Word X Spell check OS X Says complete, nothing corrected

[Guest]

Aloha! I recenlty upgraded my imac to Tiger (10.4.2) but still have my
original Microsoft Office with Word X Microsoft {Mac Service Release 1 is the
version.} from before the upgrade.

Before the update to Tiger Spell Check worked fine. Now, Spell check does
not catch any misspelled words. It instantly says "spell check complete" but
nothing has happened.

I have read the other posts on this problem, but the solutions do not work
for me. (is it beause of the OS or version of Word I have?)

Having marked selected text in my document (and also doing this as a "select
all") I have gone to Tools>Language. English US is the default (as I
desire) and the "No Proofing" is not marked in any way, not with blue dashes
or solid. Just to be sure, I reselected English US and told it once again to
make it the default.

I have gone into Format>Style and it reads US English.

I have gone into System Preferences>International>English is at the top of
the list and the Stars & Stripes wave on the menu bar.

I have quit and reopened Word after doing these things. I have restarted
my computer after doing these things. I have opened old documents from
before my upgrade to Tiger (ones that spell check had corrected previously
(on the old OS.)

Now, when I add some wrong letters to existing words and click spell check
Spell check does not catch the new errors. Just says spell check complete" as
with new docs.

I have also opened new documents based on the "new" normal default I have
created. Spell check does not correct those errors either.

NOTHING WORKS! Spell check simply doesn't do it's job. No spell check is
"complete" although it says it is. (All my documents are having problems,
old, new, and previously checked alright on the old OS.....)

(oh, for good measure, I'll mention that in Word>Perferences I have "check
spelling as you type" and "check grammar as you type." That is not
underlining mistakes or fixing them along the way either.) It will change the
first letter of a sentence to capital as selected. (The spell check in the
built in program (Tiger) Mail program works fine, though, if that matters).

I cannot be without Spell Check. And, of course, Theasaurus doens't work
either (however you spell it!).

Lastly, I did a software update just for good measure. And I repaired disk
permissions.
Can you or some one out there reading this please help me. I don't know
why the fix for this might be different for Tiger than the older versions,
but I have someone out there has writtten a fix for this version of the
problem.

I am just drawing at straws, but can the basic spell check dictionary become
uninstalled somehow? (how to fix?)

I have never written to any kind of a group or MVP before. I hope you have
everything needed to look into this.

Any help you can give would be most welcome. Mahalo (thanks!) and Aloha
from the 50th.

Kathleen

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Hi Kathleen,

For questions about Word misbehaving or crashing, rather than the internal
workings of Word, it's really better to go to the Mac-specific newsgroup:
See here for Google/Entourage gateway to newsgroups for MacWord, MacExcel,
and other MS programs for the Mac:
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/community/community.aspx?pid=newsgroups>

I'd suggest you repost over there for extra input. The standard MacWord
spelling fixes are here:
http://daiya.mvps.org/spelling.htm
And it sounds like you've checked most of them--though read the page and
make sure.

I am just drawing at straws, but can the basic spell check dictionary become
uninstalled somehow? (how to fix?)

That's what it sounds like--conceivably the Tiger upgrade wiped out some
files? That's a new one to me, though. On the link above, look at "Check
Spelling in a Different Language" and use the instructions there to see if
the English proofing tools are installed. If they are not, a custom
installation of them from the CD might fix this.

The spellcheck in Mail is completely separate.

Standard troubleshooting tips are listed here--I'm not sure any of them
would work. Remove and Reinstall would certainly work, but it may be worth
trying to chase down the source first.
http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/TroubleshootingIndex.htm
(hit refresh a few times in Safari, or use a different browser)

Thanks for your very complete message.

Daiya Mitchell, MVP Mac/Word
Word FAQ: http://www.word.mvps.org/
MacWord Tips: <http://www.word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/>
What's an MVP? A volunteer! Read the FAQ:

 

[Guest]

Thanks Daiya,

Still looking for the answer. I just posted to the other site you
suggested. (>
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/community/community.aspx?pid=newsgroups>)

Along my searching I had already read the article by you and I can see that
you know an awful lot. I did try all those suggestions (even ones beyond the
scope of my problem, just in case. Nothing yet.

I will let you know if I learn something that helps. Mahalo--