Problem with dictionaries

[Nobi]

Hello,

I know problems with installing dictionaries are most likely posted often, but this is weird: I just bought a new PC, reinstalled Publisher + Photo and I wanted to add my dictionary back to the folder again.

I created a subfolder with the correct name (xx_XX) and I downloaded the .dic file of my language and placed it in the subfolder. Publisher does not however detect the dictionary at all. I tried restarting multiple times.

I also tried adding a dictionary with the .aff extension. For some reason, this worked for a while, but it again disappeared after restarting the program.

Below a screenshot showing my folder:

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by Nobi

[Alfred]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, @Nobi.

31 minutes ago, Nobi said:

I created a subfolder with the correct name (xx_XX) and I downloaded the .dic file of my language and placed it in the subfolder. Publisher does not however detect the dictionary at all. I tried restarting multiple times.

I also tried adding a dictionary with the .aff extension. For some reason, this worked for a while, but it again disappeared after restarting the program.

You need both the *.dic file and the *.aff file. The *.aff file isn’t a dictionary, it’s a set of affix rules.

Make sure you specify the additional dictionary folder as ‘…\Dictionaries’ rather than ‘…\Dictionaries\pl_PL’, as explained in the following FAQ article:

 

[Nobi]

Thanks, I was sure I just needed the .dic file. I added the .aff and this made the dictionary finally appear, but for some reason it does not detect any words and underlines everything. I tried opening an old document and every word triggers an error.

[Alfred]

When you put the text cursor in a word which is flagged as misspelled, what does it say on the Language tab in the Character panel?

[Nobi]

Looks fine I think? It still does not detect the words.

Spelling also does not detect anything.

[Alfred]

I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave this one to users who have experience in this area!

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, Nobi said:

Spelling also does not detect anything.

Please open the .dic and .aff files with a text editor and show us the first 3 lines of each file).

[Nobi]

aff on the left, dic on the right.

[walt.farrell]

Thanks.

Your .aff file was downloaded incorrectly, and you got an HTML page rather than the file you need. Please try again, and follow the instructions in the FAQ very carefully:

 

[Pšenda]

46 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Your .aff file was downloaded incorrectly

I suggested that Serif create at least a specific thread on forum with appropriate dictionaries so that less experienced users would not have to search for them somewhere on the Internet.
Unfortunately, Serif did not even respond.

Alternatively, they could be part of the FAQ (how to install the dictionary).

[R C-R]

5 hours ago, Pšenda said:

I suggested that Serif create at least a specific thread on forum with appropriate dictionaries so that less experienced users would not have to search for them somewhere on the Internet.
Unfortunately, Serif did not even respond.

Isn't this something that could be implemented as a user-created topic in the Resources section? Since there are so many different dictionaries for different languages, users could post ones they have used successfully. I think this would work better than if the staff did it because they probably are not familiar with as many languages as forum users collectively would be.

[Nobi]

Problem solved. I deleted every file and carefully downloaded them again with the correct content. Thanks!

[Pšenda]

20 hours ago, R C-R said:

Isn't this something that could be implemented as a user-created topic in the Resources section?

Yes, it would certainly work. But like the vast majority of other posts, they end up deep in the depths of the forum, and most users won't even know how to find them. In contrast, the official and thus always visible thread, possibly with a link from the mentioned FAQ, would make it much easier for users with this problem to search. Despite the fact that most users end up with "problem solved" style after installing dictionaries, and not that they would upload this dictionary somewhere else.

 

20 hours ago, R C-R said:

I think this would work better than if the staff did it because they probably are not familiar with as many languages as forum users collectively would be.

I think that even if only the dictionaries that are available in the referenced GitHub were available (pre-downloaded), it would save a lot of work for many users. And some additional / atypical dictionaries could be included in the posts.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Pšenda said:

In contrast, the official and thus always visible thread, possibly with a link from the mentioned FAQ, would make it much easier for users with this problem to search.

Where would the 'always visible' thread be located (Resources, FAQ, somewhere else?) & why would its being an official one make it easier for users to find than if it was one started by some user?

2 hours ago, Pšenda said:

I think that even if only the dictionaries that are available in the referenced GitHub were available (pre-downloaded), it would save a lot of work for many users. And some additional / atypical dictionaries could be included in the posts.

What I meant about language familiarity was that for best results somebody would have to write the description for each dictionary using language the user wanting that dictionary would find easy to understand, so ideally it would be someone who spoke that language.

[walt.farrell]

36 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Where would the 'always visible' thread be located (Resources, FAQ, somewhere else?) & why would its being an official one make it easier for users to find than if it was one started by some user?

If it were in Resources, it would be easier to find if the FAQ for dictionaries pointed to it. And if someone started such a topic in Resources it would probably be easy for Serif to point to it from the FAQ.

[kenmcd]

GitHub does not want to be a file repository - so they make it difficult to download files.
That repository is just an automatically updated copy of the original LibreOffice files.

The original files are available for direct download from the LibreOffice source web interface.
And you can link directly to the correct files.

I looked at making a post with all the correct links (to stop all the unnecessary problems),
but there is no way to make a table in this forum,
and it may need to be updated (and you can only edit posts for so long),
so I got fed-up just said xxxx it.

If anyone wants to create a messy looooooong list, I can post the location, etc.

[walt.farrell]

21 minutes ago, LibreTraining said:

The original files are available for direct download from the LibreOffice source web interface.

Are you referring to, for example, https://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/dictionaries/tree/ or some other location?

[Pšenda]

5 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

And if someone started such a topic

Really?! And isn't it Serif's job to solve the recurring problems of his customers?

[R C-R]

6 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Really?! And isn't it Serif's job to solve the recurring problems of his customers?

They have explained in the FAQ how to solve the problem of adding dictionaries. That does not mean a part of solving that problem must be hosting & maintaining an independent repository for those dictionary files.

[walt.farrell]

11 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Really?! And isn't it Serif's job to solve the recurring problems of his customers?

In my opinion, they have given a clear set of instructions, which anyone should be able to follow. If they need to be improved, especially for those who do not speak English as their primary language, that is something that should be done.

However, beyond that, I would prefer Serif spent their time fixing bugs and implementing new functions and helping users in the forums, rather than creating another repository of the dictionaries that are already available and keeping it up-to-date as the originals are modified.

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

However, beyond that, I would prefer Serif spent their time fixing bugs and implementing new functions and helping users in the forums, rather than creating another repository of the dictionaries that are already available and keeping it up-to-date as the originals are modified.

That would be my preference as well. They are already struggling to keep up with all they are trying to do now; no need to add anything more to that workload.

[kenmcd]

On 11/12/2021 at 12:42 PM, walt.farrell said:

Are you referring to, for example, https://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/dictionaries/tree/

Yes.
If you scroll down where you start to see the blue language code links, for example pl_PL,
click on the "plain" link on the far right.
That will take you into the actual pl_PL folder here:
https://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/dictionaries/plain/pl_PL

There you can see the actual files, the direct links.
For example:
https://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/dictionaries/plain/pl_PL/pl_PL.aff
https://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/dictionaries/plain/pl_PL/pl_PL.dic
https://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/dictionaries/plain/pl_PL/hyph_pl_PL.dic

You can just right-click and Save those links.
And they are the correct format.

I was thinking about making an organized table of all the file links.
But just a list of those folders, and some instructions, would save a lot of grief.
 

[walt.farrell]

Leigh has updated the FAQ to include direct pointers to the Hunspell dictionaries, in an effort to help simplify their download.