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Hack 33 Quickly Create a Custom Dictionary

Adding items to a custom dictionary one by one
is a tedious exercise. Here's how to add an entire
list of words to your existing custom dictionary, or as a separate,
new custom dictionary.

When Word performs a Spelling
and Grammar check on your document, it uses whichever dictionary is
available for your language. You can select
ToolsLanguageSet Language to change the
dictionary, as shown in Figure 4-11. Any language
listed with a checkmark next to it has a dictionary installed on your
computer.

Figure 4-11. Word uses the dictionary for the language specified here

For example, if you're working on a document for a
client from the United Kingdom, and you change the language to
"English (U.K.)," Word marks words
such as "color" as misspellings and
prompts you to change them to their English counterparts, as shown in
Figure 4-12.

Figure 4-12. When using the U.K. English dictionary, "color" is a misspelling

But often a document or set of documents uses a very specialized set
of terms not included in any of the installed dictionaries. Although
you can add words to the dictionaryor, rather, to
the default custom
dictionary file (in most cases,
CUSTOM.DIC)if the project exists for only
a short time, you may not want those new entries for future
documents. Rather than temporarily adding the terms to your standard
custom dictionary, which you may prefer to reserve for items you use
all the time, you're better off adding a new custom
dictionary for your project or client, which you can later remove
when the project's finished.

The method for creating and populating a custom dictionary from
within Word involves the use of a lot of dialogs, and it can become a
real pain if you want to enter a long list of words at once.

Fortunately, there's an easier way. A custom
dictionary is nothing more than a text file with a
.dic extension, saved in a special folder. In
Word 2000, 2002, and 2003, the folder is typically
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application
Data\Microsoft\Proof.

4.8.1 Creating the Custom Dictionary

To create your new custom dictionary, create a list of the words you
want to add using your favorite text editor, such as Notepad, and
save the file with a .dic extension in the Proof
folder.

Though you can create plain-text files using Word, you can avoid the possibility of extraneous formatting characters being included by using a standard text editor, such as Notepad.

As an example, let's say that while writing a book
about Word macros, you want the Spelling and Grammar check to ignore
certain terms, such as "AutoExec"
and "DocumentBeforeClose." After
you enter the list of terms in a text editor, save the file in the
Proof directory described above, as shown in Figure 4-13.

Figure 4-13. Saving a list of words as a custom dictionary file

4.8.2 Activating the Custom Dictionary

To tell Word to start checking your new custom dictionary during the
Spelling and Grammar check, you must first activate it.

Select ToolsOptions and click the Spelling and Grammar tab.
Click the Custom Dictionaries button to display the Custom Dictionaries
dialog shown in Figure 4-14.

Figure 4-14. Loading a new custom dictionary

Any .dic files in the Proof directory will be
included in the dictionary list. To activate your new custom
dictionary, just check the box next to its name and click the OK
button. When you're finished with the project, use the same
dialog to deactivate the custom dictionary.