British English Dictionary in Windows Live Writer
by Michael Camilleri
So I’ve transitioned across to Windows Live Writer to write blog posts (I know, it felt wrong, too) but I must admit: this is a really solid product. In fact the only thing that frustrated me was being forced to use American English in the spellchecker. A quick hunt with Google revealed a bunch of sites, all eager to help me understand what I should do to fix that small issue.
There was one problem (as there always seems to be). Every single blog linked to the exact same file. And that file isn’t working. Further hunting ensued and I eventually found the CityDesk site. Unfortunately, the location of the British English file wasn’t anywhere I could find. Even Google wasn’t much help.
I could go on for longer (this original entry was 1200 words) but the point is that it’s here. And the post where it’s announced in case they change the location again.
Comments
Hey,
[I'm a dev on the Writer team] Thanks for the positive feedback! We are planning on adding an en-GB dictionary to Writer in the next release, so you’ll be able to dispense with the workaround you’re currently using.
Best,
Charles Teague
Thanks for your message Charles :) I don’t know what it is they’re putting in the water you guys are drinking but Writer is a great app. Please pass on my gratitude for not exclusively tying it to Live. I was surprised by how excellently it works with WordPress. Really looking forward to having proper dictionaries in there for us Commonwealth-types!
Hello Again!
Just a note to let you know that the final version is available now- you can download it from http://writer.live.com. The english language version includes dictionaries for US, GB, and CA!
Thanks for the kind words.
Best,
Charles
Tried it out today with the latest post and it works great :)
More important than shipping yet another dictionary, why can’t this Microsoft product ship with the capability (note the word capability, not REQUIREMENT) to use an existing Microsoft Office dictionary and – perhaps more importantly – custom dictionary, so that I don’t have to repeatedly add words to yet another dictionary that doesn’t understand that I require the spelling of both Center and Centre?
You are a 100% correct on the point of dictionary-reuse. It’s frustrating having to add my name and that of my friends to every separate dictionary I use. A system-wide dictionary would be preferable but you do have to wonder why Microsoft can’t at least make that standard amongst its own apps even if they don’t offer it to everyone.
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