Custom Dictionary Not Functioning

[budsimrin]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have the identical problem posted by Linsay in April, 2008 and I have spent untold hours reading (other) forums and trying to solve this problem, to no avail. Her work-around also works for me, and John McGhie said he was posting this for Microsoft to fix. I am posting now in the hope that John will see this and perhaps elevate the priority.

Like Lindsay, I use the Sandbox enabled by SuperDuper. There are MANY users of SuperDuper out here. Like Lindsay, no matter what I did in Word 2008 preferences, Spelling and Grammar, the Custom Dictionary pop-up menu remained blank and also ADD would be dimmed if I try to add words to the custom dictionary.

Her solution, to put a custom dictionary in the global Library: Preferences rather than the user's Library: Preferences was brilliant and provides a work-around. However, it is not a full solution because it does not allow me to share other custom dictionaries I have on the non-boot volume, which due to the Sandbox setup is where my entire user folder is located. That is, my user folder is not on my boot partition by design.

To recap, the underlying problem is that in Word 2008, Microsoft requires any custom dictionaries to reside on the boot volume. This need fixing.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi budsimrin;

Just playing Devil's Advocate here...

Why should MS (or any developer of primary software) have their design
dictated by the creators of utilities? And which of the myriad third-party
products should they cater to? Has it occurred to you that MS possibly
structures their support files in compliance with Apple guidelines?

It seems perfectly logical to me that any program - in this case *suite* of
programs should be able to find what it's looking for in the location it's
designer intended for it to be. A standard has to be established. Likewise,
it seems totally illogical for Word, Excel & PPt - or any program - to have
to scour all possible volumes to find a custom dictionary... Especially if
that volume isn't mounted at the time it's needed - not to mention the
performance degradation factor.

Perhaps another tack to consider is for the " MANY users of SuperDuper out
here " to beat on shirt-pocket to *not* displace the primary software files
in the first place... What happens if MS *does* fix what you perceive to be
their problem & it interferes with some other $29 utility's operation? Is MS
supposed to "fix" that too?

Honestly, no offense, but I can't comprehend the concept of why third-party,
aftermarket developers rarely seem to take the heat when the product they
claim to be compatible fails to work as advertised or breaks something that
otherwise works as it should. It's like putting "XYZ Miracle Oil
Alternative" in your automobile engine & then going after the car
manufacturer when the engine locks up.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

To recap, the underlying problem is that in Word 2008, Microsoft
requires any custom dictionaries to reside on the boot volume. This need
fixing.

Mine sure doesn't and I don't have your problem with the custom
dictionary.
I also use SuperDuper! And I also have a sandbox-like configuration.

I'm really surprised that it doesn't work for you. I've only seen this
type of issue with corrupted custom dictionaries (you can open it in
Word, make a slight modification, save, and the problem is gone).

If what you describe is true, you could try something.

I can't remember whether the sandbox simply uses a symlink or changes
the advanced user settings to set the location of the user folder. I use
both (to avoid some bugs with a few apps that rely either on one or the
other.

If you don't already have a symlink in the /Users folder:
In /Users, create a symlink redirecting to the location of your user
account on the second volume where your user account actually resides.
The command should look like:
cd /Users; sudo ln -s /Volumes/MyOtherDrive/Users/Me

Reboot and try again. Does it work??


If you have a symlink:
Open the System Preferences
Open Accounts
Select your account and Ctrl-click it to get the advanced preferences
from the contextual menu (must be unlocked)
In the field indicating the location of your user account, select the
actual user account on the second drive (instead of /Users/Me)
Reboot.

Does this help??

Corentin

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Hi budsimrin;

Just playing Devil's Advocate here...

Why should MS (or any developer of primary software) have their design
dictated by the creators of utilities? And which of the myriad third-party
products should they cater to? Has it occurred to you that MS possibly
structures their support files in compliance with Apple guidelines?

