dictionary not available

[wouwout]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

Hi,

I used 'search' to find an answer to this question. No results (which surprises me).

I keep getting errors in Word: 'custom dictionary not available'.

I've done the following to solve it with no luck:
1. create a new custom dictionary (works for a while but the error returns for this new dictionary)
2. set language to 'none'. Error disappears but returns when opening other documents.

I still have Office 2004 installed because I'm not sure if I can work without it. To be honest I'm a bit disappointed with Office 2008. Speed is bad, especially start up. But that's another issue!

I'd like to get my error messages solved for the custom dictionary!

thanks

Wouter

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Wouter:

Install Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.0.1 Update
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx>

Then try again!

Cheers

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

Hi,

I used 'search' to find an answer to this question. No results (which
surprises me).

I keep getting errors in Word: 'custom dictionary not available'.

I've done the following to solve it with no luck:
1. create a new custom dictionary (works for a while but the error returns for
this new dictionary)
2. set language to 'none'. Error disappears but returns when opening other
documents.

I still have Office 2004 installed because I'm not sure if I can work without
it. To be honest I'm a bit disappointed with Office 2008. Speed is bad,
especially start up. But that's another issue!

I'd like to get my error messages solved for the custom dictionary!

thanks

Wouter

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[wouwout]

That doesn't work. still have the same problem. Tried to create a new dictionary (bye to all my job specific words), and now Word crashed AGAIN during spellcheck.

To Microsoft developers: I'm FED UP with this buggy and slow release of Office. What have you been doing for the last years??? I'll go back to Office 2004 and - preferably - dump Office all together.

 

[John McGhie]

Sorry: "What" doesn't work?

Please don't let me interrupt if you just want to let off steam! But if you
want help with your problem, I need more information than you are giving me.

This is not a good place to be yelling and shouting: Microsoft is not
reading this. We are just users who paid for the software, same as you. If
you want to send messages to Microsoft, use Help>Send Feedback. That goes
to a human being who actually works for Microsoft and will read it. At
least, they will read it if it doesn't contain swear-words...

I am not even sure what language you are using. There are problems with the
spelling checker in some languages. There is also a problem with corrupting
the custom dictionary.

But I need to get your language details before I can do much more for you.
My understanding is that there are problems with the French and German
spelling checkers.

Hope this helps

That doesn't work. still have the same problem. Tried to create a new
dictionary (bye to all my job specific words), and now Word crashed AGAIN
during spellcheck.

To Microsoft developers: I'm FED UP with this buggy and slow release of
Office. What have you been doing for the last years??? I'll go back to Office
2004 and - preferably - dump Office all together.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[wouwout]

Hi

I couldn't get back to you earlier because Microsoft's server "reached its license limit" (???????). Anyway, that's another issue.

Thanks for getting back to me. When I mention "that doesn't work" I refer to your previous post. I installed the update (still the same error message), removed the custom dictionary and created a new custom dictionary. Still the same error message. I'm using the Dutch spell check.

And yes, I am blowing off steam. What good is a word processor with a faulty spell check? This is a Microsoft forum so Microsoft's developers should read it.

I have found a solution: I've now moved over to Pages 08 for all word processing. It loads quickly and is very intuitive to use. Even though I'm still stuck in the Word way of doing things, I'm getting the hang of Pages. I'll keep my layout options simple so exports to doc work fine. Unfortunately Numbers 08 has some filtering issues (copying filtered results doesn't work properly) So I'll have to stay with Excel. For the moment, I hope. Besides, iWork is only €79.

thanks again

Wouter

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Wouter:

I couldn't get back to you earlier because Microsoft's server "reached its
license limit" (???????). Anyway, that's another issue.

Yeah, I saw that one, too. They were installing a software update to the
website, and some parts temporarily got out of synch with each other.

Thanks for getting back to me. When I mention "that doesn't work" I refer to
your previous post. I installed the update (still the same error message),
removed the custom dictionary and created a new custom dictionary. Still the
same error message. I'm using the Dutch spell check.

Yep: That's one of the bad ones. We are still waiting for the patch to the
Dutch, German and French spell-checkers.

This is a Microsoft forum so Microsoft's developers should read
it.

No, this is a "user" forum. The Microsoft developers are fixing the
spell-checker, not reading our ramblings Trust me, if you have a
"message for Microsoft", they will never see it here.

I have found a solution: I've now moved over to Pages 08 for all word
processing. It loads quickly and is very intuitive to use. Even though I'm
still stuck in the Word way of doing things, I'm getting the hang of Pages.
I'll keep my layout options simple so exports to doc work fine. Unfortunately
Numbers 08 has some filtering issues (copying filtered results doesn't work
properly) So I'll have to stay with Excel. For the moment, I hope. Besides,
iWork is only €79.

thanks again

Have a good one!

