Check spelling
You can check the spelling in editable source content—for example, documents, memos, transcripts— when the source is open in edit mode. You can also check the spelling of annotations in any type of source.
What do you want to do?
- Understand spell check
- Check spelling in an entire source
- Check spelling in annotations
- Set your spell check preferences
- Check spelling in different languages
- Use a custom dictionary to add words to spell check
Understand spell check
NVivo comes with built-in dictionaries for English (UK), English (US), French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. If your source materials use specialized terms or abbreviations that are not in the built-in dictionary, you can add these words to the custom dictionary—each of these languages can have its own custom dictionary.
When you spell check a source, NVivo flags words that are not in the built-in or custom dictionary, and you can decide whether you want to ignore them, correct them or add them to the custom dictionary.
You can spell check source content when the source is open in edit mode. You can spell check:
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Documents
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Memos
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Audio and video transcripts (the Content column only)
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Picture logs (the Content column only)
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Framework matrices
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Externals
You can also spell check annotations in any type of source, including non-editable source types such as datasets and PDFs. You can also spell check annotations displayed in node Detail View.
You can set your spell check preferences in NVivo's application options—for example, you can choose whether or not to flag all uppercase words (e.g. USA) as spelling mistakes.
Check spelling in an entire source
When you check spelling across an entire source (for example, a document or transcript), NVivo finds all words that are not in its dictionary. When NVivo identifies a misspelled word, you can decide what you want to do about it.
NVivo first checks the spelling in the source, and then checks annotations.
To spell check an entire source:
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Make sure you are in edit mode.
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On the Home tab, in the Proofing group, click Spelling.
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If NVivo finds spelling mistakes, a dialog box is displayed showing the first misspelled word, you can decide what you want to do:
| I want to | Do this |
| Ignore this instance of the misspelled word and move on to the next | Click Ignore Once |
| Ignore all instances of the misspelled word in this source and move on to the next flagged word | Click Ignore All |
| Fix the error using one of the suggested words | Click on a word in the Suggestions box, and then click Change |
| Fix the error by typing the correct word myself | Type the correct word into the Change To box, and then click Change |
| Add the word to the custom dictionary, because this is a real word and it should not be flagged as an error in the future. | Click Add to Dictionary |
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After you resolve each misspelled word, NVivo displays the next misspelled word.
NOTE
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You can change all instances of a misspelled word within a source, by clicking Change All (rather than Change). You cannot change words across multiple sources.
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You cannot check spelling in non-editable sources (datasets and PDFs) or within custom columns in audio and video transcripts.
Check spelling in annotations
You can spell check annotations in any type of source, including non-editable source types such as datasets and PDFs. You can also spell check annotations displayed in node Detail View.
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Make sure the annotations tab is visible. To show the annotations tab, select the Annotations check box, in the Links group, on the View tab.
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Click in the first annotation.
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On the Home tab, in the Proofing group, click Spelling.
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If NVivo finds spelling mistakes, a dialog box is displayed showing the first misspelled word, you can decide what you want to do (see previous section for more information).
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After you resolve each misspelled word, NVivo displays the next misspelled word.
Set your spell check preferences
By default, NVivo ignores words that:
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Are all in uppercase (for example, USA)
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Contain numbers (for example, m32)
To change your spell check preferences:
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Click the File tab, and then click Options.
The Application Options dialog box opens.
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Click the Text tab.
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Under Spell Checking, set your preferences by selecting (or clearing) the check boxes.
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Click OK.
Check spelling in different languages
NVivo has a built-in dictionary to support spell checking for the following languages: English (UK), English (US), French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. The spell check language is controlled by the project's text content language—refer to Set the text content language and stop words for more information.
NVivo does not provide spell checking for Chinese or Japanese, which are character-based languages.
If you want to check spelling in other word-based languages (for example, Dutch or Hindi), you will need to set the text content language to 'Other' and provide your own custom dictionary.
Use a custom dictionary to add words to spell check
Each language can have its own custom dictionary containing words (or abbreviations) that are not in the built-in dictionary. A custom dictionary is a text file which contains a list of words.
By default, NVivo has no custom dictionaries, but if you choose to add words to the dictionary when spell checking, a custom dictionary is created for the current text content language, and the words are added to it.
If you already have a custom dictionary that you use with another software application—for example, you have a custom dictionary of medical terminology that you use with Microsoft Word—you can use this same dictionary to spell check in NVivo.
If you want to view the words in the custom dictionary, or edit the list of words (for example, if you want to delete a term you added accidentally), then you must locate the custom dictionary on your computer and open it in Notepad to view or edit the contents. To see the location of the custom dictionary on your computer, click the Text tab in Application Options, and then click the Custom Dictionaries button.
To change the custom dictionary used to check spelling:
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Click the File tab, and then click Options.
The Application Options dialog box opens.
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Click the Text tab.
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Under Spell Checking, click Custom Dictionaries.
The Custom Dictionaries dialog box opens.
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Select the language of the dictionary from the Text content language list.
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Click Browse, and select the dictionary file you want to use for that language.
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Click OK.
NOTE Each language can have only one custom dictionary—if you want to use words from more than one dictionary, you will need to combine the two dictionaries into a single text file