[Misc] Enabling a “Proper English” Dictionary in Windows Live Mail

First off I much prefer Windows Live Mail over Outlook Express.

BUT it does have some annoying nuances which drive me nuts which I’ll resolve when I either get time or more likely when my blood boils and I just can’t take the torture anymore.

Well that day came today as I just couldn’t take it anymore the fact that the spellchecker defaults to American English (even though my PC is configured for English), and even worse that there is no option to install a English United Kingdom one.

Now I appreciate Microsoft is an American company but come on guys if you can include a UK English dictionary in Office why not Windows Live?

So if you live this side of the pond, use Windows Live Mail and want a dictionary based on English (why they don’t call “English United Kingdom” “English” and “English United States” “American” is beyond me) then this should do the trick:

  1. Close Live Mail.
  2. If you’ve got Office installed goto the “%Program Files%\Common Files\microsoft shared\Proof” directory – Why the Windows Live products don’t either use this directory if it exists OR create a similar “shared proof” directory for their products I find bizarre.
  3. Copy the following files:
    4. MSGR3EN.LEX
    MSHY2_EN.LEX
    MSHYPH2.DLL
    MSLID.DLL
    MSSP3FR.DLL
    MSTH3ES.DLL
    MSTH3FR.DLL
    MSTHES3.DLL

  4. Paste these to the “C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Mail\Proof\prf0009\7” directory.
    NOTE: The values for the “\prf0009\7” directories might have different numerical values.
  5. Open “spell.ini” in the “C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Mail\Proof\prf0009\7”.
  6. Change “Lang=1033” to “Lang=2057”.
  7. Save and Close the file.
  8. Restart Windows Live Mail.

Now I have to be honest and say I used this article as a starting point in my research but I’ve made some tweaks:

http://www.verier.co.uk/subtext/archive/2007/06/16/windows-live-mail-desktop---uk-english.aspx

Read the complete post at http://wmug.co.uk/blogs/cliffs_blog/archive/2008/12/15/misc-enabling-a-proper-english-dictionary-in-windows-live-mail.aspx

Published Monday, December 15, 2008 2:30 PM by Cliff Hobbs - FAQShop.com and Microsoft MVP ConfigMgr/ SMS
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