Spell-check

Patterpad has a built-in spell-checker for the words your players read. It works the way you expect from Word or Google Docs: misspelled words get a red wavy underline, and right-clicking one offers corrections, “Add to dictionary”, or “Ignore”. It checks the language you write in (your project’s source language) and stays out of your finished game: spelling never reaches the build.

Only the words a player reads are checked: dialogue, narration, and directions. Character names, ids, and @property references are never flagged, and your cast names are always accepted.

The dictionary

Project Settings ▸ Dictionary is where you set it up:

• Spell-check: the on/off switch (on by default).
• Dictionary: the language to check against. English (US) and English (UK) are built in, so colour is right in UK English and color is right in US English. Pick the one that matches what you write; it starts from your project’s source language.
• Import…: add your own language. Pick any Hunspell .dic file (its matching .aff comes with it). Hunspell is the dictionary format used by LibreOffice, Firefox, and Chrome, so free dictionaries exist for dozens of languages. Imported dictionaries stay on your computer, not in the project, so a large dictionary never bloats the repo. A teammate who opens the project without it just sees spell-check switch off (the built-in English ones always work).
• Project dictionary: a list of words to always accept in this project: character names, places, invented terms. This list travels with the project through version control, so the whole team checks against the same words. Add, edit, or delete them here, or use “Add to dictionary” on a flagged word in the editor.

Fixing a misspelling

Right-click a wavy-underlined word for the usual menu:

• A correction: pick one of the suggested spellings to replace the word in place.
• Add to dictionary: the word is right for this project; add it to the project dictionary so it’s never flagged again, for anyone on the project.
• Ignore: leave the word as-is for this session, without adding it anywhere.

Misspellings also show up in the problems panel for the open scene, as “Spelling” notes you can step through like any other problem. They’re advisory: they never block a build or export.

The dictionary and engine licenses are listed on the Third-party licenses page.