary folders in share\extensions actually contain stuff like .dic files etc., or do they just have a META-INF subfolder while being otherwise empty?
Comment 7 Jacques 2015-06-21 19:41:03 UTC
Created attachment 116715 [details]
Content of /dict-en directory

The directory is not empty - see screenshot.
Comment 8 Joel Madero 2015-06-21 20:13:34 UTC
The information requested still is not provided. Marking as NEEDINFO again - please read all comments and address all questions. This is almost certainly a user error and not a bug (in which case you can ask the user forum or ask.libreoffice.org for assistance). With tens of millions of users, many of which are using Windows, we'd likely know if spell check was just not working at all.

Mark as UNCONFIRMED only after addressing all points - including beluga's questions in his last post.
Comment 9 Joel Madero 2015-06-21 20:14:12 UTC
Apologies - I see the last response - marking as UNCONFIRMED again. My fault.
Comment 10 Bob 2015-06-24 20:46:58 UTC
Spell check on Win 7 is BROKEN!!!
The OP is correct in that this happens repeatedly. The only way to "Fix" the problem is to *Completely Uninstall" Libre Office, then reinstall. However, this fix is *temporary*! After a period of time, the Hunspell Spell checker disappears, the Icon next to selected language disappears, and the *Spell* *Check* *no* *Longer* *Functions*

It appears that the developers *Just* *Do* *Not* *Want* *To* *Be* *Troubled* *By* *This* *Persistent* *and* *Reoccurring* *Bug*

Libre Office Version: 4.3.6.2
Build ID: d50a87b2e514536ed401c18000dad4660b6a169e
OS Name	Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Version	6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
Other OS Description 	Not Available
OS Manufacturer	Microsoft Corporation
System Name	XXXX
System Manufacturer	To be filled by O.E.M.
System Model	To be filled by O.E.M.
System Type	x64-based PC
Processor	AMD FX(tm)-6100 Six-Core Processor, 3300 Mhz, 3 Core(s), 6 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date	American Megatrends Inc. 2202, 12/12/2013
SMBIOS Version	2.7
Windows Directory	C:\Windows
System Directory	C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device	\Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale	United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer	Version = "6.1.7601.17514"
User Name	XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Time Zone	Mountain Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM)	16.0 GB
Total Physical Memory	15.9 GB
Available Physical Memory	11.8 GB
Total Virtual Memory	31.8 GB
Available Virtual Memory	27.2 GB
Page File Space	15.9 GB
Page File	C:\pagefile.sys
Comment 11 Joel Madero 2015-06-24 20:54:07 UTC
The superfluous stuff really doesn't help at all - our project is powered by volunteers, they fix what they want to fix. If you want to fix it, the code is available for you to do so.

I still don't see the information required to actually reproduce this issue....while you pushed it forward to NEW without providing steps to reproduce, your locale, or really any other useful information.

I'm leaving it as NEW - but without clear repro steps, it's less likely that any developer is ever going to look at it.
Comment 12 Jacques 2015-06-25 07:33:46 UTC
Thank you for replies.

And thank you very much to the extreme to the volunteers building and fixing LO.

I suspect something was changed between Version 4 and previous versions (which did not have the bug). BTW, V4 works fine on Linux and on Apple. 

I have also experienced problems porting other programs from older Windows versions to Win 7. That was due to the change in the path where user data is stored. This resulted in among other things that Thunderbird email user directories no longer work, as the paths do not match.
I have not investigated this for LO - could this perhaps be a similar problem?

jq
Comment 13 Buovjaga 2015-06-25 08:30:11 UTC
(In reply to Jacques from comment #12)
> I have also experienced problems porting other programs from older Windows
> versions to Win 7. That was due to the change in the path where user data is
> stored. This resulted in among other things that Thunderbird email user
> directories no longer work, as the paths do not match.
> I have not investigated this for LO - could this perhaps be a similar
> problem?

Well, there is the possibility of user profile corruption: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/User_Profile#Resolving_corruption_in_the_user_profile

I've seen a profile reset work in all sorts of weird problems.
Comment 14 Pedro 2015-06-25 08:45:10 UTC
(In reply to Jacques from comment #12)
> I have also experienced problems porting other programs from older Windows
> versions to Win 7. That was due to the change in the path where user data is
> stored. This resulted in among other things that Thunderbird email user
> directories no longer work, as the paths do not match.
> I have not investigated this for LO - could this perhaps be a similar
> problem?

Paths did not change unless you updated directly from version 3.x to 4.4. In that case upgrading did have a problem with installed extensions.

Could you please open your About dialog (under menu Help > About) and then copy and paste here the 3 lines of information starting from "Version:"?
I assume (from the screenshots) your Windows 7 is x64

You seem to be in/from South Africa so I would recommend installing extension
http://extensions.libreoffice.org/extension-center/afrikaans-spell-checker
and see if that fixes your problems.

The same problem will probably happen when you upgrade to 5.x if bug #92245 is not fixed until then.

Please report back. Help us to help you ;)
Comment 15 Jacques 2015-06-25 09:40:15 UTC
Beluga:
Thanks a mill. Renaming User solved the problem.

But this does not mean the bug is solved.
At least we now know the nature of the problem.

Pedro:
Copied from Help | About:
Version: 4.4.3.2
Build ID: 88805f81e9fe61362df02b9941de8e38a9b5fd16
Locale: en_ZA
Comment 16 Buovjaga 2015-06-25 19:55:04 UTC
(In reply to Jacques from comment #15)
> Beluga:
> Thanks a mill. Renaming User solved the problem.
> 
> But this does not mean the bug is solved.
> At least we now know the nature of the problem.

User profile corruption is an unfortunate thing and can lead to wildly different problems. Sadly we don't at this moment have a tool for comparing profiles.

Closing as WFM.
Comment 17 Buovjaga 2015-06-25 19:57:15 UTC
Jacques: you could zip up your old, problematic profile and attach it here. Then it might be investigated somehow (personally I have no idea how).