Rainmaker Research (http://www.rainmakerinc.com)
has announced Spell Catcher X 10.3, a new release
of thecollection of writing productivity tools.
Among other things, it provides spell checking
services for more than a dozen languages, and
combines its multilingual spell checking with a
suite of writing productivity tools. Among its
features are:
° DirectCorrect, a new way to check and correct
spelling. You can check and fix interactively as
errors appear or continue working and fix all
errors when it’s most convenient. DirectCorrect
leverages advanced Mac OS X text and
accessibility technology to provide virtually
instantaneous display of errors.
° Spell Catcher auto-corrects common typing
errors. Users often mistype a word, possibly
inverting two letters. Spell Catcher is
intelligent enough to be taught that mistake so
that it will automatically correct the error.
° Audible error alerts that warn when mistakes
are made, permitting the user to view the
suggested correction and act immediately or defer
the correction
° User assignable keyboard commands allow
individuals to customize the way the application
works. Just assign any menu item a keyboard
combination that’s easy to remember and typing
that combination activates the corresponding menu
selection.
° Spell Catcher gathers information not only from
its internal dictionaries, but Internet sources
as well. Users can obtain additional information
about any word that has been flagged, including
correct pronunciation
° Integration with the Mac OS X Spelling Panel
and support for the following languages: US
English, British English, French, Canadian
French, German, Swiss German, Italian, Spanish,
Swedish, Dutch, Canadian English, Portuguese and
Brazilian Portuguese, Danish and Russian. Also
new in Spell Catcher 10.3 is a French
localization.
° Improved spelling suggestions, updated
dictionaries, and larger vocabulary as a result
of Spell Catcher’s incorporation of a new
Proximity Linguistic System.
Spell Catcher also offers tools for enhancing the
writing experience. They include:
° A built-in Shorthand Glossary feature saves
time by permitting users to automatically enter
words, phrases, or even entire documents with a
few keystrokes. Simply assign some letters or
numbers to a frequently used phrase and whenever
those letters are typed, the text is
automatically expanded. It will even maintain the
correct upper and lower case format and remove
any extra spaces. For example, if a user
frequently includes boilerplate information such
as: “Copyright 2008, Rainmaker Inc., All Rights
Reserved”, the shorthand feature enables the user
to have all that text entered by just typing
“crr”.
° Spell Catcher incorporates a writer’s reference
book containing multiple dictionaries and an
assortment of thesauri that yields more than
2,000,000 synonyms and antonyms.
° Auto-completion watches your keystrokes and
searches the computer and automatically enters
information into your document. Examples of
information that is automatically entered via
this feature are company names, names and email
addresses of individuals in the address book,
phone numbers and any matching words found in the
dictionary or shorthand glossary.
° Spell Catcher corrects double spaces, double
capitals, double punctuation and an array of
other common mistakes.
° Ghostwriter monitors, records and saves
keystrokes, thereby protecting against data loss
that can occur in a computer crash, freeze or
power outage. It can even help find an URL that
you forgot to bookmark but need to locate.
° Ooint and click text manipulation macros allow
Spell Catcher to clean up common text problems
automatically. Email programs often show quoted
text by inserting “)” and it can be time
consuming to try to remove all of these quoting
characters. Spell Catcher allows the user to
automatically remove these with a click.
Additional macro capabilities include the ability
to: strip white space and unwanted characters;
automatically change case to upper or lower case
or format text as title case; display statistics,
create smart quotes and display quoted sections;
and create custom macros to suit individual needs
° Speech recognition allows a user to control
Spell Catcher with audible commands. Just tell
Spell Catcher what you want it to do and it will
follow your instructions, whether you want to
spell-check a selection or run a macro.
Spell Catcher X 10.3 for Macintosh is available
for immediate purchase from Rainmaker Research, A
trial version is also available. Spell Catcher X
requires Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later.
Spell Catcher X retails for US$39.95. Users who
purchased Spell Catcher X version 10.2.x on or
after Sept. 1, 2007 are eligible for a free
upgrade. Other licensed users of SpellCatcher X
version 10.2.x can purchase upgrades for $14.95.
Owners of Spell Catcher X 10.1 or earlier
versions of SpellCatcher X can upgrade for
$19.95. Spell Catcher X users can purchase
language plug-ins in for Dutch, Canadian English,
Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish and
Russian for an additional $10 each. Spell Catcher
Plus version 3 is also available for Windows.
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