Spell Checking Options

I came across this topic in my email archives. I think it's still a relevant topic so I thought I'd post it. It deals with options for spell checking within Dynamics CRM.

One of the simplest options of course is to use the spell checkers that come built into the various add-on toolbars such as the Google toolbar.

More sophisticated options employ the use of a spell checker API where the experience is similar to spell checking in applications such as Microsoft Word.I have implemented 2 such versions of the spell checker.

The first one powered by webspellchecker.net is a paid for solution ($250 per year for up to 10000 sessions and then $0.025 for each additional sessions - see web site for additional pricing options). This tool is very intuitive and will be familiar to anyone who has used the Microsoft Word spell checker solution.

The second option was to use a free product called NetSpell – this is deployed on the server entirely i.e. the check occurs against a dictionary defined on the server. This tool is also fairly intuitive however the way in which the spell checker works is not quite as comprehensive as that as webspellchecker.net which I think is in evidence by comparing the screenshots.

In summary, below  are the pros/cons of each approach:

webspellchecker.net Pros

• Quite a bit more comprehensive in terms of functionality including an easier to use interface as well as grammar and thesaurus options
• Very intuitive
• Allows for custom dictionary to be defined
• Is a supported product and will be maintained over time presumably with incremental improvements, dictionary term additions, etc.

webspellchecker.net Cons:

• Is not free. $250 per 10000 sessions. To get a true cost it is necessary to determine the number of users who will be using this on a daily basis multiplied by the number of times they are likely to use it per day e.g. the formula would look something like: #users*#dailysessions*200 (200 being roughly the number of work days per year)
• Is an online solution although there is also a licensed downloadable version for a not insignificant cost

NetSpell Pros

• Fairly comprehensive
• Fairly intuitive
• Allows for custom dictionary to be defined
• On premise solution so not reliant on network performance
• It is free

NetSpell Cons

• Is not a supported product in case of product issues
• Dictionary is not auto maintained
• User interface not as slick as that of webspellchecker.net