New dictionary thesaurus extension

[Oohappyuser]

Open Off v 4.1.11

I just opened Calc and was alerted to a new Dictionary/thes extension. (That was the first time I have ever noticed that excellent feature.)

Will the new version include words I have added to the older version i.e. merge, please?

[Zizi64]

I just opened Calc and was alerted to a new Dictionary/thes extension.

Are you sure it was an OpenOffice related message?

Can you upload a screenshot of that alert here?

[RoryOF]

No, that dictionary extension is stand-alone, and will not include your added words.

My normal procedure is to leave a main dictionary untouched, and to add my words to smaller specialised dictionaries, specific to a period or subject I am working on; such dictionaries can be turned on or off according to the documents involved. Such specialised small dictionaries are untouched by a major dictionary update.

Note that they form part of one's OpenOffice User Profile, and will be wiped out if the User Profile is destroyed or removed, so care is needed to back such dictionaries up.

[Oohappyuser]

Above, notice the green “Download” icon in the top RH corner

Above, hovering over the Download icon shows a message. Clicking the icon shows the screenshot below.

Above, regretfully, there is nothing here to warn that installing this extension will not merge with your previous dictionary i.e. to include words you may have added to it.
Clicking “Release Notes” goes to the downloads page in a browser. There, regretfully, again, clicking the “More info.” button for the file does not warn you either.

In trying to understand the use of dictionaries by OpenOffice, I read the Help, but could not find what dictionary is the default or the one I would have been using and adding to. Can someone advise, please?

[RoryOF]

/Tools /Options /Language Settings : Writing aids will allow you create and edit User-defined dictionaries, which, as I have indicated, may be the best method of handling individual spelling requirements..

Edit: I have just carried out a very quick check: the normal choice for adding a word to dictionary offers adding to "Standard", which is a small specialised (i.e., automatic "user-defined" dictionary); use the above route to investigate that dictionary - in it you may find all your added words and can install the main dictionary update without loss of these.

[LastUnicorn]

Can you post a link to the Release Notes browser page you get to view?

[Oohappyuser]

https://extensions.openoffice.org/node/17102/releases

and [More information] goes to
https://extensions.openoffice.org/en/pr ... e-20220301

once there you can go to
https://extensions.openoffice.org/en/pr ... openoffice

and clicking Proofing Tool GUI project goes to an interesting read

[LastUnicorn]

Thanks for the links, I think I understand what is going on now.

The dictionary (really a spell checker — Lord knows why people refer to it as a 'dictionary') and thesaurus you are being offered is, as you have found out, the package maintained by Marco Pinto. The package contains all the spellers for the available variants of English (e.g. English UK/GB, English US, and so on). Of those the only one that Marco modifies is the English UK/GB speller -- he just packages the other variants with the latest versions (some of which haven't been updated by their maintainers in quite some time) . In general Marco releases a new version of the speller on the 1st of the month, though it may take several days, or even weeks, before they appear for download at the respective OpenOffice or LibreOffice websites. I don't know who manages the thesaurus -- if anyone.

(That was the first time I have ever noticed that excellent feature.)

In the past, the speller file available for download (the 'OpenOffice/LibreOffice.oxt' file) was identical for both LibreOffice and OpenOffice. However, that changed in the speller release of 01 Jan 2022 when Marco started releasing different 'editions' of the speller; a separate file for OpenOffice, and a separate file for LibreOffice. What was at the bottom of that was that the (auto-) update function for the speller never worked so Marco released two editions of the speller and each edition contained the specific server address to contact for updates: a server for OpenOffice and a different one for LibreOffice. Other than that the two editions of the speller contain identical word lists. I would think that the reason why you are being (newly) alerted to an update is because OpenOffice is connecting to the correct server to check -- which it wasn't doing prior to 01 Jan 2022. Of course what this means for users of OpenOffice and LibreOffice is that users now need to make sure they are downloading the correct edition of the speller to be in with a chance of the speller checking for updates. The name changes to the default title of the download files are of the form 'dict-en-20220301_aoo.oxt' and 'dict-en-20220301_lo.oxt'

As things stand at the moment the change doesn't work for LibreOffice. My LibreOffice still can't manage checking for updates to the speller. (I would suspect this is a problem with LibreOffice management itself and not with anything Marco is doing.)

However, it sounds like the change might be working properly for OpenOffice. So it would be of interest if you could say which of the following conditions occurred for your OpenOffice:

(1) The check for update worked. (Which seems to be what you are reporting.)
(2) The speller did actually get updated. (Which I'm not clear on this from your description of what is happening.) If it did happen could you say what steps you had to take to make it so.
EDIT: I found a way to check with my OpenOffice Portable the steps to take to do the update. Don't need further information on that score.

I would find this information useful as I can report that back to Marco once I know what to report. And for LibreOffice I might do a bug report on this once I get time.

[Oohappyuser]

Gosh, thanks for your efforts.

(1) "The check for update worked" On 24.3.2022 BUT that was the day I first noticed it. I could easily have overlooked it before.
(2) "The speller did actually get updated." I did not update on my PC as I wanted to confirm whether it would not include my additions.

I check for and do regular updates of most software (including OO writer and calc...none of the others like Drawing etc) monthly, but I am surprised to see I am on v. 4.1.11 build 9808, dated 2021-09-20?

I also use Grammarly and add to its "dictionary" / "speller" so I don't really know what is being used with OO. Grammarly seems to be helping with this reply at the moment.

[LastUnicorn]

(1) "The check for update worked" On 24.3.2022 BUT that was the day I first noticed it. I could easily have overlooked it before.

I asked Marco about this, he said OpenOffice had a bug in their own systems which prevented the check working properly. He said they recently fixed this and hence the check started working as intended. From what you are saying it would seem it got fixed on 24.03.2022 — assuming you're using OpenOffice on a daily basis.

[LastUnicorn]

I have now submitted a bug report on this issue for LibreOffice. Can be seen here in case you want to follow or add in your own comments:

Bug 148250 - Bug in LibreOffice Internet Network Linked to English Dictionaries Extension Update Notifications