The Spelling Checker

The biggest decision you have to make is when you'd like Spell Catcher to point out your mistakes. Spell Catcher can check your spelling at two different times:

• While you're typing. In Interactive Checking mode, Spell Catcher is always watching your typing. Whenever you type something that isn't in the Spell Catcher word lists, or whenever you make a punctuation or capitalization error, the program beeps. At this point, you can summon a list of suggested replacements for the misspelled word, select a replacement, and then go on typing.
• After you're finished typing. Spell Catcher can also work like the spelling checkers you're probably used to-it scans your entire document (or your current selection) at once, looking for mistakes. Spell Catcher will then bring up the Check Selection window, where you can go through the errors and correct them.

Note: Interactive features are only available if you have chosen Spell Catcher to be the active input method by selecting it from the input menu. This shows Spell Catcher's input menu.

It's also easy to turn Interactive Checking on or off-just deselect the Interactive Checking item in the input menu (or choose a keyboard or different input method). That's important to remember when, for example, you begin typing in Lower Slobovian-not one of the languages Spell Catcher knows-and the program begins beeping with every word. Just turn off Interactive Checking from the input menu. Spell Catcher stops watching your typing, and no more beeping fills the room.

Two more notes about Interactive Checking: First, Spell Catcher stores this setting independently in every program you use whenever you turn Interactive Checking on or off from the input menu. Second, Spell Catcher X's interactive features are not available for applications running in the Classic environment-a technical impossibility. Spell Catcher 8 is the product you need to use with your Classic applications.

• Tip: Interactive checking and after-the-fact checking aren't mutually exclusive. It's perfectly OK (in fact, quite common) to let Spell Catcher check spelling as you type-and also to check your spelling all at once just before you print or turn in your document.

What's An Error?

Spell Catcher's interactive checking doesn't know that you're finished typing a particular word until you type a space, press the tab key, press the return key, or type some other "whitespace" character. At that point, Spell Catcher beeps in several circumstances:

• Note: The "Beep" can be one of several sounds. The default installation uses spoken words for most of the various errors, but you can change these settings in Spell Catcher's Preferences.

Spelling Errors

Spell Catcher beeps when you've typed a word that isn't in the Spell Catcher spelling files. Usually, such a word is an actual misspelling or typo, such as potatoe or Amerca.

Other times, the word is what you intended to type, but simply is not in Spell Catcher's spelling files, such as phat, twelvish, or your last name. (As you'll read below, it's easy to add such words to the Spell Catcher word lists so that you won't be beeped at the next time you type them.)

Capitalization Errors

Spell Catcher also beeps if you don't capitalize something the same way it's capitalized in its word lists-when, for example, you type california, fiSh, or Appleworks. Of course, you can always add such words to the dictionary if you truly want to spell them that way.

Spell Catcher also warns you when you fail to capitalize the first letter of a new sentence. (And what's a new sentence? Anything you type following a period, question mark, or exclamation point-except when the period is part of a standard abbreviation, such as i.e. or e.g. or is not followed by a space or quotation mark.)

Punctuation Mistakes

Spell Catcher also lets you know when you've typed combinations of punctuation symbols that don't make sense, such as consecutive commas, colons, semicolons, or periods. (It's smart enough not to beep when you type exactly three periods, which is an ellipsis... like this... but two, four, or more periods make Spell Catcher suspicious.)

Repeated Word Mistakes

You'll also hear a beep if you type the same word more than once in a row, so that you don't send your doctoral thesis off to the publisher with sentences like "This is the the most important paper of of my career."

You're Always in Control

If you'd prefer that Spell Catcher keep its nose out of your punctuation, capitalization, and double words, you can turn off these forms of checking by choosing Preferences from the input menu; in the Preferences window, click the Spelling icon, and select the Checking tab. From here, you can control Spell Catcher's checking behavior. For more details, see Spelling Preferences.