Thursday, August 25, 2016

Acrobat -- Spell Check Suite


Direct purchase using PayPal ($85 only per license)!


Try before you buy: Free demo version


This suite of tools adds full spell-checking capabilities to Acrobat.
You can now check and mark up regular text and bookmarks in addition to the standard check for form fields and comments which already exists in Acrobat.

Update IV (25-08-2016): New update for this tool! It can now handle ligatures symbols as well as end-of-line hyphenated words better than before.

Update III (18-06-2014): A new feature just added to this tool, allowing you to define "No Spell Check" zones, which the tool will ignore when it spell-checks the document.
Another improvement is the option to define whether or not to perform a case-sensitive spell-check. By default the check is case in-sensitive.

Update II: Now this script includes a batch process, which allows you to spell-check multiple files one after another (provided you have Acrobat Pro, of course).

Update I: A free demo version of this tool is now available here. It allows you to select a dictionary and then spell-check the first page of the currently active document.

The languages available for checking are:
  • Bulgarian
  • Catalan
  • Croatian
  • Czech
  • Danish
  • Dutch
  • English (Canada)
  • English (United Kingdom)
  • English (United States)
  • Estonian
  • Finnish
  • French (Canada)
  • French (France)
  • German (Germany)
  • German (Switzerland)
  • Greek
  • Hungarian
  • Italian
  • Latvian
  • Lithuanian
  • Norwegian BokmÃ¥l
  • Norwegian Nynorsk
  • Polish
  • Portuguese (Brazil)
  • Portuguese (Portugal)
  • Romanian
  • Russian
  • Slovak
  • Slovenian
  • Spanish
  • Swedish
  • Turkish

In Acrobat X or later the following languages are also available:
  • Arabic
  • Hebrew


The main menu of the suite looks like this:



The language dictionary selection looks like this:



Each of these dictionaries can be customized: Words can be added and removed from it, either using a simple input dialog or through a file (which allows adding or removing multiple words in one go).

When you run spell-check a document, the misspelled words are underlined and the suggestions for the correct spelling are added to the highlight:


Update: Added functionality to check just a part of the document. This is ideal if you have a single document consisting of multiple languages. You simply add "Spell Checking Zones" to your document, and only the words within those zones will be checked.

Here's how such a zone looks like (notice that only the misspelled words inside the zone were marked):


 

IMPORTANT NOTE:  This tool does NOT offer a way of fixing the found spelling mistakes, it just marks them on the page. To do so you would need to go back to the original file format and fix it there, or manually use the Edit Text command in Acrobat (not recommended, but possible).

If you have any questions regarding this tool, contact me directly.

40 comments:

TarekAHF said...

Will this spell check tool work with Acrobat 9 Pro and Acrobat XI Pro?

Gilad D. (try67) said...

Hi Tarek,

Yes, it will.

Gilad

Anonymous said...

"Acrobat -- Spell Check Suite"

I have installed the Demo version.
But when i start Acrobat i get a JavaScript window saying it cannot be installed.

What do I do ?

Help !!

ERIC

Gilad D. (try67) said...

@moi

Eric, you're probably trying to execute the file instead of saving it. Follow the instructions file and it should work fine. If you still have problems contact me directly, please.

Gilad

Unknown said...

Will this Spell Check All CAP word. Need to have the as an Option

Gilad D. (try67) said...

@Richard
Yes, if you don't do a case-insensitive search then it will check all-caps words as well.

Unknown said...

Hi,

does the spell checker work for Adobe Reader?

Unknown said...

Hi,
does it work for Adobe Reader?

Gilad D. (try67) said...

@Adam

I have a separate version of this tool that is compatible with Reader: http://try67.blogspot.com/2010/07/reader-spell-check-suite.html

Unknown said...

thx, can you please explain checking CAP word: " if you don't do a case-insensitive search then it will check all-caps words as well." Where is this option? I don't have it in demo and I can't see it in menu print screen either... And is it possible to spell check CAP words in Reader version?

Gilad D. (try67) said...

This option is not available in the Demo version, I don't think, but it is available in the full Reader version, yes.

Geoff said...

Hi, Does this suite work with the latest Acrobat DC version? Thank you.

Gilad D. (try67) said...

@Geoff
Yes, it does.

Tom Wilksch said...

I'm giving the demo a go, but get 'an internal error occurred' when trying to select the language I want. It seems to work but default to American english, but I need it as UK English. Any ideas?

