Thunderbird Grammar Checker add-on

Official Thunderbird Grammar Checker add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/14781

Back-end functionality is based on LanguageTool functionality (in particular, the add-on uses its webserver). Though it can work without any further customization, it is strongly recommended to setup a local LT server (see below), and change the add-on preferences to use your server. By default, the add-on uses the local server and falls back to public LT server (that can't handle the high load and can't guarantee the privacy).
The grammar checking is available via Tools menu, the context menu and the corresponding toolbar button.

Language and server settings can be changed using the add-on preferences:


Supported languages: English (en), Dutch (nl), French (fr), German (de), Italian (it), Polish (pl), Romanian (ro), Russian (ru), Slovak (sk), Slovenian (sl), Spanish (es), Swedish (sv), Ukrainian (uk), Asturian (ast), Belarusian (be), Breton (br), Catalan (ca), Chinese (zh), Danish (da), Esperanto (eo), Galician (gl), Greek (el), Japanese (ja), Khmer (km), Persian (fa), Portuguese (pt), Tagalog (tl), Tamil (ta).

Setting up the local LT server

To use the local server, please download the stand-alone version for the desktop, unpack and run it as described here: HTTP Server.

The sample instructions:

$ wget https://languagetool.org/download/LanguageTool-3.7.zip
$ unzip LanguageTool-3.7.zip
$ cd LanguageTool-3.7
$ java -cp languagetool-server.jar org.languagetool.server.HTTPServer --port 8081

Development

Source code is available in Github: https://github.com/nuald/thb-gramchecker

Comments

  1. JenniferMay 14, 2011 at 6:17 AM

    The add-on works for me. However I had problems with the new Firefox 4. I had to go back to the previous FireFox 3.8

    You could also check out http://www.englishsoftware.org/ they offer a similar engine but with NLP (Natural Language Processing) technology built-in.

    Jenny

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alexander SlesarevMay 14, 2011 at 10:50 AM

    EnglishSoftware solution doesn't work in Linux, so it's useless for me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownMarch 12, 2012 at 6:16 PM

    So I have to switch to thunderbird for email (Long story) and I am one who can not live without grammar checking. how on earth can i get this working on a windows box?

    ReplyDelete
  4. ChristianMay 16, 2012 at 1:23 AM

    I have personal server (Debian), without X11.
    Is it possible to use it at LanguageTool server, and how to configure it with only command line ?

    Christian

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alexander SlesarevMay 16, 2012 at 10:48 AM

      JRE requires X-server, so probably you won't be able to install LT server. I can only recommend to use the external server archeus.ro, if local unavailable, like this: http://archeus.ro/languagetool/check?language=en&motherTongue=ru&text=We%20was%20there

      Delete
  5. JCSMarch 27, 2017 at 11:59 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. JCSMarch 27, 2017 at 11:59 AM

    Alexander,
    I was really hoping to be able to use this software but it seems to be broken/nonfunctional. Do you have plans to fix it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alexander SlesarevMarch 30, 2017 at 2:15 AM

      Thanks for letting me know, I'll take a look. Apparently, Thunderbird internals have changed, and the extension gives the JS error. Unfortunately, I can't actively maintain the extension, but can fix the major errors like this.

      Delete
    2. Alexander SlesarevApril 1, 2017 at 4:56 AM

      Maintenance version 0.7 having the compatibility with the latest Thunderbird API and LanguageTool API has been released. The source code has been moved to Github, it may help with the issue tracking and pull requests if anyone willing to improve the add-on.

      Delete
  7. JCSMarch 30, 2017 at 1:41 PM

    I understand and appreciate that. I have a couple of packages in this status myself.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ilario GhelmJuly 11, 2021 at 4:59 AM

    Thanks for this extremely useful addon!

    I noticed that the source code repository went missing, the most updated fork I found is this one: https://github.com/IGLOU-EU/thb-gramchecker
    Can you confirm if this is the most up to date version available?
    If a community effort manages to open a new repository for trying to maintain the extension, would you be up for updating the source code direction on this page? https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/grammar-checker

    Seems that there's no available alternative for Thunderbird and I think this tool deserves to survive by community effort.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alexander SlesarevJuly 14, 2021 at 8:25 PM

      The add-on is not maintained anymore as TB 78+ requires its full overhaul, and I don't have the ability now and in the foreseen future to do it. I've changed visibility of the repo, but I'm not sure it's helpful as the code in it is pretty much useless in newer TB versions: https://github.com/nuald/thb-gramchecker

      Delete

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