Troubleshooting Spell Checking in Mail Clients

Last reviewed: December 17, 1997
Article ID: Q154878

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Internet Mail and News version 1.0 for Windows 95
Microsoft Outlook Express version 4.0 for Windows 95
Microsoft Outlook Express version 4.0 for Windows NT 4.0

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, you should first make a backup copy of the registry files (System.dat and User.dat). Both are hidden files in the Windows folder.

SUMMARY

This article provides basic troubleshooting steps that you can use if you encounter problems with spell checking in Internet Mail and News 1.0 and Outlook Express 4.0.

MORE INFORMATION

Internet Mail and News and Outlook Express use the 32-bit shared spelling engine (if it is available). For example, Microsoft Works 4.0 and the Microsoft Office for Windows 95 products install the 32-bit shared spelling engine. If a program does not have a public application programming interface (API) for its spelling checker, Internet Mail and News and Outlook Express cannot use that program's spelling checker.

To locate problems with spell checking in Internet Mail and News or Outlook Express, you need to determine the following items:

Is spelling available?
What language is being used?

Determining If Spell Checking Is Available

If spell checking is available in Internet Mail and News, the Check Spelling command is available on the Mail menu and the Spelling tab appears in the Options dialog box.

If spell checking is available in Outlook Express, the Spelling command is available on the Tools menu and the Spelling tab appears in the Options dialog box.

If these are not available, spell checking is disabled or the dictionary file or 32-bit spell checking engine is missing or damaged.

How Internet Mail and News and Outlook Express Enables Spell Checking

Internet Mail and News and Outlook Express determines whether or not to enable spell checking by using the following steps:

The language to be used is determined. This results in a "language ID," which is a 4-digit code.
The language ID is used to determine from the registry what dictionary and spelling engine to load. The key that is used is
```
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Proofing Tools\
      Spelling\<XXXX>\Normal.
```
where <XXXX> is the appropriate 4-digit language ID.
Two values are in this registry key: "Dictionary," which contains a full path to the dictionary file for that language, and "Engine," which contains a full path to the 32-bit spell checking engine.
If these values are present, spell checking is enabled.
If either the Dictionary or Engine value is missing from the registry under the determined language, spell checking is disabled.
If either of the files pointed to by the above values cannot be opened, spelling is enabled, but does not work.

Determining the Language Used

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall Windows 95. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

NOTE: For information about how to edit the registry, view the Changing Keys And Values online Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe). Note that you should make a backup copy of the registry files (System.dat and User.dat) before you edit the registry.

Look at the

   SpellLangID

value under the following registry key:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Mail and News

If this contains a string consisting of 4 digits, it is used as the language ID. You can use this string to force the use of a particular language.

If this value does not exist, the default language (as determined by the GetUserDefaultLangID function) is used.

If the dictionary cannot be found based on this registry key, all of the keys under

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Proofing
   Tools\Spelling

are enumerated to determine if they can be used. The first 4-digit code that is found is used, even if it does not contain valid engine and dictionary values.

Language codes include:

   Language            Code
   ------------------------
   American            1033
   Australian          3081
   British             2057
   Catalan             1027
   Czechoslovakian     1029
   Danish              1030
   Dutch               1043
   Finnish             1035
   French              1036
   FrenchCanadian      3084
   German              1031
   Greek               1032
   Hungarian           1038
   Italian             1040
   NorskBokmal         1044
   NorskNynorsk        2068
   Polish              1045
   PortBrazil          1046
   PortIberian         2070
   Russian             1049
   Spanish             1034
   Swedish             1053
   Turkish             1055

If the language determined by using the steps above does not match the language of the dictionary installed, either install the correct dictionary, or modify the registry keys to match the versions correctly.

The

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Proofing Tools\
   Custom Dictionaries

registry key contains a string value named "1" that has a path to the custom dictionary. Spell checking works if this value is not present and the custom dictionary is created (in the Windows\Msapps\Proof folder). If this value contains an invalid path, spell checking does not start.

Microsoft Works 4.0

If you install Microsoft Works version 4.0, Works Setup sets the path to the custom dictionary to C:\Windows\Msapps\Proof\Custom.dic in the following registry key:

   Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Proofing Tools\
   Custom Dictionaries

The path should actually be:

   C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Proof\Custom.dic

Use Registry Editor to set this path for the key listed above. This allows the system to find the spelling engine, which makes it available for use in Internet Mail and News.

KBCategory: kbtshoot
KBSubcategory: inetmailw95 inetnewsw95
Additional reference words: 1.00 4.00
Keywords : inetmailw95 inetnewsw95 outexnt outexw95 kbtshoot
Version : 1.00 4.00
Platform : WINDOWS

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Last reviewed: December 17, 1997
©1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Legal Notices.