Making Lotus Notes 8.5.1 and greater language spell check dictionaries available to users

Dictionary files are installed from their corresponding language pack (Notes installation executable, MUI pack, and or NL install kit) as follows:

-- Language dictionaries are automatically installed with the Notes installation program itself, those being the various English language (en) dictionaries as well as French Canadian (fr-CAN).
-- For non-English language Notes client install or upgrade on the Windows platform, additional language dictionaries are installed, after initial Notes install or upgrade, with the various MUI packs.
-- For non-English language Notes client install or upgrade on the Linux or Mac platform, the applicable language dictionaries are automatically installed with the specified NL pack.

Notes detects the installed language dictionaries and uses the operating system locale to display available dictionaries on the users File > Preferences > Spell Check page.

If the Notes user requires spelling dictionaries that are not already installed (based on their MUI pack or NL kit installation process) and therefore not visible and available on their File > Preferences > Spell Check page, the administrator can make additional spelling dictionaries available.

For Notes basic users, the administrator can make additional spelling dictionaries available from a central location or in the user's Notes data directory and Notes user's can then "install" them manually by using the Install option on their File > Preferences > Spell Check page and then selecting the additional language dictionaries.

For Notes standard users, by default, only the dictionaries for the Notes installed language(s), including MUI pack or NL kit, are available; and there is no Install option on the File > Preferences > Spell Check page. However, additional language dictionaries are supplied in the Notes install media, which an administrator can deploy to users automatically; alternatively users can be specially enabled to manually install these additional libraries, as described in this post.

Installing additional language dictionaries for Lotus Notes (Basic configuration)

Notes basic configuration users can "install" a new language dictionary using the Install option on their File > Preferences > Spell Check page. If a Notes user wants to use a language dictionary that is not listed on the page, they can click Install and choose additional dictionaries provided that the administrator has made the additional dictionaries available as follows:

Note: While the following technique is possible, it is more likely that the administrator would place the available dictionary files in a central and accessible location (or simply add them to the user's Notes\data directory directly) rather than provide the user with the actual Notes install media.

1. Locate the Note install kit, MUI pack, or NL kit in which the applicable language dictionary resides.
2. Open the Client folder.
3. In the Client folder, open the Apps\Dictionaries\Traditional folder.
4. Double-click dictionaries.dic.
5. Enter the location of the user's Notes\Data directory (for example, C:Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Notes\data), and then click Unzip.
Alternatively, simply unzip the .dic files to a central location and then copy them to the user's Notes\data directory.
Once the dictionaries are resident in the user's Notes\data directory, the user can use the following UI sequence to select a new language dictionary and "install" it their dictionary selection list.
1. Click File > Preferences > Spell Check > Install Dictionary.
Macintosh OS X users: Click Lotus Notes > Preferences.
2. Select a dictionary from the Languages list and click OK.

Installing additional language dictionaries for Lotus Notes (Standard configuration)

Additional language dictionaries are supplied as separate Eclipse zipped updateSites in the Notes install media in XTAF_Dictionaries.zip. The administrator can make these additional dictionaries available using an add-on installer, deployment widget and widget catalog, or other feature deployment mechanism.

Note: The Notes install DVD contains the XTAF_Dictionaries.zip file. For the Notes install webkit, the XTAF_Dictionaries.zip file is supplied in a separate webkit instead of the Notes install webkit.

Note: For simplicity, this wiki post describes how the administrator can make the additional dictionaries available centrally and enable the user to install them individually using a non-default user interface sequence. A better deployment approach would be for the administrator to add the additional dictionaries to a central NSF-based update site (for example updatesite.nsf) and then create and use a deployment widget and widget catalog to automatically install the dictionaries for the user based on widget policy settings. This second approach totally automates the process for the user by pushing the additional libraries to the user's desktop without any user intervention. It also negates the need to expose the EUM UI sequence. For details on this centrally managed deployment approach, see Managing client plug-in deployment.

Task 1 -- Admin exposes the File > Application > Install menu sequence:
Enable the Eclipse Update manager (EUM) for the target Notes users who will need to install the additional language dictionaries. A simple, manual method is described below; more automated methods are available, for example you could change the setting in the install kit's plugin_customization.ini file to push the setting during install.

1. Open the user's Notes\framework\rcp\plugin_customization.ini file.
2. Add the following statement to the end of the file:
com.ibm.notes.branding/enable.update.ui=true
3. Save the file and have the user restart Notes.
When the user restarts Notes, the File > Application > Install menu sequence will be available; by default it is not visible.

Task 2: Admin places the additional language updateSites in an accessible location
Again, before a Notes user can select a language dictionary from the File > Preferences > Spell Check page, the desired language dictionary must be installed; the new language files (updateSite_language.zip) are supplied with the Lotus Notes install media (DVD or Webkit download). You can place the supplied language updateSites in a central NSF-based update site (for example updatesite.nsf), as described in Creating and using an NSF-based update site and but for simplicity in this post, just copy them from the install media to a central location that is accessible to the user as described below.

1. Locate the Note 8.5.1 or greater Notes install media -- either DVD or Webkit download.
2. Copy XTAF_Dictionaries.zip to a central location, for example C:\Downloads.
Note: In Lotus Notes 8.5.1, new language dictionaries are packaged as JAR files in updateSite_language.zip to be installed as Notes plugin features.Task 3. Admin informs users how to install the new language dictionaries

1. Inform the user that if they need an additional spelling dictionary that is not available in their File > Preferences > Spell Check page they can install that dictionary using the following procedure (the Task 4 content).
2. Tell the user that they will need to restart Notes after they install the new dictionary plug-in; Notes requires a restart whenever a new plug-in is installed.

Task 4. Notes user installs a new language dictionary
If, as a Notes user, you open the File > Preferences > Spell Check page and do not see the desired language dictionary listed, do the following to install the desired dictionary.

1. Click File > Application > Install.
2. Check Search for new features to install, click Next and choose Add Zip/Jar Location.
3. In the Select Local Site Archive dialog, browse to the folder specified by your administrator as the one in which the update site resides, for example C:\Downloads\XTAF_Dictionaries.zip.
4. Select the language dictionary file you want to install (for example, updateSite_de.zip to install a German language dictionary), click OK and then click Finish.
5. When plug-in installation is complete, click Restart Now.
When Notes restarts the German language dictionary plug-in will be available in your File > Preferences > Spell Check page.

For related information about the additional Notes language dictionaries, see Spelling Language Dictionaries in Lotus Notes 8.5.1 and possible "dictionary" posts in the Lotus Notes Support Site.