Katip

Katip is an add-in designed to enhance spellchecking capabilities in the Microsoft Word desktop application using the Hunspell library and dictionaries.

Many languages around the world lack built-in spellchecking functionality and are not supported by major software vendors. The goal of this add-in is to integrate Hunspell's robust spellchecking features into Microsoft Word, thereby enabling spellchecking for low-resource languages.

Features

• Access the UI via the Word Ribbon menu.
• Edit spelling using a dialog window.
• Edit spelling using right-click context menu.
• Change/Change All misspelled words with suggestions.
• Ignore Once/Ignore All options for the current spellchecking session.
• Add words to the permanent user dictionary.
• Change the UI display language of the add-in.
• Change the spelling language based on available languages.
• Toggle auto spellcheck and auto clear spellcheck functionalities on/off.
• Customize the color and underline style used for highlighting misspellings.
• Load additional dictionaries from a specified folder.
• Navigate through misspellings efficiently.
• Customize the set of characters considered as word separators.
• Save settings permanently.
• Log errors to a text file.

Security

Katip processes all data locally and your data does not leave your computer.

All code is open-source. Hunspell is a globally used open-source library. The code for Hunspellvba.dll is available at HunspellVBA. The code for the katip4.dotm file is in /code folder or can be viewed in VBA IDE.

If you download Katip from other sources it is impossible to guarantee that those files do not contain malicious code. Use them at your own risk.

Installation

To install Katip, you need to determine whether your Word installation (not Windows OS) is 32-bit or 64-bit.

Determine the Bitness of Your Word Installation

Word 2010

• Go to File > Help.
• Look on the right side. You will see text similar to "Version: xx.x.xxx.xxxx (64-bit)".

Word 2016

• Go to File > Account.
• Click on About Word to find out the bitness.

Choose the Installation File

• For 32-bit Word, use katip_setup_x86.exe.
• For 64-bit Word, use katip_setup_x64.exe.

Install Your Language's Dictionary

Depending on your operating system, Katip installs the data folder in the following location:

• C:\ProgramData\Katip

To install your language's dictionary, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Program Data folder.
2. Copy your dictionary files into the Katip\dictionaries folder. For each language, you need to install two files: language_name.aff and language_name.dic.

For example, for Hungarian, you need to install hu-HU.aff and hu-HU.dic. The file names must match this format; otherwise, Katip will not recognize the language. The dictionaries must be in UTF-8 encoding and comply with the Hunspell standard.

To find the language tag for your language, refer to the languages.txt file in the data folder. If your language is not listed, you can submit a request to the author.

Supported Systems

Currently Tested Windows Systems:

• Windows 11 64-bit
• Windows 7 64-bit

Currently Tested Word Versions:

• Word 2010 64-bit
• Word 2010 32-bit
• Word 2016 64-bit

More tests will be added in the future.

Creating Your Own Build

You can build your own release using the sources in the x86 and x64 folders. Here are some steps to consider:

• Browse through the code files to review the code.
• Modify katip4.dotm using the Word VBA IDE to change functions, forms, and modules.
• Add or remove dictionary files in the /dictionaries folder.
• Add or remove UI localization files in the /locale folder.
• Modify the default launch settings in the settings.ini file.
• Run the provided InnoSetup installer creation script. Adjust the paths and names in the file if you made any changes.

Known Issues

• Spellchecking doesn't integrate into Word's native proofing functionality. It runs in a separate window.
• Currently, it works only for plain text content in the main body. It doesn't support headers, footers, or other special types of content.
• The quality of spellchecking depends on the quality of Hunspell dictionaries for each language.
• The misspelling color is limited to only standard colors, even if chosen from the standard Font dialog window of Word.
• Misspelling style is not fully visible in Settings window.
• Navigation through errors can be erratic if used too dynamically.

Contribution

Contributions and feedback are welcome.

License

Katip is available under the GPL License. Katip uses Hunspell, governed by its respective licenses.