migrating Word X custom dictionary to Word 2004

[william.stanford]

Over the years, I have built an extensive English (US) custom
dictionary. I have recently switched to Office 2004. Although I have
followed the help menu directions to activate the custom dictionary in
Word 2004, I still cannot access the dictionary (even though the
custom dictionary has been toggled on and selected in Preferences.
This is driving me crazy. I also have problems with Endnote 9.0 - it
does not show up in the Tools drop-down menu. I would love to receive
suggestions.
Thank you

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Over the years, I have built an extensive English (US) custom
dictionary. I have recently switched to Office 2004. Although I have
followed the help menu directions to activate the custom dictionary
in Word 2004, I still cannot access the dictionary (even though the
custom dictionary has been toggled on and selected in Preferences.

THe way I did it for my setup was to open the prefs and simply
re-select my custom dictionary there. The format was the same, there
is really not much more to it.

This is driving me crazy. I also have problems with Endnote 9.0 - it
does not show up in the Tools drop-down menu. I would love to
receive suggestions.

Make sure that the EndNote add-on is properly installed in the Word
Startup folder (typically /Application/Microsoft Office
2004/Office/Startup/Word/ If it's not, you can find the files in the
EndNote installation folder and copy them there,


Corentin

 

[william.stanford]

<[email protected]>william.stanford@



THe way I did it for my setup was to open the prefs and simply
re-select my custom dictionary there. The format was the same, there
is really not much more to it.


Make sure that the EndNote add-on is properly installed in the Word
Startup folder (typically /Application/Microsoft Office
2004/Office/Startup/Word/ If it's not, you can find the files in the
EndNote installation folder and copy them there,

Corentin

Corentin:

Thank you for your post - the advice on the Endnote worked. However, I
had previously tried what you had suggested and have tried it several
times since and I can select the custom dictionary but the spell
checker will still not access it. My custom words are still coming up
misspelled and I cannot add words to the custom dictionary in the
spellchecker but can of course if I open the custom dictionary and
type in a new word. Do I need to move the custom dictionary to another
folder - its currently in the User/Library/preferences/microsoft
folder. Does the dictionary need a file extension - it does not have
one. To open it, I need to add ".doc" but then I don't save it with
the .doc.

it's still driving me crazy - thanks.

bill

 

[John McGhie]

Hi William:

I suspect you may be getting a little confused. This is an extremely
complex part of Word (unnecessarily so, but that's the way they made it...)

First, you need to have the custom dictionary on your computer, then you
need to activate it, then you need to ensure its language coincides with
that of the text, and finally, you need to ensure that "Spell checking" is
turned on!

To begin, if you have not read all of "About spelling and grammar checking"
in the Help, please do that.

The first thing we have to do is ensure that your custom dictionary is in
plain text file format. You mention that you have been editing it with the
..doc extension. If you have, there is a possibility that you have saved it
back in a different file format (e.g. The binary .doc format). If you have,
Word will still be able to edit it, and you will find it difficult to tell
the difference. But the spelling checker can neither read nor write to it
unless it is in plan text format.

So please Open your custom dictionary, add a space and remove it again, then
save it, making sure you set the format to Plain Text.

Now, just to ensure we are on the same page, please carry out the procedure
in "Add an existing custom dictionary"

Unless you want to spell check in more that one language, it is important to
set the Custom Dictionary to "(none)". This avoids a problem we have with
the English language. There are 29 different "English" languages in use.
If you specify one language for the custom dictionary, it will not work in
any of the others. So if you specify "English US" and then copy or edit
text set to English UK, your custom dictionary will be unavailable.

If you do use the spelling checker in more than one language, then you must
create a separate custom dictionary (with a different file name) for each
language you want to use. And if you do that, always make sure that the
bottom dictionary in the list is set to no language, otherwise you will end
up with situations where the custom dictionary is inexplicably disabled
because the text is in a language you do not have a dictionary for.

Now you have all of that set up, you next need to ensure that the text is
marked with a language you do have installed. Set the language of both the
Normal style and the Document to the language you want to use.

