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Why has Auto spell check has stopped working since last updating Firefox on my Mac

  • 5 replies
  • 146 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by petrolmaps

sohosteve
sohosteve
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Usually, when I typed text Firefox checks my spelling as I type. Since updating to the latest version it no longer does that. In Preferences - Advanced - General I have 'check spelling as I type' box clicked. Also in my Gmail account I have the 'Check Spelling' set to Auto and UK English on the email form, but still no Auto Spell Checking

Usually, when I typed text Firefox checks my spelling as I type. Since updating to the latest version it no longer does that. In Preferences - Advanced - General I have 'check spelling as I type' box clicked. Also in my Gmail account I have the 'Check Spelling' set to Auto and UK English on the email form, but still no Auto Spell Checking

All Replies (5)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Not all locales come with a dictionary installed for licensing reasons. If you do not have the en-US locale then check that you have a dictionary installed (Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) and selected.

You can see which dictionary is selected if you right-click in a text area and open the Languages submenu. Also make sure that [X] "Check Spelling" in the right-click context menu has a tick. You can also try to toggle the "Check Spelling" item off and on again.

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Spell_checking and How do I use the Firefox spell checker?
See also http://kb.mozillazine.org/Dictionaries

You can look here for dictionaries:

patlabor
patlabor
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If you have already made sure your language dictionary is installed, go into preferences and click 'Content -> Languages -> Choose...' and make sure your language is in the list. If not, add it (it does not have to be in the list)

Then, in 'Advanced -> General', under the heading 'Browsing' uncheck 'Check my spelling as I type' and recheck it. (You may have to uncheck it, click 'OK' to close preferences, reopen preferences and check it again).

Doing these two things fixed the problem for me (it's possible simply unchecking and rechecking is sufficient, but since I did the language thing first I have no way to tell since I cannot reproduce the problem any longer).

halidom
halidom
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You can download a dictionary from Mozilla. The spell check under lines the word hold down control and click on the word and it will give you suggestions.

sohosteve
sohosteve Question owner
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Thanks for your suggestion. In fact I managed to resolve to resolve this issue almost a year ago! Peace Steve

petrolmaps
petrolmaps
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I had The British English dictionary installed, but it stopped underlining errors after the latest Firefox 10 update. The solution is easy (but not obvious) - just go to a multi-line text box on any web page and right click on the editable area. Then select Languages > English-United Kingdom and it will start working again.

Incidentally, the solution can be found by going to Tools > Add-ons > Extensions > British English Dictionary.