Dictionary lost - I have no words!

Question

Last week out of the blue, while typing in AppleWorks WP I went to spell check and got an error message: "The main spell dictionary is not installed". Where did it go? How do I get it back?
Today I also attempted to open a couple of fairly recent documents and I got an error message for that too: The file [computer gibberish] was deleted. What is going on? What do I do about it?
Due to problems with AppleWorks in general I've been considering trying NeoOffice, or one of the many other options out there. Could this be the time to do that?
I am on an eMac running OS 10.3.9.

Answer 1

"Not installed" actually means "not selected," which in turn means that AppleWorks isn't aware where the dictionary is, and isn't connected t the dictionary.
Your main (aka spelling) dictionary should be located at Applications > AppleWorks 6 > AppleWorks Essentials > Dictionaries.
On your way to the Dictionaries folder, check that AppleWorks 6 is also in the AppleWorks 6 folder. It needs to be in the same folder as AppleWorks Essentials (and other folders that should also be located here).
The Dictionaries folder should contain your main dictionary (English - Spelling) as well as a thesaurus, a hyphenation dictionary, and your User Dictionary. There will probably be others as well.
If they're not there, you'll need to reinstall AppleWorks from the original installation disks.
If the dictionaries are there, and appleWorks is where it should be, you'll need to tell Appleworks where the Main dictionary is.
Launch AppleWorks and open a new word processing document. Go Edit > Writing tools > Select Dictionaries...
In the Select Dictionaries dialogue, Click the Main Dictionary button and check the Currently Selected Dictionary window (It will probably say 'no dictionary selected). Click Choose.
An Open Dialogue will open, showing the contents of the Dictionaries folder, with the Main dictionaries listed in black and the rest in grey. Click on English - Spelling, then click Select.
In the Select Dictionaries dialogue, click each of the other radio buttons in turn to check if other dictionaries are installed (selected). Install any that are missing using the same steps as above. If there is no User Dictionary in the Dictionaries folder, click the New button to create and select one. The default name is User Dictionary, but you can give the user dictionary a different name, and can create more than one if your work requires more than one specialized vocabulary. Only one of these may be selected at a time though.
The disappearing files problem could be caused by renaming or moving the file in the Finder while it was open in AppleWorks.
Regarding your NeoOffice question, moving from AppleWorks is definitly an action to be given serious consideration now or in the not too distant future. While the application currently serves well, that cold change as future versions of the Mac OS arrive and support of the application diminishes.
The current version of NeoOffice is 2.0.3(beta), and although it appears to be stable under the light load I give it, I'd hesitate recommending a full move to any beta application. Some AppleWorks users have adopted Pages for most word processing functions, and continue to use AppleWorks for the things Pages doesn't do. I'll probably follow that route as well, but not until iWork includes at least one of a competent database or spreadsheet component (and preferably contains both).
Regards,
Barry