diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 656577de6..5cccab8e7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 - Fix bug where vertical scrollbar in new HTML message bounced back on scroll (#8046)
 - Fix displaying inline images with incorrectly declared content-type (#8158)
 - Fix so addr-spec with missing closing angle bracket can be parsed (#8164)
+- Fix handling of spellcheck connection errors (#8172)
 
 ## Release 1.5-rc
 
diff --git a/program/actions/mail/send.php b/program/actions/mail/send.php
index 31f52b838..6c5027c28 100644
--- a/program/actions/mail/send.php
+++ b/program/actions/mail/send.php
@@ -156,20 +156,30 @@ class rcmail_action_mail_send extends rcmail_action
                 $spellchecker = new rcube_spellchecker($language);
                 $spell_result = $spellchecker->check($message_body, $isHtml);
 
-                $COMPOSE['spell_checked'] = true;
-
-                if (!$spell_result) {
-                    if ($isHtml) {
-                        $result['words']      = $spellchecker->get();
-                        $result['dictionary'] = (bool) $rcmail->config->get('spellcheck_dictionary');
-                    }
-                    else {
-                        $result = $spellchecker->get_xml();
+                if ($error = $spellchecker->error()) {
+                    rcube::raise_error([
+                            'code' => 500, 'file' => __FILE__, 'line' => __LINE__,
+                            'message' => "Spellcheck error: " . $error
+                        ],
+                        true, false
+                    );
+                }
+                else {
+                    $COMPOSE['spell_checked'] = true;
+
+                    if (!$spell_result) {
+                        if ($isHtml) {
+                            $result['words']      = $spellchecker->get();
+                            $result['dictionary'] = (bool) $rcmail->config->get('spellcheck_dictionary');
+                        }
+                        else {
+                            $result = $spellchecker->get_xml();
+                        }
+
+                        $rcmail->output->show_message('mispellingsfound', 'error');
+                        $rcmail->output->command('spellcheck_resume', $result);
+                        $rcmail->output->send('iframe');
                     }
-
-                    $rcmail->output->show_message('mispellingsfound', 'error');
-                    $rcmail->output->command('spellcheck_resume', $result);
-                    $rcmail->output->send('iframe');
                 }
             }
 
diff --git a/program/actions/utils/spell.php b/program/actions/utils/spell.php
index 47e20b02f..4d5809e3c 100644
--- a/program/actions/utils/spell.php
+++ b/program/actions/utils/spell.php
@@ -55,12 +55,12 @@ class rcmail_action_utils_spell extends rcmail_action
             $result = $spellchecker->get_xml();
         }
 
-        if ($err = $spellchecker->error()) {
+        if ($error = $spellchecker->error()) {
             rcube::raise_error([
                     'code' => 500,
                     'file' => __FILE__,
                     'line' => __LINE__,
-                    'message' => "Spell check engine error: " . trim($err)
+                    'message' => "Spellcheck error: " . $error
                 ],
                 true,
                 false
diff --git a/program/actions/utils/spell_html.php b/program/actions/utils/spell_html.php
index 7044228bc..18663023d 100644
--- a/program/actions/utils/spell_html.php
+++ b/program/actions/utils/spell_html.php
@@ -52,23 +52,24 @@ class rcmail_action_utils_spell_html extends rcmail_action
             }
         }
 
+        header("Content-Type: application/json; charset=" . RCUBE_CHARSET);
+
         if ($error = $spellchecker->error()) {
             rcube::raise_error([
                     'code'    => 500,
                     'file'    => __FILE__,
                     'line'    => __LINE__,
-                    'message' => sprintf("Spell check engine error: " . $error)
+                    'message' => "Spellcheck error: " . $error
                 ],
                 true,
                 false
             );
 
-            echo json_encode(['error' => $error]);
+            echo json_encode(['error' => $rcmail->gettext('internalerror')]);
             exit;
         }
 
         // send output
-        header("Content-Type: application/json; charset=".RCUBE_CHARSET);
         echo json_encode($result);
         exit;
     }
diff --git a/program/lib/Roundcube/spellchecker/googie.php b/program/lib/Roundcube/spellchecker/googie.php
index 53e957591..8bab2b633 100644
--- a/program/lib/Roundcube/spellchecker/googie.php
+++ b/program/lib/Roundcube/spellchecker/googie.php
@@ -80,17 +80,23 @@ class rcube_spellchecker_googie extends rcube_spellchecker_engine
             .'<text>' . htmlspecialchars($text, ENT_QUOTES, RCUBE_CHARSET) . '</text>'
             .'</spellrequest>';
 
-        $response = $client->post($url, [
-              'headers' => [
-                  'User-Agent' => "Roundcube Webmail/" . RCUBE_VERSION . " (Googiespell Wrapper)",
-                  'Content-type' => 'text/xml'
-              ],
-              'body' => $gtext
-            ]
-        );
+        try {
+            $response = $client->post($url, [
+                    'connect_timeout' => 5, // seconds
+                    'headers' => [
+                        'User-Agent' => "Roundcube Webmail/" . RCUBE_VERSION . " (Googiespell Wrapper)",
+                            'Content-type' => 'text/xml'
+                    ],
+                    'body' => $gtext
+                ]
+            );
+        }
+        catch (Exception $e) {
+            // Do nothing, the error set below should be logged by the caller
+        }
 
         if (empty($response)) {
-            $this->error = "Empty result from spelling engine";
+            $this->error = $e ? $e->getMessage() : "Spelling engine failure";
         }
         else if ($response->getStatusCode() != 200) {
             $this->error = 'HTTP ' . $response->getReasonPhrase();