The Spell Check feature appears anywhere users can enter blocks of text. It also appears as a portal module with the Blackboard Portal System. When Spell Check is launched it will review the text block and sequentially bring up any words it does not know for review. When a word is brought up for review the user will have several options for changing the text or setting Spell Check to recognize the word. Teaching Spell Check a new word with the Learn function adds the word to the personal word list stored on the local computer.
Information about word lists and the Spell Check module is located in the topic About Spell Check.
The table below details the functions available with Spell Check.
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To . . . |
then . . . |
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replace the current occurrence of a word with a correction or suggestion |
enter a correction in the Replace With field or select a suggestion from the list. Once the correct word appears in the Replace With field, click Replace to change the word in the text. If the misspelled word appears later in the text block it will be flagged again for correction. |
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replace every occurrence of a word in the text with a correction or suggestion |
enter a correction in the Replace With field or select a suggestion from the list. Once the correct word appears in the Replace With field, click Replace All to change every occurrence of the word in the Not Found field with the word in the Replace With field. |
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ignore the word and not make a correction |
click Ignore. The word will not be changed. If the word appears again in the text block it will be flagged for correction. |
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ignore every occurrence of the word in the text block |
click Ignore All. The word will not be changed and the Spell Check will not flag it for correction elsewhere in the text block. |
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teach Spell Check to recognize the word as correct |
click Learn. The word will be added to the personal word list stored as a cookie on the local machine. Whenever Spell Check is run on the local machine the word will be recognized and not flagged as misspelled. |
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close the spell check without finishing |
click Finish. The Spell Check tool will close. |
Note how Spell Check handles the following circumstances:
· Double words are recognized as errors.
· Irregular capitalization is not recognized as an error.
· Initial capitalization at the beginning of sentences is not checked.
· Words in ALL CAPS are checked for spelling errors.
· Words that contain numbers are recognized as errors.
· A word that appears in the supplemental or personal word list may be entered as a correction during a spell check (they do not appear as suggestions). The Spell Check tool must be run again to verify that the word is spelled correctly.