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Firefox 2/3, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey 1.1
Australian English spellcheck dictionary files

You have reached a sub page of the dictionary project containing the most extensive range of Australian English dictionary spellcheck resources available. The main page for the dictionary project is www.dictionary.JustLocal.com.au

Download the latest version of Firefox best for Australian users.
Then get the latest and best Australian English dictionary file for Firefox.
Latest version of Firefox

Click "Buy Now" to access all the dictionary files.
For an amazingly small payment of $5.

After you pay please click on "Return to Online Connections". You will then be taken to a page with the current username and password for the file area.

NEWSFLASH
For a limited time, and in appreciation of your payment, your name will be included in a future release of the dictionary when it is released. This will also provide a spellcheck dictionary with names more relevant for Australians. Don't miss this once off opportunity to have your name in the dictionary used by thousands.

Version 3.0.0 of the dictionary files available soon.
40,000 more words.

Version 3.0.0 of the Australian English spellcheck dictionary files will soon be available.
Check out the JustLocal News/Blog for the latest information.

The new version:

Files for Firefox 3 - available.

Microsoft Office 2007 Exclude Dictionary.
Now Available.

Australian English dictionary forum
Visit http://www.dictionary.justlocal.com.au.

Thunderbird 2.0.0.0 now live.
(Dictionary files file in XPI format have tested with the latest release.)

Firefox Version 2 files now available
(Latest versions always available from JustLocal)

Also for our friends in the UK.

British dictionary file Firefox 2, Thunderbird 2.
(Patched version as dictionary available via project has an issue.)

British dictionary file - OED
 Spelling style based on the Concise Oxford English Dictionary
Suits Firefox 2, Thunderbird 2.

I originally created the Australian English dictionary language files for OpenOffice.org. Since then my work over the last five years has extended and now covers most of the major open source projects and many commercial projects.

To ensure Firefox and Thunderbird users now have access to the latest copies of  the Australian English dictionary language spellcheck files, I am now making the files available in the XPI format used by the Mozilla project.

The dictionary files I make available (en-AU.aff and en-AU.dic) are licensed LGPL (Lesser GPL). It is my desire my work is not forked and released under GPL. It would also be appreciated if projects point users to this site rather than take copies of my work for use in their projects. This hides the source of the work and reduces the viability of this work.

The main advantage of spellchecking in Firefox 2/3 over Internet Explorer and Opera, is spell checking is available in-line and does not require additional software for spellchecking to work.

I hope you find my work helpful.

Full Australian English language files

The full version of the language files is the base version.

This version of the language files contain around 2,000 words many people consider to be "American English" variations. For example these files include "organise" and "organize". (Both spelling variations of the words are generally considered acceptable in Australia.)

Right click on the following link and save the file to your computer.

australian_english_dictionary-2.2.1.fx+zm+tb.xpi (for Firefox 3)

australian_english_dictionary-2.2.0.fx+zm+tb.xpi

(Please contribute to access these files.)

Kelvin's Australian English language files

For a full explanation of the "Kelvin" version please read the OpenOffice.org page http://www.justlocal.com.au/clients/oooau/.

In summary:

• The "Kelvin" version is what is known as a prescriptive dictionary. It is what I wanted from a dictionary.

• The"Kelvin" version aims to provide the single spelling of a word most commonly used where there are two or more ways to spell a word.

• From our experience more people in Australia prefer to spell using "ise" than "ize". That is "organise" and not "organize". The "Kelvin" version removes over 1,800 words which contain the "iz" spelling variation.

• The "Kelvin" version helps to create documents with a single consistent spelling of a word. (It is generally not considered wrong to spell using "ise" or "ize" in Australia, however it is considered wrong to use different spellings of a single word in a single document.)

• We hope the "Kelvin" version will help others not be confused by the dual spelling of many words as we were.

• Spelling is less confusing when a single preferred way to spell a word is provided.

The "Kelvin" version is our preferred way to spell. It is up to each person to decide how they prefer to spell.

Right click on the following link and save the file to your computer.

kelvin_australian_english_dictionary-2.2.1-fx+zm+tb.xpi (for Firefox 3)

kelvin_australian_english_dictionary-2.2.0-fx+zm+tb.xpi

(Please contribute to access these files.)

Installing either of the language files (Windows XP)

Download and Save the xpi file of your choice to your Desktop.

NOTE: Use Save Target As and select "save as type" to be "All files". Change the file extension from "zip" to "xpi". Unfortunately even though the file name is already xpi, the process of saving using Internet Explorer changes the file type to be "zip" and thus you need to change it back to "xpi" either before or after downloading. If you don't change the :zip extension this  will cause things not to work. This does not occur if you use Firefox to download the file.

Zip files are also blocked when downloaded. You may need to unblock the file before using it. Right click on the file and click on unblock.

Once you have the file downloaded to your computer how you install the file depends on if you wish to use it with Firefox or Thunderbird. (There may be a better way as we determined these methods through trial and error.)

Firefox

Open Firefox
Select Tools -> Add-ons
Drag and drop the xpi file on to the Add-ons window. This will start the install.
Close and restart Firefox

To see if the dictionary files have installed okay, open Firefox to a page where you can input text.  For example the default Google search is good.

Right click on the field where you input text and select Check Spelling (Firefox 3).

Now type in the words "colour" and "color". The word "color" should now be highlighted as incorrect when you perform a spellcheck. If you used the "Kelvin" xpi file then perform the same test using "organise" and "organize". The word "organize" should be highlighted as incorrect.

