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Spell check not working on Firefox 29.0.1

  • 7 replies
  • 26 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by Area117

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I have installed the English (UK) dictionary, checked that the box is ticked to check my spelling, but still it won't work.

I have installed the English (UK) dictionary, checked that the box is ticked to check my spelling, but still it won't work.

Chosen solution

Only the en-US and maybe fr and maybe a couple others of Thunderbird and Firefox come with a dictionary due to licensing reasons.

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You can see which dictionary is selected if you right-click in a text area and open the Languages submenu. At least one dictionary should be installed and have a check mark to indicate that it is selected.

  • Open the "Add Dictionaries" link to install a dictionary if you do not have one.
  • Make sure that [X] "Check Spelling" in the right-click context menu is check-marked.

You can enable or disable spell checking globally:

  • Tools > Options > Advanced : General: Browsing: "Check my spelling as I type"

You can look here for dictionaries:


Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
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Thanks but has made no difference what so ever. I have installed English Dictionary and spell check.

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In what way is the spell checker not working?

Are all words underlined or none?

What is the value of the spellchecker.dictionary pref on the about:config page?

  • spellchecker.dictionary
  • layout.spellcheckDefault
  • ui.SpellCheckerUnderline
  • ui.SpellCheckerUnderlineStyle
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Its working now :D I had to uninstall Firefox. I had the English (UK) edition. Now I have the US version and it works. But still puzzled why the UK version wouldn't spell check.

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The UK version doesn't come with a spell checking dictionary and this dictionary needs to be installed separately.

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Chosen Solution

Only the en-US and maybe fr and maybe a couple others of Thunderbird and Firefox come with a dictionary due to licensing reasons.

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That is what I had done before. Ill leave it with the US version. Thanks for your help :)