abiword: how to change default language for new documents?

Question

In abiword, how can I set the default spell-check language for new documents to Spanish?

I'm running version 2.8.2 on Ubuntu/Gnome

Answer 1

You need to edit this file:

/usr/share/abiword-2.8/templates/normal.awt

Search for

lang:en-US

and change it to

lang:es-ES

You should see the new default language for new documents the next time you start Abiword.

Answer 2

First close Abiword, then:

cd /usr/share/abiword-{your version}/templates/

mv normal.awt normal.awt.old

ls

cp normal.awt-{your language} normal.awt

Start Abiword

example:

cd /usr/share/abiword-3.0/templates/

mv normal.awt normal.awt.old

cp normal.awt-es_MX normal.awt

Start Abiword!