Languages & Dictionaries

Just upgraded 2 Win10 laptops to SM 2.53.5 (thanks loads, devs!), in the UK. On my own laptop, I have the British English Dictionary (Marco Pinto) v2.68, which lists in the Add-On Mgr under the category 'Dictionaries'.  On my wife's laptop, before the SM version update, she'd complained about only having the English (US) language available for spell-checking, which causes issues whenever composing emails for UK recipients.

On that laptop, I've added the latest Marco Pinto Dictionary v2.90 from the Add-Ons site, but it only lists as an Extension, not a Dictionary, so can't be selected for spell-checking.  On my own laptop, the v2.68 installed doesn't appear to have any means of updating as-is, but it is working as expected.

So it looks like I have 2 separate issues.  Any suggestions?

That happens if you install a WebExtension-based dictionary in SeaMonkey, as mentioned under "Extensions (Add-ons) and Themes" in the release notes. It seems even the ones hosted on addons.thunderbird.net may be WebExtensions now but don't work with SeaMonkey - see e.g. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1555116.

I'm currently using v2.68 of British English Dictionary (Marco Pinto). You can download older versions by following the "See complete version history" link near the bottom of https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-GB/seamonkey/addon/british-english-dictionary-2/. 

There, 2.68 is explicitly mentioned as being a legacy extension, and there's mention of this 2.70 already being a WebExtension. It's not clear which 2.69 is, so that might perhaps work, or it might be that 2.68 is the last that works in current SeaMonkey.

If you right-click the "Download Now" button, you can select "Save Link Target As..." to download the .xpi file for the extension rather than immediately installing it. That way you've got it in case you need to install it again in future. From about:addons, you can install an extension from an .xpi file by clicking the cog icon near the top right and selecting "Install Add-on From File..."

> On my own laptop, the v2.68 
> installed doesn't appear to have any means of updating as-is, but it is 
> working as expected.

It might be that's the latest which actually works with SeaMonkey. Or it may be related to the fact that update checks for the main application don't work. As far as I can see, 2.69 is the only newer version which might possibly work - so you could try downloading and installing that as above, but be prepared to revert back to 2.68 if it doesn't work.

> So it looks like I have 2 separate issues.  Any suggestions?

-- 
Mark.

Now that I've had time to try, I've downloaded v2.68 and (?)successfully installed it into my wife's laptop. It shows up in the Add-On Mgr screen as a loaded Dictionary, but is not available to select anywhere. 

Whether composing a new email or as the default language under Properties - Appearance - Spelling, the only entry in her SM v2.53.5 install is for the default English-US. And of course, the link for 'add more dictionaries' takes me to the Thunderbird add-ons download page, for what that's worth.

I really don't want to abandon SM, but if my English wife can't compose emails in her own language in the mail client, what's the point? I've been a loyal Netscape/Mozilla/SM user for some time, but I'm not a developer.  My skill set is in system administration, not programming.

I've just experimented a bit on a virtual machine. I can reproduce what you're seeing if I install a newer version of the dictionary, then install 2.68 over the top without removing the older version. 2.68 then shows up under "Dictionaries" in the Add-ons Manager, but isn't available under Preferences > Appearance > Spelling.

This seems to be resolved by removing the dictionary (even if it now shows as version 2.68), then installing version 2.68:

- Open Add-ons Manager
- Select "Dictionaries" on the left side
- Click "Remove" alongside British English Dictionary (Marco Pinto)
   (if it's not there, look under "Extensions" on the left side instead)
- Install British English Dictionary (Marco Pinto) version 2.68 (either by going to the add-ons page, or if you've already downloaded the .xpi file click the cog icon at the top and select "Install Add-on From File".

After doing that, I see an "English/United Kingdom" option in Preferences > Appearance > Spelling.

If it still doesn't show up, a few things I can think of to check:

- Check that "British English Dictionary (Marco Pinto)" is showing up under "Dictionaries", not "Extensions", in the Add-ons Manager.
- Click "More" alongside the dictionary and check that it shows 2.68 in the heading.
- Make sure it's not disabled; if it is, click the "Enable" button next to the dictionary in add-ons manager.
- If you have multiple profiles, make sure it's installed in the profile you're trying to use it in; add-ons are installed separately for each profile. If you've previously installed the newer version in other profiles, you'll probably have to remove and reinstall the older version in each profile.

SeaMonkey add-ons are hosted on Thunderbird's website, since Mozilla stopped hosting them, so it's normal that you'd be taken there. Unfortunately, it seems to offer the latest WebExtension dictionaries to SeaMonkey even though SeaMonkey doesn't support them.

> I really don't want to abandon SM, but if my English wife can't compose 
> emails in her own language in the mail client, what's the point?  I've 
> been a loyal Netscape/Mozilla/SM user for some time, but I'm not a 
> developer.  My skill set is in system administration, not programming.

As far as I can tell, British English Dictionary (Marco Pinto) 2.68 should work with SeaMonkey 2.53.5.  Hopefully just a case of reinstalling the older version of the dictionary...

-- 
Mark.

Could you please try the following?:

1. Remove the currently installed dictionary (even if it is 2.68)
2. Restart SeaMonkey
3. Install 2.68
4. Restart SeaMonkey

After this, check if it does show up in Edit->Preferences->Appearance->Spelling.

In a quick test here (with a build of 2.53.6beta1pre), I was able to get to the point where 2.68 is listed as installed but is not shown as a spell-checking language option, if I install a webextension version of the dictionary and then install 2.68 without restarting SeaMonkey first.

(In my testing (when I skipped step 2 above), 2.68 did (at least sometimes?) show up as an option and would work until I restarted SeaMonkey, so make sure you check that it is still working *after* restarting SeaMonkey.)

-- 
Nuno Silva

As in Nuno Silva's response, restart SeaMonkey at this point, before installing 2.68.

> - Install British English Dictionary (Marco Pinto) version 2.68 (either 
> by going to the add-ons page, or if you've already downloaded the .xpi 
> file click the cog icon at the top and select "Install Add-on From File".

And restart SeaMonkey again after installing 2.68.

> After doing that, I see an "English/United Kingdom" option in 
> Preferences > Appearance > Spelling.

I did restart SeaMonkey at those points when trying this out, but forgot to include them in the steps above.  Apologies for the omission - it probably does make a difference!

-- 
Mark.

My thanks to all who replied with additional suggestions, but it has been sorted, finally. Not only did the v2.68 install didn't work even after SM and then the laptop restarts, but attempting to use the 'download more dictionaries' link didn't do anything--no web page, no nothing. With no other changes, I installed v2.53.5.1 on top of the current setup, and the v2.68 English-UK dictionary is now listed as such, and is now set as the default. Composition tests with spell check work as you'd expect, that way.

I have no idea what was corrupted, but the latest install did something and all is now well.

I suspect when the new version scanned for existing add-ons it perhaps had the same effect as removing and re-adding the dictionary add-on (now at version 2.68). 

Anyway, the main thing is it's working now :) Thanks for getting back - it's always good to know that problems are resolved, and the eventual solution can sometimes help others too.

-- 
Mark.