Spelling Dictionaries (Computer)

[dthomsen8]

This seems the appropriate discussion for computer spelling dictionaries.

There are quite a few in my computer, all quite different. I am wondering about how to do export/import to make them more alike. There are dictionaries in MS Word (97 and 2000), Eudora, Dreamweaver 2004 MX, and FrontPage 2003. No doubt there are others, but asking about 5 is more than enough for now.

Maybe there is even sofware to work on these dictionaries.

[ktinkel]

There are quite a few in my computer, all quite different. I am wondering about how to do export/import to make them more alike.Most of the dictionaries I have are copyrighted and — more to the point — copy-protected. And the licenses forbid doing almost anything except using them in the ordinary way.

[dthomsen8]

Most of the dictionaries I have are copyrighted and — more to the point — copy-protected. And the licenses forbid doing almost anything except using them in the ordinary way.

KT,

What I want are the words unique to me, such as Fairmount, Annie, Philadelphia, Thomsen, Dreamweaver, etc., that aren't in standard spelling dictionaries. Each software application has accumulated a list, and every list is different. No, I am not trying to take the standard MS Word spelling dictionary and export it to Dreamweaver.

[Michael Rowley]

DT:

'There are dictionaries in MS Word (97 and 2000)'

I can't see why you would have two versions of Word (using the same format), or, for that matter, two different Word dictionaries for American English. Their contents may not be identical, but you can even that out with your own, editable word list.

Most dictionaries have editable, supplementary lists of words etc., so even if the the dictionaries for the different applications are different, you can always bring the private portions to the same standard.

[iamback]

What I want are the words unique to me, such as Fairmount, Annie, Philadelphia, Thomsen, Dreamweaver, etc., that aren't in standard spelling dictionaries. Each software application has accumulated a list, and every list is different. Normally, in a decent spel checker application or plugin, the "words that are unique to you" are stored in a user's dictionary. And most of those are basically plain-text files.

Find them, and look at them (and make sure to make a backup copy): most will have some sort of file header, followed by a simple list of words, usually one word to a line. You have two basic strategies, using an ordinary text editor (or, better, a programmers' editor *)):

figure out how the header is structured (it may or may not have a reference to the number of words, for instance **) and whether or not words are ordered alphabetically and just "import" your extra words, making whatever adjustments needed to the header
if you can't figure out the header but there still is one, just cut out the words themselves, and paste them into a document; then spell-check this document and add all the words not recognized to your user dictionary.

Combine both strategies to "integrate" all your user dictionaries; repeat as often as needed.

*) A programmer's editor may help when you need to have the words sorted alphabetically and/or maybe combine word lists from different user dictionaries into one list and use the sort to get rid of duplicates.
**) A good strategy is to save a copy, then use your dictionary to spell check and add a word, and make a new copy of your user dictionary file; then compare both and see what has changed other than the new word. Number of words, file length, or byte length not counting header are some possible numbers to watch out for.

[ktinkel]

What I want are the words unique to me, such as Fairmount, Annie, Philadelphia, Thomsen, Dreamweaver, etc., that aren't in standard spelling dictionaries. Aha! As Marjolein explained, look for the user’s dictionary in each of those dictionary apps. (I am really only familiar with PageMaker’s hyphenation dictionary, which I customized extensively way back when.)

Look in your documentation to see if this is supported, or see if there are optional plug-ins for that.