Spellchecking in OmegaT 1.8

This (or something similar) will eventually make its way into the user manual. Meanwhile...

1. Click on Options > Spell checking...


2. Indicate where you want OmegaT to look for dictionaries.

This can of course be the directory where OpenOffice.org keeps his.

3. If there are valid dictionaries in that location, OmegaT will recognize them and will display them. If the dictionary you want to use is already there and visible to OmegaT, you're done. If that is not the case, proceed with the following:


4. Click on "Install". This takes a while because OmegaT gets a list of dictionaries from the internet.


5. OmegaT will display a list of dictionaries, click on the dictionaries you want to install (Cmd+click will do multiple selections on Mac, maybe Ctrl+click will do on other platforms).


6. After you have clicked "Install", the button will change of color and OmegaT will get the files from the internet and nothing noticeable will happen for a while. Just wait until the button reverts to its "normal" state.


7. Close.


8. The new dictionaries will be displayed in the dictionary list.


9. To use the dictionaries, make sure the language code of the target files corresponds to the dictionary's language code: an FR-FR dictionary will not work with an FR target setting. You need to change the setting to FR-FR to have the spellchecker recognize the correct dictionary for your target.

You don't have to use that interface to install new dictionaries.

Go to OpenOffice.org's dictionary download page and get the files you want.

Uncompress them in the directory specified in step 2) above.

If OmegaT does not notice them after that install, you can try reloading the project or restarting OmegaT.


Once you have started translating, OmegaT will produce a familiar red wavy underlining for words that are not included in the applied dictionary. A right-click on the word should produce a contextual menu that will display a number of candidates as well as a few options.

People who can't "right-click" because they only have one mouse button can use Command+Click to display the contextual menu. Those of you who have a recent Mighty Mouse from Apple should know that it is quite configurable. Check the System Preferences.

It is also possible to configure some touchpads to simulate a right-click when hitting them with 2 fingers at once. Check your preferences...