Setting Mac Word to use GB Dictionary

Question

Level 1

54 points

Setting Mac Word to use GB Dictionary

Hi there,

I’m having lot’s of problems setting the Word dictionary to UK English. I have seen several posts on this subject on the forum and yet there is no definitive solution or none of the solutions described have worked for me.

I have selected British English as default in the system preferences panel (although I don’t think this is necessary), and I have selected en_GB.dic as my (only) option in Word preferences. I also have British English as my keyboard.

But if I type, for example, organize, it doesn’t change it to the UK spelling of organise. Color, counselor as further examples are accepted as correct and many other words.

I think that even though I have the GB dictionary selected, it is either;

not checking words against that dictionary,
checking words against that dictionary but the dictionary is US and not GB, or,
the document itself is not set up as UK language.

Is there a way to check the language of the document (as in MS Word where the document language appears at the bottom left)? I have used the instructions from an apple post somewhere about setting up a style key to use UK-English but sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t - I’m not sure why. The easiest solution would be to have the GB dictionary as default!

I have also noticed that when I use TextEdit, any words I spell using US English are automatically changed to British English which is exactly what I’m after in Mac Word.

I tried to find a GB dictionary I could download and a Wiki link I found is not available and I couldn’t find anything more on this so I reached a dead end on that.

Is there a way to maybe delete the US dictionary or edit it manually with British English spelling (worth the trouble to solve this problem!!) or maybe fool the Mac by replacing the US dictionary with another UK dictionary or the same one I must already have on my Mac?

Thanks,

Maz

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8), ... and I love it ...

Posted on May 20, 2014 1:10 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jul 21, 2017 12:06 AM in response to Maz K

Good day,

Naturally the method used depends upon the version of MS Word you are using. The following is in relation to MS Word version 15.63 (Office 365).

Step 1. With a word doc open click on the review tab.

Step 2. Click on the Language button to show the following dialogue box.

Step 3 (Very important) Select the language of choice and then click on Default... button.

Click yes and you should be sorted from now on.

Hope this helps

Hoffy

Reply

Answer 2

Jan 31, 2017 3:00 AM in response to Maz K

Hi there. I've had the same problem for some time and I couldn't fix it so decided to use Pages instead. However, I have to use MS Word for sharing documents with colleagues. Did you find a way to change to GB Enlish once and for all, or do you have to change the language in each document you open?

I've tried making the change in Normal.dotx but it doesn't seem to save this change.

Many thanks for any help if anyone still follows this thread.

Reply

Answer 3

Maz K Author

Level 1

54 points

Jan 31, 2017 7:18 AM in response to AlStewart69

Hi there,

I think I have it set to default to GB dictionary and what I have noticed is that if I copy a word from another document that's in US dictionary format, my GB document changes to US format!!! So I CTRL A the document, and then set to English UK...

Regarding the "practice" word and the problems I'm having with it, I have also noticed another word that I just can't figure out why the H there would be a problem with it as it's spelt the same in US and UK English. The word is "connection" and its plural. No matter how often I add the word to the dictionary, it marks it as an error.

Maz

Reply

Answer 4

Jan 31, 2017 7:29 AM in response to Maz K

Hi Maz,

Thanks for replying, particularly so long after your original post.

I've been using Pages for so long now, I almost forgot why I stopped using MS Word in the first place. It's patently clear again now.

I know there are workarounds, but they shouldn't be necessary in a production release of software, particularly as English (UK) is hardly a niche language.

I can't seem to get it to accept English (UK) as default language. I have to deselect English (US) and select English (UK) it every time I start a new document or, as you say, copy & paste something from another document.

Ho hum, life goes on 😉

Reply

Answer 5

Maz K Author

Level 1

54 points

Jan 31, 2017 7:35 AM in response to AlStewart69

I seem to remember a workaround for that but I'm not sure of the exact details.

