Freeware. Spell5 is a clipboard editor and an American English spell checker with an extensive 172k word list (140k common words and 32k abbreviations/proper nouns). Smaller word lists of 78k and 14k (common words) and 17k and 300 (abbreviations/proper nouns) are also included. Unknown words can be added to a separate private word list. Alternative spellings are also provided when a misspelled word is found. Supports PalmOS 3.3 to 5.x. Best performance on PalmOS 5.x.

Clipboard editor. Spell5 copies text data from the clipboard (when launched) and pastes it to the clipboard (when exiting). Both the system clipboard (1000 character size limit) and the CutPaste5 clipboard (32k character size limit) are supported. CutPaste5 requires PalmOS 5 and is available from PalmGear. Warnings. (1) Because Spell5 pastes to the clipboard (when exiting), any previous copies/cuts to the clipboard will be lost. (2) The contents of clipboards are not saved to a database. An unexpected reset will cause the contents of a clipboard to be lost. Use the backup/restore feature (found in the Options menu) if you wish to save/retrieve the contents to/from a database.

Spell checker limitations. (1) The maximum word size is 22 characters. Words greater than 22 characters cannot be added to the private word list or spell checked. There are no words in any of the word lists that are greater than 22 characters. (2) The alternative spellings mechanism requires that the first two letters are correct and the word lengths are approximately the same. This is to reduce the scope of the search. (3) Grammar, capitalization, and punctuation are not checked. This is a spell checker only. (4) Canadian or British alternative spellings are not currently supported.

Private word list. (1) The private word list is in a separate database. This is to provide faster syncs and the ability to switch between the different word lists. (2) The maximum number of words that can be added to the private word list is approximately 200 words for each letter of the alphabet (A-Z).

Performance. Your actual mileage will vary. These numbers are just some averages from my unscientific tests. (1) Zire 71. 600-800 words/second. (2) Palm Vx. 50-100 words/second. Performance depends upon the size of the installed words lists (smaller word lists give better performance) and the actual words checked.

Disclaimers. Use at your own risk. This software is comes without warranty.