Well, he/she has a point.
SuperDuper is not really playing "tricks" on the system to get what it
wants. It only uses fully approved methods and settings. It uses
symlinks (sort of UNIX alias) to make the system use resources that are
not on their usual location. Nothing really nasty there and definitively
something that should be supproted.

It seems perfectly logical to me that any program - in this case *suite* of
programs should be able to find what it's looking for in the location it's
designer intended for it to be.

Supporting MacOS X's architecture, it should find them by simply
following the symlinks. The problem might be caused by something
inherited from "earlier times" and that even though aliases would be
fine, symlinks don't get recognised as what they are.

A standard has to be established. Likewise,
it seems totally illogical for Word, Excel & PPt - or any program - to have
to scour all possible volumes to find a custom dictionary... Especially if
that volume isn't mounted at the time it's needed - not to mention the
performance degradation factor.

Sandboxes do no work like that. The drive HAS to be mounted all the
time.
You have your System and applications on the boot drive and the user
account is relocated on a secondary drive.
The Symlink makes it transparent to all (well, most apparently)
applications and by simply following the normal path (/Users/Me) they
automatically find themselves in the actual location of the file
(/Volumes/OtherDrive/Users/Me).
It *should* be perfectly transparent to the applications. Nothing to
look for, no drive to wait to see mounted, nothing of the sort.

Perhaps another tack to consider is for the " MANY users of SuperDuper out
here " to beat on shirt-pocket to *not* displace the primary software files
in the first place... What happens if MS *does* fix what you perceive to be
their problem & it interferes with some other $29 utility's operation? Is MS
supposed to "fix" that too?

Lets rephrase this then: The problem is to properly support symlinks.
(and most of the time, it does).


Corentin

Disclaimer... I'm in the About box of SuperDuper! ;-)

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Corentin;

Thanks for the clarification, but I wasn't really going for the technical
aspect so much as the principal assumption that Word *had* to be at fault -
perhaps it is, but to arbitrarily jump to that conclusion [IMHO] is
inappropriate. A number of factors could be at play.

Your insights raise a related question, though - Does this issue appear to
be universal among users of Office/Sandbox? Although I use SuperDuper [yes,
I actually *paid* for it ;-)] I have never really taken the time to set up
the Sandbox so I don't know. Diane Ross is a staunch advocate of the
feature, however, and I've never seen any such query from her or others I
know who do use it. Maybe the problem budsmirin is having is local to that
particular installation as well as others with similar issues.

As I recall, Shirt Pocket *strongly* recommends the use of a FW device as
opposed to USB & further warns that not all FWs are fully compatible. Could
this possibly be a contributing factor? I honestly don't know, but if it
hasn't been explored it might be worth consideration.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Hi Corentin;

Hoi Bob,

Thanks for the clarification, but I wasn't really going for the technical
aspect so much as the principal assumption that Word *had* to be at fault -
perhaps it is, but to arbitrarily jump to that conclusion [IMHO] is
inappropriate. A number of factors could be at play.

True. As I pointed out, I don't have this problem (but my setup slightly
differs from the norm).

Your insights raise a related question, though - Does this issue appear to
be universal among users of Office/Sandbox? Although I use SuperDuper [yes,
I actually *paid* for it ;-)] I have never really taken the time to set up
the Sandbox so I don't know. Diane Ross is a staunch advocate of the
feature, however, and I've never seen any such query from her or others I
know who do use it. Maybe the problem budsmirin is having is local to that
particular installation as well as others with similar issues.

I have never heard of this problem. One of my other posts provided a
possible workaround, but we haven't heard back from the original poster
so I don't know whether it actually worked there.

As I recall, Shirt Pocket *strongly* recommends the use of a FW device as
opposed to USB & further warns that not all FWs are fully compatible. Could
this possibly be a contributing factor? I honestly don't know, but if it
hasn't been explored it might be worth consideration.

I seriously doubt it.
In addition, I've used SD! With external USB drives on occasions without
visible issues.
I suspect Dave mentions that because of the limitations of USB drives in
general (data stream not as steady as through FireWire).

Corenitn
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