Old problems of no dictionaries - new question

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JRZ
Posts: 3
Joined: January 17th, 2021, 1:51 pm

Old problems of no dictionaries - new question

Post by JRZ »

For internal reasons we run Thunderbird 52.9.1 32 bit under windows 10 and updated from thunderbird 2 (which we still use internally - don't ask!!)
The only reason we updated some machines internally is that the very old Thunderbird did not display properly in Windows 10 on a laptop. We use early version because all mail accounts go to the same inbox - not possible with later versions and can not edit anything in account settings withoutfolder erros.

Issue is we do not want to go past the 52.9.1 ESR version as only used on this laptop with ver 2 profile. We sync the mail folders between profiles only.

I have tried all the work arounds I can find on this site to get a GB dictionary working. Currently shows extensions of:- British English Dictionary (Darmeth), British ENglish Dictionary (Marco Pinto) 2.99 Languages shows English (GB) Language Pack 52

In tools ... composition no dictionary showing, just grey
In an email, check spelling shows a blank box for dictionary

Please can anyone help as obviously something in prefs.js that I can not find, nor using the configeditor.

many thanks
John
UK
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tanstaafl
Moderator
Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Old problems of no dictionaries - new question

Post by tanstaafl »

Normally you select a dictionary using Tools → Options → Composition → Spelling → Language

Try clicking on Options in the compose message window, and then clicking "Check Spelling". There should be a Language list box at the bottom that you can use to either select a Language or "Download more dictionaries".

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Dictionaries

https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/th ... src=search says the dictionary switcher add-on supports up to version 32 but it probably supports version 52. "Toggles spelling dictionaries automatically or manually and displays the currently selected one in the status bar."

See the versions section at the bottom of https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/th ... src=search to download a version of the automatic dictionary add-on that works with version 51.

"Issue is we do not want to go past the 52.9.1 ESR version as only used on this laptop with ver 2 profile."

Starting with version 60 Thunderbird starts to switch from XUL/XPCOM to WebExtension API based add-ons.

With version 68 it wants a dedicated profile per installation. That might cause it to complain your version of Thunderbird doesn't support that profile and want you to create a new one. You can use about:profiles in help -> more troubleshooting information to tell it to use your old profile as the default profile to workaround that. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/de ... stallation

With version 78 it will migrate address books from *.mab files to *.sqlite files, and drop all support for legacy add-ons. The latest version of Thunderbird supports importing *.mab files using tools -> import.

The files used to store passwords have changed several times. So you might have to enter your passwords when prompted (and check the checkbox to save them) again.

You would have to deal with those annoyances but in general I don't see any reason why you can't use your existing profile with the latest version of Thunderbird. Its really a question of whether its worth the effort to you. The problems are if you want to go back to an older version. Adding a --allow-downgrade command line argument usually works around that problem if you don't want to restore a backed up profile.

If you want to try switching to a current version of Thunderbird I suggest you back up both your profile and the profiles.ini file (about 2 directories above it) beforehand.

If you want to use the latest version it might be simplest to just install the latest version, create a new profile, add the accounts again, import the old address books using tools -> import, and import any downloaded mail folders using the ImportExportTools NG add-on.
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