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Frank Wynne]

I have precisely the same problem working with Office 2008 in English (OSX Leopard. This is a huge problem as there are thousands of additional words which I have added previously (proper names, places, etc), and which now all no longer pass spellcheck and make proofing long documents irritating…

 

[lozzyfluff]

Hi all,
I too have developed this problem with the ACL English dictionary. Really annoying. And no offence to Mr McGhie up there but manufacturers do actually read forums like this. Its a much better insight into what customers think of you and your product and how they compare you to other manufacturers. True, most of what is posted can be complete drivel but just occasionally you come up with real nuggets - trust me, it used to be part of my job - 'to monitor and report on user forums for improvement of consumer satisfaction experience'.

Anyhoo, that's by the by, anyone with any fixes please please please let us in on the secret!

Thanks
lozzyfluff

 

[lozzyfluff]

Oh, it gets worse.... I'm only using Office 2004!!!!!

 

[John McGhie]

Oh, no offence taken. On Tuesday, I will be in Seattle, talking with the
designers and developers who make Mac Word. I've been there most years
since 1997. So I have a fair idea of what they "read" and what they don't.

When I say that "Microsoft does not read this forum", I mean to give people
guidance as to how it is appropriate to get their message to Microsoft. The
statement is not 100 per cent accurate.

I could name most of the Microsoft employees who do read this forum, and
give you some idea of when they are likely to be reading it. It's not very
many, and it's not very often

But the intent of my post was not to make a scientifically accurate
statement: it was to indicate the best way to bring problems to Microsoft's
attention.

If you use the Help>Send Feedback mechanism to make your comments, your
comment will be entered into a database before anyone reads it. Once it is
in the database, someone has to make a conscious decision as to how they
will act on it.

If you describe your problem in here, most of the time, no-one from
Microsoft will see your comment at all. If an employee does see it, he or
she will probably not 'read' it unless they happen to be working in the
section that deals with the affected area of Microsoft Office. If they do
read it, they will probably think "that's interesting". And read the next
post.

The number of times that a Microsoft Employee will read this forum, discover
a new issue, write it down, and enter it into the database --- shall we say,
I know of it happening, but you wouldn't want to hold your breath waiting
for the next time

I hope this gives a better idea of what really happens

Cheers

Hi all,
I too have developed this problem with the ACL English dictionary. Really
annoying. And no offence to Mr McGhie up there but manufacturers do actually
read forums like this. Its a much better insight into what customers think of
you and your product and how they compare you to other manufacturers. True,
most of what is posted can be complete drivel but just occasionally you come
up with real nuggets - trust me, it used to be part of my job - 'to monitor
and report on user forums for improvement of consumer satisfaction
experience'.

Anyhoo, that's by the by, anyone with any fixes please please please let us in
on the secret!

Thanks
lozzyfluff

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[John McGhie]

I need the rest of your system and software details, and I also need to know
what you mean by "ACL" and what "problem" you are having.

ACLs very rarely play up: so I need to know what symptoms you're getting,
and what OS and update levels you have.

Cheers

Oh, it gets worse.... I'm only using Office 2004!!!!!

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[srdill]

I use Office 2004 ver. 11.4.2 (080415) on a Mac running OSX 10.5.3 and I use the English dictionary. I recently noticed that spell check was not working. I had not changed any prefs or reloaded the app, no obvious reason to stop checking spelling after 5 years on the same machine and well after the switch to Leopard.

I went into prefs to see what I could turn on and pointed it to the folder with the dictionary and a custom dictionary I had created years ago in it.

Ever since, I haven't had any grammar checking either. Now when Word loads I now get warning messages that say, "The custom dictionary "English Spelling" is not available" "The custom dictionary "English Grammar" is not available" "The custom dictionary "English Grammar Dictionary" is not available" and "The custom dictionary "English Hyphenation" is not available" one after the other.

Any ideas on how to reset to defaults so I can get grammar and spell checking back?

BTW, when I looked in the Help file it said to open a doc, go to Edit > Spelling and Grammar - I have no such listing in my Edit menu. What does THAT mean?

Thanks for any and all assistance!

 

[John McGhie]

Edit custom dictionary appears on the Preference Pane when you go into
Word>Preferences>Spelling and Grammar>Custom Dictionaries...

I suspect that the dictionary has become corrupt in the switchover from ANSI
text to Unicode. Try this:

1) Move the custom dictionary out of that folder.

2) Get Word to create a new custom dictionary.

3) Open the old custom dictionary in TextExit

4) Edit the new custom dictionary in Word

5) Ignore anything in the old custom dictionary that is obviously mutilated
(be very suspicious of the first and last lines...)

6) Copy the good part into the new custom dictionary

7) Make sure that the Custom Dictionary is set to No Language (unless you
have multiple custom dictionaries)

8) Save and close the new dictionary.

9) Go to Preferences and switch Spelling and Grammar back on (they switch
off automatically when you edit the dictionary).

I am guessing here, so if it doesn't work, get back to us.

Hope this helps

I use Office 2004 ver. 11.4.2 (080415) on a Mac running OSX 10.5.3 and I use
the English dictionary. I recently noticed that spell check was not working. I
had not changed any prefs or reloaded the app, no obvious reason to stop
checking spelling after 5 years on the same machine and well after the switch
to Leopard.

I went into prefs to see what I could turn on and pointed it to the folder
with the dictionary and a custom dictionary I had created years ago in it.

Ever since, I haven't had any grammar checking either. Now when Word loads I
now get warning messages that say, "The custom dictionary "English Spelling"
is not available" "The custom dictionary "English Grammar" is not available"
"The custom dictionary "English Grammar Dictionary" is not available" and "The
custom dictionary "English Hyphenation" is not available" one after the other.

Any ideas on how to reset to defaults so I can get grammar and spell checking
back?

BTW, when I looked in the Help file it said to open a doc, go to Edit >
Spelling and Grammar - I have no such listing in my Edit menu. What does THAT
mean?

Thanks for any and all assistance!

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Helena Tagesson]

I have this problem too. I have the update mentioned installed and it hasn't fixed it. I use Leopard on a MacBook and Swedish and English spellcheckers.

This is driving me slightly mad. Yes, maybe Pages is the answer. Still, any suggestions other than the ones already mentioned and tried would be greatly welcomed.

/Helena

 

[wouwout]

I'm the TS and still have this problem after the latest Service Pack. Unfortunately Pages is not 100% compatible... I've created a completely new custom dictionary, did not copy over any old information, and after a few days this error popped up again. :angry:

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Helena:

You have the "Whole" problem. We need to do several things to fix your
situation.

The first thing we need is your exact Office software and OS and Mac
hardware versions. Please post a new question (not tacked on to someone
else's) with that information, so we can work out an answer specific to your
computer.

Thanks

I have this problem too. I have the update mentioned installed and it hasn't
fixed it. I use Leopard on a MacBook and Swedish and English spellcheckers.

This is driving me slightly mad. Yes, maybe Pages is the answer. Still, any
suggestions other than the ones already mentioned and tried would be greatly
welcomed.

/Helena

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[robbert keegel]

Hello,
because I encountered the same problem on our office-MAC, I bought a Student & Home version of Office 2008 for my private Mac (Mini) in the States and immediately that same old problem was present: after installing it (and it's 2 mentioned updates) I started working and after some time I got the message 'Dutch Dictionay Not Available' (yes, I'm Dutch) and 'Custom Dictionary Not Available'. That is extremely annoying and not workable. What to do, while MS evidently only wants to sell stuff and not assist it's customers?

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Hello,
Hi,

because I encountered the same problem on our office-MAC, I bought a
Student & Home version of Office 2008 for my private Mac (Mini) in the
States and immediately that same old problem was present: after
installing it (and it's 2 mentioned updates) I started working and after
some time I got the message 'Dutch Dictionay Not Available' (yes, I'm
Dutch) and 'Custom Dictionary Not Available'.

I've never had the problem with the spelling dictionary itself, but I've
encountered the problem with the custom one.
The solution I found (and hopefully it'll work for you too) was to
locate the file corresponding to this dictionary in the Finder, drag it
to the Word icon in the Dock to open it, make a small modification and
save. This corrected whatever was wrong with the file and it became
available in Word (Office) again,

That is extremely annoying
and not workable. What to do, while MS evidently only wants to sell
stuff and not assist it's customers?

They won't post here. This is a peer-support group.


Corentin

 

[Reinhard]

Hi,
I had the same problem. The following steps worked just fine for me:

1. within word go to 'Einstellungen' ( i.e. 'settings') above left.
2. choose then 'Dateispeicherorte' (= locations for saving your files / or however our admired Microsofties had named it in english).
3. Choose then within the right window the line which is called 'Wörterbücher' (dictionaries / wordbooks).
4. doubleklick this line.
5. then select the following folder: Programme (the very first left) / Microsoft Office 2004 (or 2008 , I assume) / Gemeinsame Anwendungen (common applications maybe) / Korrekturhilfen (help for correcting maybe; within this ordner you should see all installed dictionaries. But stay on the level above the files!).

That's it.

option 6. Just check: now in settings / locations / dictionaries you should see the above mentioned path on the right side.

option 7. Maybe you still have to adapt within settings the line 'dictionaries and grammar' and to select your language. I hadn't.

Good luck!
Reinhard / Vienna / Austria