Spell Checking Dictionaries

There are two built-in spell checker engines available in <oXygen/>: Hunspell/MySpell and a Java spell checker. The two formats of spell dictionaries are different so you need different dictionary files for each spell checker.

The Hunspell Spell Checker

The spell checker used in OpenOffice, Mozilla and Chrome is also available in <oXygen/> which comes with the following built-in dictionaries: English (generic, United States, United Kingdom, Canada), French, German (generic, Germany), Spanish (generic, Spain).

To add a new spelling dictionary to <oXygen/> or to replace an existing one you should follow these steps.

• Download a spelling dictionary package that is compatible with the Hunspell/MySpell checker, for example from the OpenOffice.org website.
• Unzip the dictionary package on the local computer. The package is a zip archive even if the file extension of the package is not .zip.
• If it is a new dictionary (not available as built-in dictionary in <oXygen/>) copy the .aff and .dic files to the spell subfolder (.spell subfolder on Linux and Mac) of the <oXygen/> preferences folder. The preferences folder is found in [APPLICATION-DATA-FOLDER]/com.oxygenxml, where APPLICATION-DATA-FOLDER is:
  • C:\Documents and Settings\[LOGIN-USER-NAME]\Application Data on Windows XP;
  • C:\Users\[LOGIN-USER-NAME]\AppData\Roaming on Windows Vista;
  • [USER-HOME-FOLDER]/Library/Preferences on Mac OS X;
  • [USER-HOME-FOLDER] on Linux.
• If it is an existing dictionary you copy the .aff and .dic files into the folder [OXYGEN-INSTALL-FOLDER]/dicts.
• Restart the application after copy the dictionary files.

If you cannot find a dictionary for your language you can build a dictionary that is compatible with Hunspell. Suppose you have a list of correct words which you want to check in your documents when you run the Hunspell checker. You can build a dictionary following these instructions.

You can download one of the most used dictionaries from the following list. Make sure you read the README file that comes with each dictionary. If you don't accept the license terms for a dictionary please do not use it.

• English (United States) dictionary
• English (United Kingdom) dictionary
• English (Canada) dictionary
• English (Australia) dictionary
• French (France) dictionary (Classique & Réforme 1990)
• French (Gascon) dictionary
• German (Germany) dictionary
• German (Austria) dictionary
• German (Switzerland) dictionary
• Spanish (Spain) dictionary
• Spanish (Catalan) dictionary
• Spanish (Galician) dictionary
• Spanish (Mexico) dictionary
• Italian (Italy) dictionary
• Dutch (Netherlands) dictionary
• Czech (Czech Republic) dictionary
• Greek (Greece) dictionary
• Hebrew (Israel) dictionary

The Java Spell Checker

<oXygen/> provides built-in dictionaries only for the languages English (United States, Great Britain, Canada), French (France, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland) and German in the form of .dar files located in the directory [Oxygen-install-dir]/dicts.

Other dictionaries can be added by copying the corresponding dictionary to the directory [Oxygen-install-dir]/dicts and restarting <oXygen/>. A Java spell checker dictionary is a binary file with the .dar extension and is obtained by compiling a list of the correct words of a language using the Dictionary Builder tool. The user documentation is available together with the tool. If you compile a .dar file with this tool and you want to test it in <oXygen/> just copy the .dar file in the folder [Oxygen-install-dir]/dicts, restart <oXygen/> and make sure the Java spell checker is selected in Options -> Preferences -> Editor -> Spell Check -- Spell Checking engine.

The following dictionaries are available free of charge and can be installed in <oXygen/> for working with the Java spell checker:

• Hindi dictionary - by Zdenek Wagner. For additional information see: http://icebearsoft.euweb.cz/hindi-dict/.
• Czech dictionary - by Jirka Kosek. For additional information see: http://www.kosek.cz/sw/xxe/.