Gilad D. (try67) said...

@Tom Wilksch
Make sure you set the preferences as described in the installation instructions file.
If it's still not working try disabling Protected View under Edit - Preferences - Security (Enhanced).

Unknown said...

Hello,
I tried the trial version, Acrobat Pro DC on windows.
It creates comments. How can I change the actual text?
Thanks!

Unknown said...

Hello,
I try the trial version on Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, Windows.
The script creates comments.
How can I change the actual text in the PDF?
Thanks!

Gilad D. (try67) said...

@Michael G.
You can't. This tool doesn't actually change the file (it can't), it only marks the incorrect words. You need to fix them manually using the Edit Text tool, or better yet, by going back to the original file used to create the PDF and fix them errors there.

Unknown said...

Hello! Will this work with Acrobat Standard (rather than Pro)? If not, do you have another version that would work with Standard?

Gilad D. (try67) said...

@Laura Klein

Yes, it will work with Acrobat Standard.

Unknown said...

The trial version worked fine in Acrobat DC.

I just purchased the full version and installed the SpellCheckerSuite.js into C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Javascripts\ and the "Spell Checker" menu item appears under Edit. When I choose Edit>Spell Checker I see "DICTIONARY:" as the first menu item. When I click that, choose English (United States) and click OK, most menu items are still grayed out and the menu still says "DICTIONARY:" at the top. Do I need to install dictionary files from somewhere else? I have tried restarting Acrobat, but still get the same result. What else should I try?

Gilad D. (try67) said...

@Unknown

Make sure you set all the preferences as described in the instructions file, especially the one about the global object.

shaynu said...

Will the spell checker work with a PDF that has a mixture of languages (say Hebrew and english?)

Gilad D. (try67) said...

I believe it will just ignore the Hebrew text. If not you can always use the Zones feature to ignore it.

shaynu said...

Right- but I want the Hebrew and English both spell checked. Also is there a way to save accepted 'misspelled' words that come up multiple times?

Gilad D. (try67) said...

Hebrew is not supported for spell-checking, unfortunately. And the tool can't actually replace the misspelled words, only Mark them.

shaynu said...

What I meant to ask: Is there a way to add 'misspelled' words to the vocabulary list (so it is no longer marked as misspelled?) (Not to change the word on the PDF but to keep it from being marked/underlined as misspelled).

Gilad D. (try67) said...

Sorry, I misunderstood. Sure, that is possible.

shaynu said...

Hi Gilad- 2 more questions: 1. Can we put in logic or regular expressions that tell it to ignore superscripts?
2. Can you think of a way we can reduce the number of false positives? In the demo the spell-checker was underlying some words that are spelled correctly. Thanks!!

Gilad D. (try67) said...

1. No. Although I can create for you a customized version that will ignore certain font sizes. That might do the trick.
2. I will need to see a sample file to be able to help with that. Please send it to me to try6767@gmail.com.

Joce62 said...

I have been working with the Adobe Spell check suite for quite a while and I have never seen any options/preferences to spell check text in uppercase.
I have reread the instructions and I have not seen anything about the option of in case sensitive. We have a lot of catalogue that have been created with uppercase and we would need to be able to spell check those as well as lowercase text.

Gilad D. (try67) said...

@Joce62

The tool does contain an option to perform a case insensitive spell-check. If your version doesn't have it use your download link to get the latest version, and then it will. For further questions or issues please contact me directly and I'll help you sort them out.

Joce62 said...

Can you send me the path to the download link of the latest version?

Gilad D. (try67) said...

If you purchased the script, it's the same link as your original one.

Unknown said...

i appreciate your effort but $85 is too high for me

Gilad D. (try67) said...

Sorry to hear that. If you'd like to contact me privately via email I'll see what I can do for you...

Lisa Maxey said...

Is this tool still current in 2021? I'm using the latest version of Adobe Reader DC.

Gilad D. (try67) said...

@Lisa Maxey

It sure is!

Eleanor Bolton said...

In your post of June 9, 2016 at 10:38 AM, you mention an alternative tool for Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.

But in your post of June 19, 2016 at 7:53 AM it says this tool will also work in Reader. Can I buy the standard tool for Reader DC (the trial version seems to work)?

try67 said...

@Eleanor Bolton

The Reader version of this tool is available here: http://try67.blogspot.com/2010/07/reader-spell-check-suite.html

The core functionality of this tool will work in Reader DC, but some features (like importing or exporting word lists to the dictionary) might not.