And be aware that Word switches languages if you switch keyboards. I
suspect you don't switch keyboard, but if you did, the language in use by
Word would change!

To Edit a custom dictionary, please always use the procedure in "Add,
delete, or edit words in a custom dictionary". On the Mac, the custom
dictionary has no extension to the file name. However, the procedure you
are using to open it gives a high risk that you will save the file back to
the disk in the wrong format. If you do, Word can't read it.

Hope this helps

Corentin:

Thank you for your post - the advice on the Endnote worked. However, I
had previously tried what you had suggested and have tried it several
times since and I can select the custom dictionary but the spell
checker will still not access it. My custom words are still coming up
misspelled and I cannot add words to the custom dictionary in the
spellchecker but can of course if I open the custom dictionary and
type in a new word. Do I need to move the custom dictionary to another
folder - its currently in the User/Library/preferences/microsoft
folder. Does the dictionary need a file extension - it does not have
one. To open it, I need to add ".doc" but then I don't save it with
the .doc.

it's still driving me crazy - thanks.

bill

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. S12.22.1918,E136.99.5392
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[william.stanford]

Hi William:

I suspect you may be getting a little confused. This is an extremely
complex part of Word (unnecessarily so, but that's the way they made it....)

First, you need to have the custom dictionary on your computer, then you
need to activate it, then you need to ensure its language coincides with
that of the text, and finally, you need to ensure that "Spell checking" is
turned on!

To begin, if you have not read all of "About spelling and grammar checking"
in the Help, please do that.

The first thing we have to do is ensure that your custom dictionary is in
plain text file format. You mention that you have been editing it with the
.doc extension. If you have, there is a possibility that you have saved it
back in a different file format (e.g. The binary .doc format). If you have,
Word will still be able to edit it, and you will find it difficult to tell
the difference. But the spelling checker can neither read nor write to it
unless it is in plan text format.

So please Open your custom dictionary, add a space and remove it again, then
save it, making sure you set the format to Plain Text.

Now, just to ensure we are on the same page, please carry out the procedure
in "Add an existing custom dictionary"

Unless you want to spell check in more that one language, it is importantto
set the Custom Dictionary to "(none)". This avoids a problem we have with
the English language. There are 29 different "English" languages in use.
If you specify one language for the custom dictionary, it will not work in
any of the others. So if you specify "English US" and then copy or edit
text set to English UK, your custom dictionary will be unavailable.

If you do use the spelling checker in more than one language, then you must
create a separate custom dictionary (with a different file name) for each
language you want to use. And if you do that, always make sure that the
bottom dictionary in the list is set to no language, otherwise you will end
up with situations where the custom dictionary is inexplicably disabled
because the text is in a language you do not have a dictionary for.

Now you have all of that set up, you next need to ensure that the text is
marked with a language you do have installed. Set the language of both the
Normal style and the Document to the language you want to use.

And be aware that Word switches languages if you switch keyboards. I
suspect you don't switch keyboard, but if you did, the language in use by
Word would change!

To Edit a custom dictionary, please always use the procedure in "Add,
delete, or edit words in a custom dictionary". On the Mac, the custom
dictionary has no extension to the file name. However, the procedure you
are using to open it gives a high risk that you will save the file back to
the disk in the wrong format. If you do, Word can't read it.

Hope this helps





--
Don't wait for your answer, click here:http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltdhttp://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. S12.22.1918,E136.99.5392
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

John:

Thank you, Thank you!!

The problem was that the spell checker was set for English (US)
instead of none. Once I changed it, everything was back to normal.

cheers,
bill

 

[John McGhie]

Hi William:

Excellent! We tracked the slippery little urchin down this time.

Sadly this may not be the last time you hear from this particular part of
the mechanism, but at least we have it nailed for now

Cheers

John:

Thank you, Thank you!!

The problem was that the spell checker was set for English (US)
instead of none. Once I changed it, everything was back to normal.

cheers,
bill

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]