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Outlook Express Troubleshooting
An error occurred while the spelling was being checked
Symptom:
When explicitly trying to check the spelling of an e-mail using Outlook Express the following error is displayed:
An error occurred while the spelling was being checked
also, when sending the e-mail the following message is displayed:
The spell check on this document was halted. Do you want to send anyway?
Possible Causes and Remedies:
- This error can occur if the registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\SharedFilesDir
has a missing backslash.- Using regedit navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools
- The value for 'SharedFilesDir' should have a trailing back slash.
If this is missing then add it. Typically the value for 'SharedFilesDir'
is:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\
Apparently this can prevent "Csapi3t1.dll" from being located and hence the spell check fails.
- Using regedit navigate to:
- The directory indicated by "SharedFilesDir" (see point above) should contain a directory called "Proof", this should contain (amongst others) the files Csapi3t1.dll and either Mssp232.dll or Mssp2_en.lex. See the Microsoft Knowledge base article Q224176.
- A little old but for an excellent article on this problem see http://www.okinfoweb.com/moe/general/gen_030.htm.
- Some of the registry keys used in the process may contain short
versions of the path. Even if these are correct it may break the process.
- Using REGEDIT navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Proofing Tools\Spelling
- Under here these will be one or more four digit keys. Each of
these digits indicates a possible locale for which the system has
been configured. To identify which locale is applicable for you,
look up the (decimal) number up in the
Windows Locale Table.
Common values are:
1033: English (United States)
2057: English (United Kingdom) - Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Proofing Tools\Spelling\NNNN\Normal
where "NNNN" is the appropriate four digit (decimal) locale value.
- Under here look at the values for "Dictionary" and "Engine".
If either of these are defined using the shortened form of directory
specifier, e.g.
Dictionary = C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\Proof\MSSP2_EN.LEX
Then replace this with the long form, e.g.
Dictionary = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Proof\MSSP2_EN.LEX
Repeat this for 'Engine' also.
This can cure the problem even if the shortened form of the path is correct.
- Using REGEDIT navigate to:
About the author: Brian Cryer is a dedicated software developer and webmaster. For his day job he develops websites and desktop applications as well as providing IT services. He moonlights as a technical author and consultant.