How to get a spell checker on Opera

Unless you are a walking dictionary or an extremely deft typist, you are bound to make mistakes. Thankfully, most applications that require typing also has a spell checker. Word processors had auto correct since ages. Even Firefox detects typing errors and highlights them with a red wriggly line. Opera doesn't have any spell checker. However, it does support a third party spell checking tool and integrates it within Opera, just like a plug-in. This tool is Aspell, a GNU software. Download Aspell and also  download one or more dictionaries from the same page. Currently, there are dictionaries for 22 different languages. Install both Aspell and the dictionary(s) and restart Opera. On startup Opera will automatically recognize the installed Aspell and the dictionaries.

Now whenever you get a text box on any page, right click on it and you should see a new item on the menu called "Check spelling". This item will be grayed out unless you type something into the box. After you have completed typing, click on "Check spelling" to launch Aspell. The spell checker won't auto detect the errors though, and won't correct it unless you manually spell-check it. So you aren't going to see any red lines under mistyped words. Still, something is better than nothing.