Choosing language settings

Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3

Chapter 2. Setting up OpenOffice.org

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• Choosing options for all of OpenOffice.org
• Choosing options for loading and saving documents
• Choosing language settings
• Choosing Internet options
• Controlling OpenOffice.org AutoCorrect functions

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You may need to do several things to set the language settings to what you want:

• Install the required dictionaries
• Change some locale and language settings
• Choose spelling options

Install the required dictionaries

OOo 3.x automatically installs several dictionaries with the program. To add other dictionaries, be sure you are connected to the Internet, and then use Tools > Language > More Dictionaries Online. OOo will open your default web browser to a page containing links to additional dictionaries that you can install. Follow the prompts to install them.

Change locale and language settings

You can change some details of the locale and language settings that OOo uses for all documents, or for specific documents.

In the Options dialog, click Language Settings > Languages.

Language Setting Options

On the right-hand side of the Language Settings – Languages page, change the User interface, Locale setting, Default currency, and Default languages for documents as required. In the example, English (UK) has been chosen for all the appropriate settings.

If you want the language (dictionary) setting to apply to the current document only, instead of being the default for all new documents, select the option labelled For the current document only.

File:Options-languages.png

Choosing language options

If necessary, select the options to enable support for Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and support for CTL (complex text layout) languages such as Hindi, Thai, Hebrew, and Arabic. If you choose either of these options, the next time you open this dialog, you will see some extra choices under Language Settings, as shown below. These choices (Searching in Japanese, Asian Layout, and Complex Text Layout) are not discussed here.

Extra pages available when enhanced language support options are selected

Choose spelling options

To choose the options for checking spelling, click Language Settings > Writing Aids. In the Options section of the page, choose the settings that are useful for you. Some considerations:

• If you do not want spelling checked while you type, deselect Check spelling as you type.
• If you use a custom dictionary that includes words in all upper case and words with numbers (for example, AS/400), select Check uppercase words and Check words with numbers.
• Check special regions includes headers, footers, frames, and tables when checking spelling.

Here you can also check which user-defined (custom) dictionaries are active by default, and add or remove dictionaries, by clicking the New or Delete buttons.

File:Options-spelling3.png

Choosing languages, dictionaries, and options for checking spelling.

OpenOffice.org does not have a grammar checker, but you can install a grammar checker extension such as Language Tool and access that tool from Tools > Spelling and Grammar. See Chapter 14 for more about installing extensions.