Aspell Dictionary can't be opened
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21-09-2019 - |
Question
When I try to add a word or to ignore all, Aspell throws the error 'the file "C:/Program Files (x86)/Aspell/en.pws" cannot be opened for writing'. Anyone know what is causing this problem and how to fix it?
Solution
Ensure that the security settings of the "C:/Program Files (x86)/Aspell" folder for the current user allow for modifying and writing.
I had the same issue, and this cleared it right up.
OTHER TIPS
Here is some help to the missing en.pws and en.prepl files. I have no idea why the developers failed to provide this simple solution for windows.
- Go to the directory of "Aspell", which should have been installed as a sub-directory of NotePad++.
- Right click in the main Aspell directory, choose "New" then choose "text document".
- Rename the new text document as "en.pws" (without quotes) removing the "txt" extension, press enter key.
- Repeat, make another new text document and rename it to "en.prepl".
- Open up en.pws in NotePad++
copy and paste the following into en.pws, exactly as below;
personal_ws-1.1 en 2 µÄ
(Note: the
µÄ
symbols are below, on a new line belowpersonal_ws-1.1 en 2
)Go to the Menu in NotePad++, click "Encoding" and make sure that "Encoding ANSI" is chosen (Dot beside it).
- Save file and close file.
- Open the en.prepl file in NotePad++
Copy and paste the following into that file;
personal_repl-1.1 en 0
Same, make sure the "Encode ANSI" is chosen.
- Save and close file.
Note: you must close each file before using NotePad++ Spell Checker and "learn" button. Else it corrupts the file and you have to redo it.
NotePad++ will now work and you can save words to the ".pws" file.
Possible locations of GNU Aspell custom words file:
%localappdata%\VirtualStore\Program Files\Aspell
%programfiles%\Aspell
For English for example the custom words file is named en.pws (file name = language code) and the very first line must look like:
personal_ws-1.1 en 286
Where "en" is the file name (=language) and 286 are the number of words (lines) in that file. Last line must is always empty. GNU Aspell does not allow words ending with a number (e.g. Beta1). If you have such a word in your pws file Aspell or the application that uses it (e.g. Notepad++) may crash/hang ...
You may have to delete your en.pws file and create a new one (e.g. using Notepad++). File format as described above, otherwise GNU Aspell will fail to work.
I took the read only off of "C:/Program Files/Aspell" folder. N++ still says
GNU Aspell
Error: The file "C:/Program Files/Aspell/en.pws can not be opened for writing.
The english .50 dictionary install does not do a proper install into your C:/Program Files/Aspell directories. I had to open the Installer .EXE in WinRAR and copy the folders.
Should I copy the English dictionalry installer into my C:/Program Files/Aspell folder and install from there?
"Ensure that the security settings of the "C:/Program Files (x86)/Aspell" folder for the current user allow for modifying and writing"
"I took the read only off of "C:/Program Files/Aspell" folder. [The error message remains]"
It's not a read-only problem, but permissions. In Security give "Users" "Full control" over the .prepl and .pws files.