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Use the Grammar and Spell Check feature

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  15. Appendix
    1. Adobe RoboHelp Scripting Reference
    2. RoboHelp keyboard shortcuts

Spell check addresses the spelling issues and simplifies the experience by building your dictionary, managing your ignored words list, or correcting the misspelled words.

Working with the spell check option is a good practice to ensure high quality. By default, Adobe RoboHelp provides support for "Run spell checking on opening a topic," and highlights the misspelled words underlined in red, in the topic. 

Grammar and Spell Check Options

You must access the Spell Check panel, located next to the Properties tab, on the right side of the screen to choose among the spell check options. On selecting one of these options, click the spin  on the right-side to run spell check in the specified files. The spell check scans all the words and suggests corrections for errors.

  • Current File - Allows spell check on the file currently in focus.
  • All Topics - Allows spell check in all the files of the currently opened project.
  • All Project Files - Allows spell check in all the files of the currently opened projects which includes topics, TOC, Index, and Glossary.

The Settings icon  on the right side of the Spell Check tab offers two additional preferences on click - User Dictionary and Ignored Words.

Grammar and Spell Check with Keyboard Shortcuts

Key
Action
F7 The Grammar and Spelling Check panel opens and scans the topic for any errors. The run displays the first error it encounters in the topic. 

Ctrl+F7 (Win)

Cmd+F7 (macOS)

Checks the grammar and spelling in all topics located in the same folder as the current one.

CTRL+SHIFT+F7 (Win)

Cmd+Shift+F7 (macOS)

Irrespective of whether any file is open or not, the Grammar and Spell Check panel opens and runs over all the files (Index, Glossary, HTML content files, TOC) to flag any errors. 

Check grammar and spelling

For more information on configuring a grammar and spell check profile, see Configure grammar and spell checker profile.

To run the grammar and spelling checker, follow the steps below:

  1. Open a topic, index, or glossary in RoboHelp.

  2. On the right-pane, select Spell Check.

  3. Select the Preferences icon and ensure that the correct provider is selected.

  4. Select if you want to run the grammar checker for the current file, all topics in the project, or all files in the project.

    Select scope of check
    Select scope of check

  5. Select Run Grammar Check. The results are displayed on the panel, as shown below:

  6. There is a section that shows the count of the errors grouped by Spelling, Grammar, or Punctuation. In this example, there are two typos and one grammatical error in the topic that the checker has flagged.

  7. For each result, you can either accept or reject the suggested change. To fix a typo, select the suggested word and accept the change. On selecting the correction, the incorrect term/phrase is highlighted in the editor. The Accept button gets enabled only after you choose the suggested change. If you reject the suggestion, the result is removed from the panel. 

    Selected suggested change
    Selected suggested change

  8. Similarly, change the other suggestions accordingly.

Note:

If there is any interruption, for example, a disconnected network, then a pop-up displays, which prompts you to either resume or cancel the run.

How it Works

Spell check stops at every instance of a misspelled word. Based on your selection, all misspelled words which are not available in the Dictionary appear under the Not in Dictionary field, which you can select to either Skip, Ignore or Add. For more details, see Not in Dictionary.

The Suggestions list below displays the correctly spelled options. You can opt to Replace or Replace All the misspelled words with any provided suggestions. For more details, see Correct your spellings using Suggesions.

After you have fixed a misspelled word using the above steps, the spell check moves onto the next misspelled word. Once the spelling mistakes are completed, a message appears "<None>" under Mispelt Word.

Note:

If the user manually rectifies a misspelled word, the spell check is required to re-run on the updated content of the current file.

Not in Dictionary

This selection indicates that a misspelled word is detected. The word is considered misspelled as it could not be located in the main dictionary. You can choose to select among these three options:

  • Skip - Makes the reported word to be skipped over and move to the next misspelled word.
  • Ignore - Causes the occurence of a misspelled word to be skipped. You might use this if the word reported as a misspelling is actually spelled the way you want. As a result, that word is automatically added to the Ignored Words list. For more details, see Ignored Words.
  • Add - Makes the reported word added to the User Dictionary.  Use the Add button if a correctly spelled word (e.g., Name of a person, place, and so on) you use is reported as a misspelling, so it does not get flagged in any future spell checks. For more details, see User Dictionary.

Correct your spellings using Suggestions

The spell check feature offers suggestions for replacing the misspelled word by choosing among the below options:

  • Replace - Use one of the suggested words to fix the error, and then click Replace.
  • Replace All - You may want to choose Replace All to fix all the instances of the error in the topic in one go.

User Dictionary

Note:

Adding a word to your dictionary makes the word available for spelling checks across the projects.

This allows the program to recognize new words as correctly spelled words. To edit or delete any words that have been added to your dictionary, follow these steps:-

  • To add a word, type it in the box, and then click Add (+).
  • To delete a word, select it in the Dictionary box, and then click Delete (). However, you can choose to select multiple words, and then click Delete () to get rid of the unwanted words from your Dictionary.
User Dictionary

Ignored Words

Note:

The Ignored Words list is specific to the project level and varies from project to project.

This selection lets you define the ignored words, which are then never presented as misspelled words, useful for excluding specific words such as names, abbreviations, etc. This list inherits the ignored word lists from Not in Dictionary tab. 

  • To remove a word, select it in the list and click the Delete () button. However, you can choose to select multiple words, and then click Delete ().
Ignored Words

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