Moving LibreOffice add-on to its own repo

Development
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Hi, just a heads-up: we’ll move the code of the LibreOffice add-on to its own repo. It can now be found at https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool-for-libreoffice. The code will be removed from https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool soon. All git history should be kept intact.

Update: see here for more background information

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Hello everyone,
In recent years I have actually mainly developed the LibreOffice extension from LanguageTool on my own.
There is now an alternative in LibreOffice to have the grammar check carried out via the LanguageTool server. In this respect, I can understand the team’s decision to no longer officially support the extension.

Nevertheless, I believe that it still makes sense for everyone who writes longer texts to use the extension for the following reasons:

  • The extension runs on the local machine. No remote server is needed.
  • The extension supports all rules working on the level of full text (e.g., opening and closing quotes are recognized even if they are more than one paragraph away from each other).
  • The extension uses the LanguageTool spell checker in addition to that of Libreoffice.
  • The extension supports grammar checking of Impress and Calc documents (Only manual checking by the LT check dialog. An automated check is not supported by LibreOffice.)
  • The extension offers a configuration dialog:
    • Easily activate / deactivate optional rules
    • Easily deactivate / reactivate default rules
    • Define custom colors and styles for rule groups or single rules
    • Change parameters for some special rules
    • Define profiles to check different kinds of documents
  • The extension works with caching, which makes repeated work on long texts much easier.
  • The extension offers the possibility of statistical analyses, such as frequently used words, filler words, etc. (for individual languages).

What’s next?
I will now continue the application under the name WritingTool (WT) based on LanguageTool.
You can find it here: GitHub - FredKruse/writingtool: WritingTool for libreOffice based on LanguageTool
Unfortunately, I don’t yet have an infrastructure to, for example, automatically create OXT files with the latest changes in LT and WT every day. I’m thinking about how I could set up and operate one.
Furthermore, I’m also now cut off from the mechanisms for internationalization. I would appreciate it if people could be found to help me translate the relevant files. (I’m only able to maintain English and German.)
It would be nice if all of you who have used the extension so far would continue to use it under the new name (WT), test errors and give suggestions.
The latest development will be to support (local) AI and thus provide another option for finding errors and editing text passages. However, this is still at a very early stage, and I am testing it primarily for German texts. Here, too, I am still looking for people who would like to support the project with testing and suggestions.

1 Like
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Es ist schade zu sehen, dass es zu dieser Entscheidung kam. Mir ist aufgefallen, dass es immer ruhiger wurde, aber dass fast nur noch eine Person an der Erweiterung für LO und OO beteiligt ist, ist mir zunächst gar nicht aufgefallen. Ich dachte immer, dass mehrere Personen im Hintergrund arbeiten, aber anscheinend ist dies nicht der Fall gewesen.

Ich werde weiterhin die Offline-Version vom LanguageTool nutzen, weil ich auch unabhängig vom Internet sein möchte und ich bin bereit diese mit Tags zu füttern. Zudem werde ich Fehlalarme und co weiterhin melden, um den Nachfolger zu helfen.

Trotzdem hätte ich eine Frage. Was passiert mit den Fehler, die ausschließlich mit Add-on betreffen, werden diese geschlossen oder noch behoben? Das würde mich interessieren.

Grüße Dallun511

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Hallo,
die LibreOffice-Erweiterung von LanguageTool wird von mir weiterentwickelt.
Da sie jetzt nicht mehr ein offizieller Bestandteil von LanguageTool ist, habe ich sie in WritingTool umbenannt. Sie basiert im Kern weiterhin auf LanguageTool und es gibt jede Nacht ein Snapshot, der auch die aktuellen Entwicklungen von LanguageTool enthält.
Die Snapshots findest du unter: Index of /writingtool/snapshots
Die offizielle Seite von WritingTool findest du unter: https://fk-es.de/ (Bisher erst im Aufbau und nur in Englisch, eine deutsche Variante ist geplant)
Das Software-Repository ist hier: GitHub - FredKruse/writingtool: WritingTool for libreOffice based on LanguageTool
Probleme, Anregungen, Wünsche können hier geäußert werden (in Englisch und Deutsch): Issues · FredKruse/writingtool · GitHub

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Hello,
I am continuing to develop the LibreOffice extension of LanguageTool.
As it is no longer an official part of LanguageTool, I have renamed it WritingTool. It is still based on LanguageTool at its core and there is a snapshot every night that also contains the latest developments in LanguageTool.
You can find the snapshots at: Index of /writingtool/snapshots
You can find the official WritingTool site at: https://fk-es.de/ (currently still under construction)
The software repository is here: GitHub - FredKruse/writingtool: WritingTool for libreOffice based on LanguageTool
Problems, suggestions, requests can be expressed here: Issues · FredKruse/writingtool · GitHub

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Thank you very much, Fred, for the explanations of the differences between the LibreOffice extension and the LanguageTool server version, and that you are continuing to develop the extension. I will continue using the LibreOffice extension, as I frequently use Writer on long texts and require offline functionality, and thus will upgrade to WritingTool.

Will you update the LibreOffice extension entry on LanguageTool » Extensions or do you plan to create a separate entry? (given the many bad ratings there, maybe a new start makes sense).

I posted two error messages of the LibreOffice extension here in the forum. Did you see my posting here, shall I transfer it to GitHub? Two errors in LanguageTool 6.4 on LibreOffice 24.2, Ubuntu 24.04