WD: How to Consolidate Multiple Custom Dictionaries

• Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

Microsoft Word is capable of using multiple custom dictionaries. To add an additional custom dictionary to the default custom dictionary, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, click Preferences. Click the Spelling And Grammar tab, and then click Dictionaries.

2. Click New.

3. Under Save Current Document As, type in a name for the new Custom Dictionary.

4. Click Save.

If you do not want to maintain multiple custom dictionaries, follow the steps in the "More Information" section of this article to combine the words from multiple custom dictionaries into a single custom dictionary.

MORE INFORMATION

To create a single custom dictionary, open each of the custom dictionaries, copy the words from ones you want to discard and paste the words into the one dictionary that you want to keep.

To do this, follow these steps.

1. Open the dictionary that you want to keep:

       a. On the Tools menu, click Preferences. Select the Spelling And
          Grammar tab, and then click Dictionaries.
   

       b. Select the custom dictionary that you want to retain, and then click
          Edit. (If prompted, convert the file as Text Only).
   

2. Open a dictionary that you want to discard, copy the words from it, and paste the words into the dictionary document that you want to keep. To do this, follow these steps:

         a. On the Tools menu, click Preferences. Select the Spelling And
            Grammar tab, and then click Dictionaries.
   
         b. Select a custom dictionary that you want to discard and click
            Edit. (If prompted, convert the file as Text Only).
   
         c. Position the insertion point in the newly opened dictionary file,
            and click Select All on the Edit menu.
   
         d. On the Edit menu, click Copy.
   
         e. To switch to the dictionary file that you want to keep, click its
            name on the Window menu. Position the insertion point at the end
            of the file, and click Paste on the Edit menu.
   
            The words from the dictionary you want to get rid of should be
            pasted into the dictionary file that you want to keep.
   
         f. Repeat steps a-e for each dictionary that you want to discard.
   
   

3. Position the insertion point in the dictionary that you want to keep. On the File menu, click Save As. In the Save File As Type box, select Speller Custom Dictionary, type a name for the dictionary, and then click Save.

       NOTE: If you are asked to replace the file, click Replace. Then, click
       Yes if you receive the following message:
   

         This document may contain formatting which will be lost upon
         conversion to Speller Custom Dictionary format. To preserve the
         initial document, click No to exit this dialog, and then save the
         document in Word format before converting. Continue with Save?
   

4. On the File menu, click Close.

5. Close any other open custom dictionaries without saving them.

6. On the Tools menu, click Preferences. Select the Spelling and Grammar tab and then click Dictionaries.

7. Click to clear the check boxes for all dictionaries except for the one containing all of the words.

8. Click OK.

9. Click to select Check Spelling As You Type, and click OK.

   ARTICLE-ID: Q42051
   TITLE     : WD: Combining Two Spelling Dictionaries into One Dictionary