It was something to do with creating a new template in the English UK format and each time you wanted to create a new document, you selected that template and it would default to UK English. I'll try and hunt around the net to see if I can find it again but to be honest, it shouldn't have to be like this. Once you set English UK as default language, that should be it.

I'll look for it anyway... give me a day or two!

Maz

Reply

Answer 6

Maz K Author

Level 1

54 points

Jan 31, 2017 8:27 AM in response to AlStewart69

Hi again,

Something along the line of https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Change-the-default-settings-for-new-doc uments-430b4132-e129-46e4-97d2-19c326352c7f

but I also remember that you could set something up in the STYLES menu... Define a style that includes English UK assist default language and whenever you create a new document, just press that selection. I can't find the way this was done but maybe someone else can help on this.

Maz

Reply

Answer 7

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

May 20, 2014 2:30 AM in response to Maz K

The problem is not the dictionary, it is MS's apps inability to conform (Excel does the same thing) Have you checked or asked on Microsoft Office forums?

Reply

Answer 8

Maz K Author

Level 1

54 points

May 20, 2014 2:41 AM in response to Csound1

Thanks for that....

Yes... that would actually explain a lot!

I don't think I will bother with the MS O forum as the British English style button I set up works (even after a few attempts) and I was hoping that this could be solved with a check button here or there but it looks like this isn't the case.

Thank you for your reply,

Maz

Reply

Answer 9

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

May 20, 2014 5:50 AM in response to Maz K

Do you have Tools > Language set to English (UK)?

Reply

Answer 10

Maz K Author

Level 1

54 points

May 20, 2014 6:33 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Hi Tom,

Yes I do. I have this...

and I would have thought that as I have the GB dictionary selected, it would have corrected these words below, but it only highlights "color" without auto-correcting it (unlike TextEdit that does), and also, it recognises that "colour" is correct and "organise" is correct but also thinks that "organize" is as well because it hasn't highlighted it.

This puzzles me because if it's an MS Office problem related to recognising dictionaries, it shouldn't underline "color" (US dictionary) but instead, underline "colour" (GB dictionary). Likewise with "organise".

Maz

Reply

Answer 11

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

May 20, 2014 6:39 AM in response to Maz K

Type the same word list into an Apple program, what happens then?

Reply

Answer 12

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

May 20, 2014 6:57 AM in response to Maz K

I suggest you UNcheck the box that says "Do not check spelling..."

Word and TextEdit use totally different spellcheck systems (MS vs Apple), so there is not actually any reason they should always act the same.

When Tools > Language is set to English (UK), then having "color" underlined in red is the expected behavior (because it is misspelled). -ize and -ise can sometimes both be correct in UK English. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_spelling

Regarding autocorrect, have you gone to Tools > Autocorrect > Autocorrect and made sure the box is checked for "automatically use suggestions from the spelling checker"?

Reply

Answer 13

Maz K Author

Level 1

54 points

May 20, 2014 7:58 AM in response to Csound1

Hi there Csound and Tom,

Thanks Csound, this is what I get if I use Pages -

The first word was typed as 'color' and was autocorrected, and the last word is going to be autocorrected;

And thanks Tom, I tried the Autocorrect feature and it underlined "color" and left 'organize' as it was because, like you say, it may be accepted as being correct.

So it looks like we are getting some results! My next question is whether it's possible to edit the dictionary?

Many thanks,

Maz

Reply

Answer 14

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

May 20, 2014 8:49 AM in response to Maz K

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/mac-word-help/use-a-custom-dictionary-HA102927 426.aspx

Reply

Answer 15

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

May 20, 2014 9:04 AM in response to Maz K

When testing autocorrect, use "harbor" instead of "color".

With "color" and other words that may have more than one correction you have to control click on the underlined word, go to autocorrect, and select the right one so it will work the next time.

Pages, like TextEdit, uses a totally different spellcheck/autocorrect system than Word does.

Reply