how to edit the spelling dictionary?

How can I find and edit the list of acceptably spelled words in MS
Word 2000? I'd like to remove some of the unusual words that were
user-added.

Thank you very much.

Ted Shoemaker

Try this:
On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling & Grammar tab.
Click Custom Dictionaries.
Select the dictionary you want to edit. Make sure you do not clear its check
box.
Click Modify.
Do one of the following:
To add a word, type it in the Word box, and then click Add.
To delete a word, select it in the Dictionary box, and then click Delete.
To edit a word, delete it, and then add it with the spelling you want.

Tom
MSMVP-DTS

"Ted Shoemaker" wrote in message
om...
How can I find and edit the list of acceptably spelled words in MS
Word 2000? I'd like to remove some of the unusual words that were
user-added.

Thank you very much.

Ted Shoemaker

Ted,

Tom's suggestion might work, but seems cumbersome. Custom dictionaries are save as *.dic files. Go to Windows Explorer (or My Computer - C:\) then hit F3 for FIND. Type in *.dic and hit Find Now. That will bring up all the dictionaries on your hard drive. The Microsoft ones will be in Microsoft folders. You are most likely looking for CUSTOM.DIC. Click on it. If a box asks you what application to use to open it choose Notepad (or Word). Then you can read the whole list of User added words including the misspelled words people added because they thought they knew better (like, suposably or Shoomaker.) Delete them and save the file. Also, if someone saved a word with an initial Capital Letter the custom dictionary won't find it if it is used in a lower case application. It may even be on the list twice, Upper Case and lower case. Keep (or change to) the lower case word and the dictionary will find it even if it is capitalized. Don't ask me why. I just know (by experience) that it is true.

Hope it helps.

The advice Tom gave is actually much easier because you *don't* have to
search for Custom.dic, and in fact if you have more than one custom
dictionary you have access to all of them. Word then opens it for you in
what in many versions is a Notepad-like window, where you can read and edit
it just as you would in Notepad. Later versions of Word do have a searchable
list instead.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Frustrated" wrote in message
...
Ted,

Tom's suggestion might work, but seems cumbersome. Custom dictionaries
are save as *.dic files. Go to Windows Explorer (or My Computer - C:\) then
hit F3 for FIND. Type in *.dic and hit Find Now. That will bring up all
the dictionaries on your hard drive. The Microsoft ones will be in
Microsoft folders. You are most likely looking for CUSTOM.DIC. Click on
it. If a box asks you what application to use to open it choose Notepad (or
Word). Then you can read the whole list of User added words including the
misspelled words people added because they thought they knew better (like,
suposably or Shoomaker.) Delete them and save the file. Also, if someone
saved a word with an initial Capital Letter the custom dictionary won't find
it if it is used in a lower case application. It may even be on the list
twice, Upper Case and lower case. Keep (or change to) the lower case word
and the dictionary will find it even if it is capitalized. Don't ask me
why. I just know (by experience) that it is true.

Hope it helps.

On Sat, 8 May 2004 15:54:31 -0500, "Suzanne S. Barnhill"
wrote:

The advice Tom gave is actually much easier because you *don't* have to
search for Custom.dic, and in fact if you have more than one custom
dictionary you have access to all of them. Word then opens it for you in
what in many versions is a Notepad-like window, where you can read and edit
it just as you would in Notepad. Later versions of Word do have a searchable
list instead.

I'm still wishing Word's dictionary was better... I use XP
at work, so I know it hasn't improved much if at all from
what's on my home computer.

Here is my big problem - it corrects beginnings and endings,
but it's VERY bad correcting the middle of words. I can
have only ONE incorrect letter in the middle, but it usually
can't give me any suggestions. Why?

Webster's online is a better friend to me than the Word
dictionary these days.


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