Custom dictionary is not available (not Spanish!)

[Michael Levin]

I've been using Microsoft Word 2004 on my Intel Mac (Tiger) for months.
Everything was fine and I had a custom dictionary set up. Everything I do is
in English and I haven't messed with the language settings or anything else.
All of a sudden, when spell checking, it says "Custom dictionary ... is not
available". What do I do?!? I looked it up on-line and there are fixes but
everyone seems to think it's due to using Spanish language features. Can
anyone help?

Mike

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

All of a sudden, when spell checking, it says "Custom dictionary ... is not
available". What do I do?!? I looked it up on-line and there are fixes but
everyone seems to think it's due to using Spanish language features. Can
anyone help?

Go to the preferences and create a new one for Spanish from there. THat
shouldn't be an issue.

I woudl guess that the one you were previously using either moved, or
got corrupted.

Corentin

 

[CyberTaz]

I've been using Microsoft Word 2004 on my Intel Mac (Tiger) for months.
Everything was fine and I had a custom dictionary set up. Everything I do
is
in English and I haven't messed with the language settings or anything
else.
All of a sudden, when spell checking, it says "Custom dictionary ... is
not
available". What do I do?!? I looked it up on-line and there are fixes but
everyone seems to think it's due to using Spanish language features. Can
anyone help?

Mike

 

[Michael Levin]

Go to the preferences and create a new one for Spanish from there. THat
shouldn't be an issue.

Sorry, I'm confused. I am using English only. Would creating a Spanish
dictionary help?

I woudl guess that the one you were previously using either moved, or
got corrupted.

The one I had been using is still there, in its normal location. If it's
an issue of corruption, I can get an older version back from a backup but I
thought this was not a real problem with a dictionary but some sort of
Microsoft Word bug? That's what a whole bunch of (Spanish-related) web posts
say.

Mike

 

[CyberTaz]

Well, first things first - Language is a *formatting* attribute similar to
font, bold, italics, etc., so the first question is "Where did the content
come from?". If it is a document you received from someone else or has
content that was copied from another location it's quite possible that the
language formatting arose from that source. It's also possible that you may
have applied a Style that includes a Language attribute. Either way the doc
can be reformatted as whatever language is appropriate, but I'm not sure
that's the problem

It sounds more like your personal dictionary file cannot be found. If it has
been moved, deleted or renamed Word's spell check can't find it. Those are
the things you might want to verify first. Spelling & Grammar preferences
will tell you where Word expects to find it so confirm that it is, in fact,
there. It's also possible that the custom file has become corrupted or
damaged, so try opening it in TextEdit & Save As a new file.

If you still can't clear it up post back with as much detail as you can
about what you tried & wha resulted. There's also some useful info about
Custom Dictionaries in Word Help.

 

[Michael Levin]

Well, first things first - Language is a *formatting* attribute similar to
font, bold, italics, etc., so the first question is "Where did the content
come from?". If it is a document you received from someone else or has
content that was copied from another location it's quite possible that the
language formatting arose from that source. It's also possible that you may
have applied a Style that includes a Language attribute. Either way the doc
can be reformatted as whatever language is appropriate, but I'm not sure
that's the problem

interesting. This is a file I created myself, and it should not have any
other languages in it. However, when I went to check, it did seem not to
have all of the text have the English attribute. I then selected all, and
chose English from the language menu. At that point, spell check worked for
a little while. But half-way through checking the document, the error came
back!

It sounds more like your personal dictionary file cannot be found. If it has
been moved, deleted or renamed Word's spell check can't find it. Those are
the things you might want to verify first. Spelling & Grammar preferences
will tell you where Word expects to find it so confirm that it is, in fact,
there. It's also possible that the custom file has become corrupted or
damaged, so try opening it in TextEdit & Save As a new file.

nope - it's there, and I see it. In fact, when I hit "edit" from the
Dictionaries menu, it opens it, so I know Word can find it, it exists, and
it's not corrupted (since Word can open it with no problem).

If you still can't clear it up post back with as much detail as you can
about what you tried & wha resulted. There's also some useful info about
Custom Dictionaries in Word Help.

Does this suggest any solutions?

Thanks!!

Mike

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Sorry, I'm confused. I am using English only. Would creating a Spanish
dictionary help?

I see... so go to the preferences, and remove previous custom
dictionaries from there to create a new one.

Corentin

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

nope - it's there, and I see it. In fact, when I hit "edit" from the
Dictionaries menu, it opens it, so I know Word can find it, it exists, and
it's not corrupted (since Word can open it with no problem).

Well still.... Either there is a corruption that only affects Word when
it is doing spellchecking (eg: the language ID is messed-up) or for some
reason, there is another custom dictionary registered in the prefs.

I woudl really make sure everything is the way it shoudl be in the Word
Preferences.


Corentin

 

[CyberTaz]

Well Mike, I'm not sure what's going on. Try the following [you might want
to navigate in Finder & make a copy of the Custom Dictionary file in a
separate location before proceeding if you need to try #2]:

1- Go to Spelling & Grammar Prefs, click the Dictionaries button, then click
Add. Navigate (if necessary) to your Custom Dictionary file, select it then
click Open. Make sure there is a check in the box next to its name & that
Language is set to None. Once you OK out Quit Word then launch & see if
anything improves.

2- If that doesn't help go back to prefs & Edit (open) your Custom
Dictionary, select & copy the content, close the file, then into prefs &
Remove the original Custom Dictionary. Click the New button & accept the
default Custom Dictionary name, confirm yes, then Edit the new one & paste
your content in. Close & save the file.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac