spelr Review: Multilingual Spell-Checker Compatible with Mozilla Dictionaries

very good
key review info
application features
  • Automatic typo correction
  • (6 more, see all...)

spelr is a lightweight spell-checker for Windows that aims to detect all misspelled entries when you fail noticing them. A tool like this one is of great help, if your text editor doesn’t offer support for spell checking capabilities. 

The application is free and runs on Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10 (32- and 64-bit). It works with any program installed on your computer and is able to spell check the contents of the clipboard, selected text or an entire document.

You can use spelr for verifying emails, text files, browser forms or text embedded in other utilities that lack spell checking. By default, spelr comes packed with US English dictionaries but it is compatible with any of the Mozilla dictionaries, so it is multilingual.

spelr lives in your system tray

You can find spelr residing in your system tray area. A single click on its icon allows you to access several key features of the program. You are allowed to enable or disable the spell checking mode, automatically correct typos, automatically paste data, as well as open the configuration panel.

The program’s features look intuitive, and in case you need further assistance with the setup parameters, you can have a look at the online help manual.

Generate error-free text 

By default, spelr assigns three hotkeys for controlling the spell checking process, more specifically looking for errors in the Windows clipboard content, selected text and entire document. These hotkeys are ‘Shift + F1,’ ‘Shift + F2’ and ‘Shift + F3,’ respectively.

The hotkeys are set globally, which means they work with any program. You can also reassign the hotkeys in order to make sure they do not interfere with others.

The detected errors are displayed in a clean and simple panel, one by one. spelr highlights the detected misspelled words with red and automatically offers correct suggestions that you can choose from.

You can substitute words or ignore the suggestions.
You can substitute words or ignore the suggestions.

You are given the freedom to replace or ignore the current word, add it to your personal dictionary, or replace/ignore all identified errors with a single click. At the end of the task, the tool reveals a confirmation message.

If you are not sure about the suggestion and want to conduct personal investigations, the tool offers you the option to type a custom word and perform searches on Thesaurus, Dictionary, Dynamo or Google.

There are some items that the utility automatically ignores when scanning text for errors, namely URLs, numbers or words with non-alpha characters except for a hyphen or apostrophe.

Spell checking settings

spelr allows you to select the language of the dictionary from a drop-down list (e.g. French, German, Italian, Russian, Polish). In case the language is not on the list, you can manually request to have it included in future updates of the program or manually install Mozilla dictionaries.

You can make the application automatically paste back the corrected text to the window from which the original text was copied. The only condition is that the window remains the active one.

An automatic mode can be used for replacing words without asking for your permission. Misspelled words are replaced with the correct version in case an Auto-Correct word pair exists in the program’s configuration.

spelr is able to automatically correct common typos, such as add missing spaces after sentences that end with specific characters, remove extra horizontal whitespace and capitalize the first letter of every sentence.

All ignore words from the corrections are stored with the aid of a personal dictionary. You are allowed to make changes to the dictionary and add or delete entries. In addition, you can create a list with Auto-Correct words, where the first one is the misspelled word, while the second stands for the replacement. You should know that each time you use the ‘Replace’ or ‘Replace All’ function, the word pairs are automatically stored in the Auto-correct list.

General tweaks

You can run the utility at Windows startup, automatically look for updates, use alternate copy/paste keys (by default, the tool users ‘Ctrl/Shift + Ins’ to copy and paste data and you can make it use ‘Ctrl + C/V’), reduce the number of notifications if they are not of great importance, and set the display time of the popup notifications. 


The Good

spelr works fast and delivers efficient results. It is not a resource hog so you can keep it running in the background all the time, without worrying that it burdens your computer’s performance. You can quickly replace misspelled words or substitute them with your own words.

The program is able to automatically correct misspelled words and paste back the correct text, offers support for a personal dictionary where you can add your own entries, lets you make use of hotkeys for spell checking text, and allows you to access online dictionaries.

There’s also support for a portable version of the application which can be stored on USB flash drives, called Portable spelr

The Bad

You are not allowed to import custom entries to the personal dictionary from user-defined files, like plain text, CSV and DOC file format. An automatic language detection mode would be really useful so won’t have to manually switch between languages. 

The Truth

‘In case you are lookign for a simple way for identifying mispelled words, spelr comes with the necesary features for helping you create error-free documents.’ It’s worth keeping an eye on because it’s smart, quickly detects typos just like the ones mentioned in the previous sentence, and automatically makes the corrections for you.

user interface 4
features 4
ease of use 5
pricing / value 5


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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spelr (5 Images)

You can access spelr directly from the system trayYou can substitute words or ignore the suggestions.You can assign hotkeys for spell checking clipboard content, text selection or entire document.You can keep a personal dictionary with custom entries.You can make the application automatically correct typos.