NWE as global spell-checker

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Patrick J
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NWE as global spell-checker

Post by Patrick J »

A few years ago I wrote a very simple AppleScript/Nisus Macro for Nisus Writer Classic which simply opened the clipboard and ran the spell-checker over the text on the clipboard. This was very simple but proved very popular amongst some people on the Dartmouth "Nisus List" which I used to participate in.

Anyway with NWE the very same thing can be done and it is even better because I don't need to "invoke" an inbuilt spell-checker in Nisus Writer, you can just see wrong spellings underlined by Apple's built in spell-checker on the clipboard.

The situation where this is useful is when writing in a text situation that is not savvy to that Apple spell-checker such as, in fact, this very message window I'm writing in Safari now :)

All you have to do is copy text to clipboard, run the AppleScript, correct misspelling then paste it straight back in from whence it came.

I think it's good to put the AppleScript in that little menu on the top right of the screen which you can activate using the AppleScript Utility. This means the AppleScript is available in all environments.

Anyway here is the AppleScript:

Code: Select all

tell application "Nisus Writer Express"
	activate
	Do Menu Macro with macro "Edit:Clipboards:Edit Current Clipboard"
end tell
MacUnix
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Re: NWE as global spell-checker

Post by MacUnix »

Patrick J wrote:The situation where this is useful is when writing in a text situation that is not savvy to that Apple spell-checker such as, in fact, this very message window I'm writing in Safari now :)
Safari supports the system wide spell checker in the text input boxes. It is only not enabled by default. Each time you close a window the spelling is turned off. Via 'Edit->Spelling->Check Spelling As You Type' you can enable it.
I use Omniweb since it remembers the spelling setting, so that it is activated every time I fill in a form on a website / forum.
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Patrick J
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Post by Patrick J »

How very interesting. It does seem to work very well, I've turned on "Check Spelling as You Type" and it is indeed pointing out errors.

I'm sure there are other situations where my very simple script may be of use though I can't, er, think of any right now :)
dagaz
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Re: NWE as global spell-checker

Post by dagaz »

MacUnix wrote:Safari supports the system wide spell checker in the text input boxes. It is only not enabled by default. Each time you close a window the spelling is turned off. Via 'Edit->Spelling->Check Spelling As You Type' you can enable it.
No. You only have to enable it once and it stays on - in my experience anyway.
Ryan
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Post by Ryan »

OmniWeb is still better, though. So there.

However, the script could still come in handy in other situations. Like, um, if you're trying to spell-check something that's not in a text input area. Or in your code editor. Or something.

Yeah.
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Patrick J
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Post by Patrick J »

Ryan wrote:OmniWeb is still better, though. So there.

However, the script could still come in handy in other situations. Like, um, if you're trying to spell-check something that's not in a text input area. Or in your code editor. Or something.

Yeah.
I'm delighted to write that I've now found a use for the script :)

Checking spelling in MacSOUP newreader.

It doesn't use the system-wide spell checker in OS X nor does it have a spell checker of its own.

I must email that guy who does MacSOUP and congratulate him on leaving out the OS X spell checker and thus giving my simple script a purpose in life.

In fact the script does have some other purposes if I say so myself.

It means you can use Nisus Writer Express find/replace on any text in any app for example.

Indeed if you become a Perl scripting wizard you will be able to run all kinds of things on text lifted from any app. via the clipboard.
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