Thunderbird 2.0.0.x

Open Thunderbird
Select Tools -> Add-ons
Click on Install
Locate and select the xpi file you downloaded
Click on Install Now
Click OK
Close and restart Thunderbird..

To see if the dictionary files have installed okay, open Thunderbird and enter the words "colour" and "color". The word "color" should now be highlighted as incorrect when you perform a spellcheck. If you used the "Kelvin" xpi file then perform the same test using "organise" and "organize". The word "organize" should be highlighted as incorrect.

If you wish to remove the dictionary files use the Add-ons option to uninstall.

NOTE: Thunderbird 1.5.0.7 users

Use the following approach and files to install the Australian English dictionary.

Manually install these files by extracting the contents of the desired zip file to C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\components\myspell. (Adjust the folder name if you have changed the default installation.)

australian_english_dictionary-2.2.0.-tb_1.5.0.7.zip

kelvin_australian_english_dictionary-2.2.0-tb_1.5.0.7.zip

(Please contribute to access these files.)

SeaMonkey

SeaMonkey 1.1 contains the Composer application which enables people to create web pages using a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor.

As from SeaMonkey 1.1 it is possible to perform in-line spellchecking whilst creating web pages.

Use the following approach and files to install the Australian English dictionary.

Manually install these files by extracting the contents of the desired zip file to the following folder:

C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\SeaMonkey\dictionaries

(Adjust the folder name if you have changed the default installation.)

australian_english_dictionary-2.2.0.-tb_1.5.0.7.zip

kelvin_australian_english_dictionary-2.2.0-tb_1.5.0.7.zip

(Please contribute to access these files.)

NVU (web page creator)

NOTE: As best that we can tell the Nvu project appears to be dead. The software is still available.  (SeaMonkey as also another option.)

NVU is an open source project that has extended the original Mozilla composer program used to create web pages.

The dictionary files used for Thunderbird 1.5.0.7 can also be used with NVU.

The following are instructions on how to install the dictionary files for use with NVU.

In the Thunderbird section are two zip files.

For example our preferred file would be kelvin_australian_english_dictionary-2.2.0-tb_1.5.0.7.zip.

Select the zip file you prefer.
Download the zip file.
Extract the contents of the zip file to the \components\myspell folder (under Windows XP by default this would be C:\Program Files\Nvu\components\myspell)

Open NVU
Type in the words colour and color
Click on the Spell button on the toolbar
Select the Language English/Australia
Click Close
Restart NVU

Now when you perform the spellcheck the word "color" will be marked as incorrect.

If you want to spellcheck as you type, you can enable this option as follows.

Select Tools->Preferences
Select Advanced
Tick Underline misspelled words in the Real-time spellcheck section
Click OK

Now you have the ability to spellcheck using Australian English.

Languages other than Australian English:

The same approach can be used for other languages. From our experience, the only change to the dictionary files available from the OpenOffice.org project required, is to change the underscore in the file name to a dash.

For example the two files for Australian English,  en_AU.dic/en_AU.aff are changed to en-AU.dic/en-Au.aff respectively.

Dictionary files for our friends in the UK.

With the recent release of Thunderbird 2, the British English dictionary file available from the project was found to contain a bug.

Since this is another person's work, to get around the problem we now provide a patched version of the dictionary file for Firefox 2 and Thunderbird 2 users.

Patched version of British English dictionary based on files from Mozilla project.

british_english_dictionary-1.19.patched-fx+zm+tb.xpi

(Please contribute to access this file.)

British dictionary based on the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.

More recently we noticed the OpenOffice.org users have released a British English dictionary which uses the style based on the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.

Even though it is more popular in the UK to spell using "ise" than "ize" in words such as "organise", the Concise Oxford English Dictionary style is to use "ize". This is used by many organisations.

We have repackaged the dictionary available from OpenOffice.org and now make it available for those who wish to use it.

british_english_dictionary-oed_1.19.1.fx+zm+tb.xpi

(Please contribute to access this file.)

In the past one Australian has expressed their desire to use the "ize" variation of words as per the Oxford English Dictionary. This version should assist other Australians with the same spelling preference.

Tell others

Please let others know about the dictionary files we have made available. Your family, friends and colleagues will thank you.

Disclaimer

We make these files available to JustLocal users. We make no claims for suitability for any purpose, or that they are error free. You agree that at all times, you take full responsibility for your own actions including the use of these programs.

Known issues and comments

1. The spellcheck suggestions offer by Thunderbird are not the same as those offered by OpenOffice.org. We cannot do anything about the program making the suggestions, only the list of words contained in the dictionary files.

2. Preparing these files and instructions for use with Firefox/Thunderbird was achieved by studying existing xpi files and trial an error. We may have made assumptions which are not valid. So far however our testing has shown what we have done works.

3. Question: The letter "a" appears as an error. - Answer: The letter "a" is included in the dictionary word list but is removed in the final dictionary by the programs provided by the OpenOffice.org project. You can get around this problem by adding "a" to your dictionary. Weird, yes, but it works.

4. Question: Thunderbird does not pick up repeated words. - Answer: This issue is with the Thunderbird program.

5. Question: I'm surprised many Australian slang words are not included in the dictionary. - Answer: As a rule I do not include slang words. I am currently collecting slang words to create additional options if wanted by people using the dictionaries. If a word is not in the dictionary please send a suggestion.

A JustLocal™ friend.