1. Introduction
2. The Tutorial
3. What's OpenOffice?

Introduction

Before you all rant at me and tell me that there is a wizard to install dictionaries for you, it can sometimes not work. I know this because on my copy of OpenOffice Writer, it doesn't.

This tutorial is very easy to follow and it's for those whose wizard is broking, just like mine or people who like to be difficult and do things the hard way

The Tutorial

1. Open the directory in which you installed OpenOffice. For people operating under Windows, this is by default in C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org %VERSION NUMBER%
   
2. From there, go to \share\dict\ooo\
   
   

   ---

   If you have not already downloaded the dictionary files then you should download and unzip them manually from
   
   http://lingucomponent.openoffice.org/download_dictionary.html
   
   On that page, look under the heading, List of Dictionaries for Manual Installation

   ---

   .
   
   
3. Copy the dictionary files into the aforementioned directory, making a mental note of its filename.
   
4. Open the dictionary.lst file in that directory with a text-editor like notepad and follow the instructions from there. If you cannot see them, here they are in English:
   
   
   QUOTE
   # List of All Dictionaries to be Loaded by OpenOffice
   # ---------------------------------------------------
   # Each Entry in the list have the following space delimited fields
   #
   # Field 1: Entry Type "DICT" - spellchecking dictionary
   # "HYPH" - hyphenation dictionary
   # "THES" - thesaurus files
   #
   # Field 2: Language code from Locale "en" or "de" or "pt" ...
   #
   # Field 3: Country Code from Locale "US" or "GB" or "PT"
   #
   # Field 4: Root name of file(s) "en_US" or "hyph_de" or "th_en_US
   # (do not add extensions to the name)
   
   
   Save the file.
   
   
   
5. Either:
   
   • Save all work. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del and select Task Manager. Click the Processes tab and terminate soffice.bin and soffice.exe.
     
     Or:
     
     
   • Restart your computer.
6. Upon reopening of OpenOffice, your dictionaries will be installed.

What's OpenOffice?

OpenOffice is a free 80MB office suite available online for download at openoffice.org.

 

 

 

Reply

Yeah, I heard of OpenOffice. It's cool. Being made of Java technology, it is amazingly stable, albeit rather slow. But it has all of the features supported by Microsoft Office, and a few of it's own. And the best thing is, it's FREE! So you got nothing to lose. Plus, it's just a two-step registration process, and you have supporton hand 24/7.

Of course, being free software that is continually tested by the general public, it can have problems, like the one you mentioned here with the dictionary wizard faulting. In truth, OpenOffice will never be as good as Microsoft Office, but there are many points where it exceeds Microsoft entirely. OpenOffice has potential.

Your tutorial is very helpful. Many of my friends are having problems with their dictionaries in OpenOffice too, so it's good to be able to know how to help them . Keep up the good work!

Reply

Nice tutorial my friend, This is a first time that i heared about OpenOffice, Tell me about some features related to this, Will this is equivalent to Microsoft Office as their package contain alot of programs?

Which Company have have the original Liscence for this software?

Reply

StarDivision had the original license for the software:

http://about.openoffice.org/index.html#history

Well the program has a "word", a "powerpoint", an "access", an "excel", a drawing program and an advanced calculator. One of the things I find annoying about it though is that it doesn't have a "publisher", the nearest thing is "draw".

Everything you could ever want to know about is available on their website. The program is really good if you like free things or are a low-budget student:

http://openoffice.org

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