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Computer: Word Processor: Spelling
eMail Clipboard Spell Checker   (-2)  [vote for, against]
A silent spelling checker that runs in the cut-and-paste utility for your email client.

Wow, cool! "That email is so nifty I'm going to forward it to my friends, or I'll just cut and paste the parts I like and forward those ... "

Whoa, my very good friend. As much as I like receiving your emails, there is a tendency for altered mail content to take on the vapid form of corruption typified by the 'telephone game'. The telephone game starts when you whisper a statement (Let's sign up) to the person next to you, and he to the one next to him, and her from person to person in a chain, until sooner or later you hear your statement whispered back to you with a completely altered and distorted message (Lighten up). One fact of forwarded typed messages is that, at least at first, the message is sent complete with errors. The result can be a message that is difficult to read and not up to what you'd expect from a conscientious writer.

"Spell checking" should be required of every writer, but let's face it -- it's a chore and at first glance everything looked pretty good, so why bother. I couldn't agree more. Let's help you further, though. I propose a spell checking utility run silently in the background of your graphical user interface in party with the clipboard utility. This spell checker doesn't have to be a monstrously sized and fully featured dictionary and editor, but simple word parsing and automatically highlighted output would be useful.

To cut and to paste your way to better correspondence.
-- reensure, Jul 17 2007

Spell checking saga with Outlook Express http://forums.cnet....58&messageID=159207
Some people have it working, but it may require some tweaking / DLL installation / magic incantations. [jutta, Jul 17 2007]

Your email client *doesn't* do this? What are you using?
-- jutta, Jul 17 2007


How about an automatic checker that references Snopes.com before you forward that "this little girl was found after the tsunami" email?
-- normzone, Jul 17 2007


Jutta: if you mean can I click on [tools] or F7 and spell check in Outlook Express, yes I can. Can I cut:

Explain 99% of seriious work to me.

and paste:

Explain 99% of serious work to me.

Nope, I have to run my iespell checker to get that, and it neither works with my clipboard nor my email client.
-- reensure, Jul 17 2007


[normzone] I was thinking of that Snopes bit early this morning on my drive.

It sounds better now in the clear light of day. What a great gift idea!
-- reensure, Jul 17 2007


[reensure], post it, the world needs it.
-- normzone, Jul 17 2007


Done your way, [bigsleep]
-- reensure, Jul 17 2007


(-) I don't like this design, sorry. Spell checking should be visible and associated with the outgoing text, not happen secretly behind the scenes, especially not with text that is attributed to others.

But on the practical side, I think there may be some tricks that can help get default spell checking without external tool use to run in conjunction with Outlook Express, if not search-and-replace.
-- jutta, Jul 17 2007


Definitely search and replace -- special characters. A feature the (lofty) good (/lofty) text editors offer but is lacking in Outlook Express.

I can't say I sold myself on the Idea of silent spell checking. My experience with T9 texting should have convinced me that, for me anyway, predictive texting is bad bad bad.

I guess I have a project in mind.
-- reensure, Jul 18 2007


Sorry to be a luddite, but how about just spelling properly?
-- wagster, Jul 18 2007


Voting against because the spell check is operating automatically. This is a recipe for errors.
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Jul 18 2007



random, halfbakery