Once you’ve set up GNU EmacsW32 you will probably want to add spell checking ability. aspell is not an especially good choice; but alternatives at this point are unclear. True, it integrates seamlessly with Emacs; but the last version of it for Windows was compiled in 2002 and is hopelessly out of date.
First you need to download and install both the aspell executable and at least one dictionary from http://aspell.net/win32/. These will be two separate downloads, be sure to get both. Under the 64-bit version of Windows 7 the default install directory for both of them is “C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspell\dict\”. “C:\Program Files (x86)” is used for 32-bit executables, while “C:\Program Files” is for the 64-bit ones.
Next we need to make a series of changes in your InitFile. You need to add the path of the aspell exec to your emacs exec-path. I tried the path string without the C: at the beginning but it did not work consistently.
(add-to-list 'exec-path "C:/Program Files (x86)/Aspell/bin/")We need tell emacs to use aspell, and where your custom dictionary is.
(setq ispell-program-name "aspell") (setq ispell-personal-dictionary "C:/path/to/your/.ispell")
Then, we need to turn it on.
(require 'ispell)
Lastly you need some way of invoking it. “M-$” is the default method, which will check the word currently under the point. If a region is active “M-$ will check all words within the region. However, I like to customize all the keybindings. So, here’s an example to use it with FlySpell:
(global-set-key (kbd "<f8>") 'ispell-word) (global-set-key (kbd "C-<f8>") 'flyspell-mode)