Ask Me Help Desk - Office 2007 spell checker not working

Hi all

Spelling Mistakes
For spelling mistakes in Office 2007 there are no red lines showing the actual spelling mistakes. When I try to run the spell checker it displays the following error message

“Windows Installer. Preparing to install
Cannot find proofing tools for English (U.K.). If you have the proofing tools, try installing or re-installing them”

Spaces
If I put extra spaces in the sentences and run the spell checker it finds the extra spaces in sentences but still displays the following message before it runs

“Windows Installer. Preparing to install

When I installed Office 2007 I ensured that all files were installed i.e. “Run all from my computer” option was selected.

I have been through the registry and removed all instances of Office 2000, the program I upgraded from.

The following registry key does not exist as I deleted it as other forums have said
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\ProofingTools\1.0\Override\en-US

It does not recreate ‘Override\en-US’ after running Word again. Do I need to create these two folders again and what EXACTLY do I need to put in the folders?

I have Office SP1 installed as well as the latest Word update.

Any help most appreciated.

Get the original disc that says Microsoft Works Suite on it and put that in the DVD or CD drive when you are going to spell check a document. It should extract the needed file from the original disc. I have to do this disc thing every time I clean up my registry files. Somehow it gets deleted. Try that.

Um why would he need a Works Disk for Office 2007?

What I would recommend is doing a clean reinstall of Office 2007. Uninstall it, delete all the folders it created, then install from scratch.

found this, it seems to be the issue you have

Quote:

If you install Office 2007, spell checking in Outlook Express may not work as expected, unless you want spell check in French. This is because Office 2007 uses new proofing tools and OE can't use them because it's designed to use the older tools.

It's easy to fix: install just the proofing tools from your previous version of Office (using the custom install option). You can get them from any older Office suite or application - including FrontPage, Publisher or standalone versions of Word, Excel, or Outlook.

To install just the proofing tools from Office 2003, run Office setup and choose the custom option. Uncheck all programs in the list and add a check to choose the options at the bottom of the programs list. No the nest screen, set each top level item to be Not Available (red X icon). Expand the Office Shared Features branch and locate Proofing tools in the list. Expand proofing tools and choose English, setting it to Run from my computer. Finish the installation.

Once installed, restart OE - go to Tools, Options and verify Spelling is configured to use the correct English dictionary.

Proofing Tools, Part 2 for potential problems.

Some workarounds run afoul of the law of unintended consequences.

Yesterday's tip about installing the proofing tools is one of those workarounds - after you install the proofing tools from an earlier version of Office then try to install an add-in under the Genuine Advantage program, the proofing tools may cause the add-in installation to fail because it's not activated. If it's a must-have add-in, either install the proofing tools from Office 2000 (no activation required), a 3rd party spell check program or uninstall the proofing tools, install the add-in then reinstall the proofing tools.

While it's annoying (ok, it sucks!), many users may never have a problem, as they won't install add-ins. For example, I've been using Office 2003's proofing tools in OE for several months, but only discovered these issues week, after I got a new laptop for Christmas and tried to install the calendar printing assistant
Tip 376: OL2007: Calendar Printing Assistant to check for a problem a user reported.

Also note that if you install the proofing tools after installing Office 2007, you should run Office diagnostics, just to be safe. I ran into 2 minor issues if the Office 2007 install is not repaired: the Start menu icon does not work as expected and templates may not open if you double click on them in Windows Explorer. There may be more...

Windows update will probably want to install updates for the older version of Office. These can safely be refused since you only have the proofing tools installed, but the update service doesn't know this; like Genuine Advantage, it only knows you have something from that version installed.

At some point in the future, Microsoft may or may not release a standalone installation of the proofing tools to fix this issue, until then, there are a number of 3rd party spelling tools available, such as OE2.1 Spell checker |MG| Spell Checker for OE 2.1 if you don't want the hassle.

Thanks all for your help. Still no look getting it working. I have since downloaded a third party spell checker.

Does anyone know where I can find or send me the details of what the following registry entry should contain?

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Proofing Tools\1.0\Override\en-US

So many people have said that if I delete that registry entry it will rebuild itself but it doesn't.

Maybe if I mimic what the entry says I can figure it our from there.

Kind Regards

Mally

I don't have that key on my XP SP2 PC with both Office 2003 and Office 2007 installed. The only key I have under \Proofing Tools\1.0\ is Custom Dictionary.

Thanks ScottGem

I have since found out after your reply that I don't need that registry entry.

I'm just going to use a third party spell checker.

Thanks again everyone.

Sorry ScottGem

I forgot to reply to your previous reply regarding uninstalling, deleting all folders and reinstalling. I've tried that several times with no success.

Thanks for the advice

THIS FIXES IT.

Go to the Add/Remove Programs and select Microsoft Office 2007 and click the Change button. Select the Add/Remove Features radio button and hit Continue. Expand the plus-sign next to Office Shared Features, click on the drop-down arrow next to Proofing Tools, and Select "Run All From My Computer". (Or you can select the Languages you prefer to have Proofing Tools support, if you expand Proofing Tools.) Click Continue, etc. and you should be all set.

Gerokika: Thanks It worked for me... thanks Again Jinsen Karedath

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerokika

THIS FIXES IT.

Go to the Add/Remove Programs and select Microsoft Office 2007 and click the Change button. Select the Add/Remove Features radio button and hit Continue. Expand the plus-sign next to Office Shared Features, click on the drop-down arrow next to Proofing Tools, and Select "Run All From My Computer". (Or you can select the Languages you prefer to have Proofing Tools support, if you expand Proofing Tools.) Click Continue, etc. and you should be all set.

Thanks a lot