Use Office 2000 proofing tools in Access 2010 Runtime

Question

I am using Access 2010 Runtime to run my custom database application. Office 2000 professional is also installed on the same machine. I use DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdSpelling a couple different place to perform a spell check on the data entered.

This works great on the full version of Access 2000 but when I open it up in 2010 Runtime I get the message MS Access can't start the spell checker because it isnt' installed. I know if the full version of Office isn't installed the spell checking won't work.

Now for my question. The full version of Office is installed, but it is a different version. Is there any way to make Access 2010 Runtime use the Office 2000 proofing tools?

I really want to use 2010 runtime because of several UI improvements that my application uses. I know that I could go back to Access 2000 but that would be a last resort.

Answer 1

Have you considered a third party spell checker? Can you insert a custom WinForms controls developed in C# into an access database? What about a VB6 control? If you could find a control with spell checking using a third party library, that might work.

Answer 2

Using Excel's VBA Functions in MS Access:

You can call Excel functions from Access by adding a reference to Excel.

In the Access VBA Project, go Tools → References, and then locate and include the library "Microsoft Excel 16.0 Object Library" (or the newest version you have).

Then create an object referring to an Excel Application and call whatever commands as required.

For example, to check the spelling of a word or phrase:

Sub demo_Spellcheck()
   Dim textToCheck As String, excel As New excel.Application 'create Excel object
   textToCheck = InputBox("Enter a word or phrase:", "Spellcheck", "blah blah")

   If excel.Application.CheckSpelling(textToCheck) Then 'check spelling
       MsgBox textToCheck & vbLf & "is spelled Correctly", 64 'TRUE = correct
   Else
       MsgBox textToCheck & vbLf & "is mis-spelled", 16 'FALSE = misspelled
   End If

   Set excel = Nothing 'always cleanup after your objects
 End Sub

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More Information:

• Office Docs : Application.CheckSpelling method (Excel)
• Office Docs : Application.WorksheetFunction property (Excel)

Answer 3

A late answer but it is still current...

Actually you can install the spellcheck and proofing tools via Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010.

• Download Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 from Microsoft and open it
• Choose Customize
• Click the Microsoft Sharepoint Designer icon and choose Not available
• Expand Office Shared Features and then Proofing Tools
• Customize the tools by expanding the languages ensuring Spelling and Grammar checkers is selected
• Install