9

I want to be given correction suggestions while setting a text in LibreOffice to English-UK.

enter image description here

Now it works for English-US, French and Romanian, as these are the languages that I have installed in Language Support. I cannot seem to have a setting to differentiate US/UK English as I was able in Xubuntu.

enter image description here

In LibreOffice English-UK is absent. How to add it?

enter image description here

In Tools/Options/Language Settings/Languages I get to the image above, but how to make English UK present there? it lacks that 'ABC-V' sign that is present for English USA, although in Tools/Options/Language Settings/Writing Aids an 'English-uk' IS PRESENT. But that is not enough for the corrector to function for English-UK.

1

5 Answers 5

7
+50

It's pretty straightforward to setup British spell checking- I did it a while ago as I am in the UK, so it's pretty important for me. My version of Libreoffice is exactly the same as yours: the default 3.5.x series version for 12.04.

For some reason this UK dictionary isn't included with the Ubuntu packaged version, even though it is when you download it on Windows and the UK spell checking is enabled.

Please go to the official list of dictionaries and choose kpp-british-english-dictionary and download it to your desktop or downloads folder. Now open that downloaded file with LibreOffice itself and you will be presented with this screen:

enter image description here

Now, make sure that it is enabled, and restart Libreoffice and open Writer, select English UK and it will auto highlight your mistakes as below, as long as the other settings are set to English UK in Tools > Options > Language Settings > Languages.

Also, it is important to make sure AutoSpellCheck is enabled.

enter image description here

On getting also thesaurus/synonyms, there is already this answer.

4
  • hello again! do you know how to activate synonyms context menu in uk english too? (askubuntu.com/q/223557/47206)
    – user47206
    Nov 29, 2012 at 20:23
  • @cipricus I'll have a look and see what I can do.
    – user76204
    Nov 30, 2012 at 11:30
  • thesaurus/synonyms - askubuntu.com/a/196117/47206
    – user47206
    Mar 1, 2016 at 10:27
  • 1
    The link to "official dictionaries" is broken.
    – LondonRob
    Jan 15, 2018 at 15:20
2

I had this problem with a fresh installation of Lubuntu. I set everything that I could to English (UK), but spell checking did not work. I eventually found this:

Cannot set language for spell check

I fixed the problem by opening a terminal and typing:

sudo apt-get install hunspell-en-gb

and entering my password when prompted.

The red squiggly underlines finally appeared in my document.

As it has already been said, the previous solution does not work because of a dead link.

1
  • this is what works in 2018
    – user47206
    Dec 14, 2018 at 6:31
1

Not sure if your issue is bigger, but from the LibreOffice menu bar:

Tools --> Options --> Language Settings

and then play around with the two sub-menus (Languages and Writing Aids)

3
  • 1
    In Language Settings/Language i get to the image above, but how to make English UK present there? you see it lacks that 'abcV' that is present for English USA, although in Language Settings/Writing Aids an'English-uk' IS PRESENT. But that is not enough for the corrector to function for uk English
    – user47206
    Nov 13, 2012 at 17:40
  • what version of libreoffice are you using?
    – philshem
    Nov 13, 2012 at 18:19
  • LibreOffice 3.5.4.2
    – user47206
    Nov 14, 2012 at 13:22
0

Update:

The simplest way to enable British spell checking in LibreOffice on recent Ubuntu versions is to install the hunspell-en-gb package.

sudo apt install hunspell-en-gb

from https://askubuntu.com/a/935170/307670

-1

How to set LibreOffice ‘Language-Settings’ to UK-English Trying to get English–en-gb with…. Thesaurus/Spellcheck/Hyphenation/Grammar all working! Go to Tools > Options > Language Settings > Languages.. I that window, under ‘Language Of’ > User interface: Select “English (UK)” and below that, under ‘Default Language for Documents’ > Western: Select “English (UK)”. NOTE the “ ABC√ ” sign that is in front of English (UK). (it may be missing!) I get to the image above in Tools/Options/Language Settings/Languages Next open Tools/Options/Language Settings/Writing Aids…. Edit the “Hunspell Spellchecker”, Select “English (UK)”.

NOTE the “ ABC√ ” sign that is in front of English (UK). (it may be missing!)

BUT if the “ ABC√ ” sign is NOT in front of English (UK), If it’s missing, then… The English UK dictionary isn't included with the Ubuntu packaged version of LibreOffice, even though it is when you download it on Windows and the UK spell checking is enabled.

Open LibreOffice Writer and go to….. Tools -> Options -> Language Settings -> Writing Aids. Verify the new Thesaurus is selected, by pressing Ctrl + F7 to bring up the thesaurus dialogue.

To be sure, to be sure, I went to this Web site…. (for ALL English Dictionary extensions) http://extensions.libreoffice.org/extension-center/english-dictionaries

I flicked down to…. English Dictionaries 2016.04.01 see script above. There, I ‘clicked’ on “ English Dictionaries 2016.04.01 ” and downloaded/Save this File.. “dict-en.oxt”. NEXT, go to this Web site…. To get “kpp-british-english-dictionary-674039-word-list.oxt” and Downloaded/Save the File. British English- en_GB

The following "kpp" dictionaries can be all installed, then enabled/disabled to select the one you want to use with/for your documents.

kpp-british-english-dictionary-674039-word-list.oxt 674,039 word list, hyphen, and thesaurus - November-2012 http://www.libreoffice-na.us/KPP-dictionaries/dictionary.html NOW, Go to your 2 Downloaded files, Click on each one separately. CHOOSE open with LibreOffice. ‘Extension Manager’ will be activated, If the files ar already installed you can clic-on ‘Cancel’, otherwise ckoose “OK” and install both. That’s about it!!!

you should have Thesaurus and the ALL rest...

P.S. 2016-04-07 and there are still problems with English UK on ubuntu-Linux. 'The Queen's English' is still not FULLY available. Not on Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS (Trusty Tahr), Not on UbuntuMATE 15.10(Wily Werewolf)-UbuntuMATE 16.04 (Xenial Xerus)and so on and so on, why? It's a nuisance to say the least.

You must log in to answer this question.