Bloody Bill Gates

Submitted: Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 20:14
ThreadID: 17614 Views:1905 Replies:8 FollowUps:4
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Does anyone out there know how to switch the Microsoft Word dictionary permanently to UK spelling? I use the UK dictionary default - but the sodding thing reverts to US spelling every time the computer is switched off and on.

My wife is becoming increasingly more computer literate than me - but hers does the same thing.

Why do I want to do this?

I accept that language is a vital living thing and one must accept change. Also that some US spelling is closer to original English usage.

I also know and accept that the spelling of people like Chaucer, Marlowe, and Shakespeare has changed substantially.

But I'm buggered if I'm prepared to accept that it should be dictated by some bloody illiterate US geeks in Silicon Valley.

HELP!!!!!!
Collyn Rivers
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Reply By: Peter 2 - Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 20:35

Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 20:35
Collyn
Go into 'settings' then 'control panel' then 'regional and language options'.
Follow the prompts as they say.
This is for XP but is very similar for ealier versions of Windoze.
Oh and you will probably have to reboot the puter to keep the changes.
Peter
AnswerID: 83383

Reply By: Big Kidz (Andrew & Jen) - Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 20:44

Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 20:44
What version of word are you using? I am using Word 2002 and you can go to Tools and Language and then set language and I have it as English Australia and then hit default and it stays on Australian English.

Andrew
AnswerID: 83385

Reply By: Member - Collyn R (WA) - Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 21:00

Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 21:00
Thanks for the speedy reponses - but that's just what we are both doing. The dictionary changes just fine - but cannot then reverts to the US dictionary when we reboot. In other words the default works for a time but doesn't stick.

My wife and I have identical computers running Word 2002 on Windows 2000. My son is a professional IT man and he can't get it to stick either!
Collyn

AnswerID: 83392

Follow Up By: Member - Collyn R (WA) - Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 21:01

Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 21:01
Plse ignore the word 'cannot' in line two.
Collyn
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Reply By: Wok - Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 21:34

Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 21:34
Collyn,

In win2k....
1. keyboard = US International
2. input locale = Australia [remove all other options; usually US English]
3. reboot
4. reset dictionary

rgds
AnswerID: 83406

Follow Up By: Baz (NSW) - Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 21:37

Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 21:37
US English isn't that a contradiction of terms.
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Follow Up By: Wok - Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 23:09

Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 23:09
Baz,

W2k doesn't have too many choices....on my pc I couldn't 'hold' Australian English if I didn't do the above sequence[ the keyboard change was critical].......maybe my Word97 is too different to 2000+?

May have to fire-up the P2P you think?

rgds
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Reply By: Member - Haldo (Sydney) - Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 21:55

Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 21:55
Collyn,

Here goes (after I cheated by asking for Windows Help online)...

Using Word 2000;

go to;

TOOLS;

Options;

Spelling and Grammar Tab;

Dictionaries button (halfway down in centre of screen);

Go to Language (small rectangular window below Custom Dictionaries;

Select language of choice (in your case English (U.K.);

Click OK and it reverts the Word Document.

We turned the electronic box off and then when it was back on it still had the selected language (but for 'how long' is the next question).

If that fails I'll fire my young bloke as the computer guru....

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AnswerID: 83414

Reply By: Baz (NSW) - Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 22:17

Sunday, Nov 07, 2004 at 22:17
We use English Australian on all 3 of our computers without any problems (and have been doing so for a number of years and versions). Try making the changes when you first start word, if you are using 2003 it should ask you if you want to change the template, if it does say yes. If not you may have to manually change the "normal" template (make changes, save as normal2.dot, go into the Word directory, change the name of the normal template to something else then change normal2.dot to normal.dot). For all docs that have been created with the US dictionary you will need to select all text then change the dictionary.
Say thank you Ness.

Hope this helps Collyn.

Baz.
AnswerID: 83419

Reply By: Brian - Monday, Nov 08, 2004 at 11:44

Monday, Nov 08, 2004 at 11:44
Collyn,
My computer was set to US English so I did as instructed above and

Went to "TOOLS"
LANGUAGE then SET LANGUAGE

I then Highlighted " ENGLISH (Australia) "

then "DEFAULT" not the "OK" button

You get "Do you want to change the default language to English Australia."

I then pushed "YES"

After that is done just push OK to close.

Mine changed to Aussie and stayed there

I think your problem may be that you are pushing "OK" instead of the "DEFAULT" and that way it is only changing for that one document, not the default setting.

Brian
Brian
Doing it tuff, Towing a Bushtracker.

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AnswerID: 83481

Reply By: Member - Collyn R (WA) - Monday, Nov 08, 2004 at 14:15

Monday, Nov 08, 2004 at 14:15
Thank you everyone - problem now appears to be fixed.

I had in fact tried most of what people suggested, but the pc nevertheless kept dropping back to the US spelling.

What did the trick was Wok's (THANK YOU!!) advice that making the keyboard 'Input Locale' change was vital. Even doing that at first seemed not possible as the software STILL dropped back to the US thing - however deleting the US option altogther not only appears to fixe the problem - but the DELETE operation gave me so much satisfaction that I almost reset so that I could do it twice!

Again - many thanks everyone.
Collyn

(There's a nice story about a well known South American writer who wrote a whole book without using any semicolons. Many an academic came up with arcane theories re why. Upon being asked however the author said that "the f... semicolon key was broken on my typewriter".)

AnswerID: 83499

Follow Up By: joc45 - Tuesday, Nov 09, 2004 at 09:46

Tuesday, Nov 09, 2004 at 09:46
Re semicolons, at the risk of being pedantic, it's a pity that the apostrophe key isn't removed on some keyboards - the number of times we see it used incorrectly (esp by professionals who should know better), it might be better if it's not there.
And re dictionaries, the number of times the spell check reckons I should spell my name with a "J" gets on my goat.
Gerry
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