OFFICE: PowerPoint Doesn't Use British English Dictionary

ID: Q122349

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

When you install Microsoft PowerPoint using the Microsoft Office Setup program, Microsoft PowerPoint uses the American English spelling dictionary, even if your international country setting in Microsoft Windows is United Kingdom.


CAUSE

This behavior occurs because when you install Microsoft PowerPoint using the Microsoft Office Setup, the Setup program adds the following line to the [Spelling] section of the POWERPNT.INI file, regardless of the country setting in Microsoft Windows: 


   Speller=Spelling 1033,0
Note that the other Microsoft Office Applications, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, use the British English dictionary if the country setting in Microsoft Windows is United Kingdom.


WORKAROUND

To use the British English spelling file in Microsoft PowerPoint, assuming that the correct spelling files are installed on your computer, do the following:

  1. Close Microsoft PowerPoint if it is currently running.


  2. Open the POWERPNT.INI file (located in your Microsoft Windows directory) in a text editor, such as Notepad.


  3. Locate the [Spelling] section, and change the Speller entry to the following: 
    
         Speller=Spelling 2057,0


  4. Save the changes to the POWERPNT.INI file.


To check to see which language spelling dictionary is being used, type the word "color" (without the quotation marks) and run the spelling checker. If the British English spelling dictionary is being used, the word is flagged as not being in the dictionary, and the word "colour" is suggested instead.


MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Excel version 5.0c, and Microsoft PowerPoint version 4.0c both use the same method to determine the language of the spelling dictionary to use. If the WIN.INI file contains a reference to both the American English dictionary (1033) and the British English dictionary (2057), then the application uses the first Spelling entry in its own *.INI file (EXCEL5.INI or POWERPNT.INI) to determine the language.

When you install Microsoft Office, both the American English and the British English dictionary files are installed.

For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q117876 Office: Can't Use British English Dictionary in MS Excel

Q117547 No Prompt for Spelling Dictionary Language During Setup

Additional query words: 4.00c 4.20c 


Keywords          : 
Version           : 4.20c
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        :

Last Reviewed: May 19, 1999