Editing the PPT custom dictionary

[Jack]

I am using PPT version v.x.

I accidently added a bogus word to my custom dictionary.

How can I get that word out of the custom dictionary?

Thanks, Jack

 

[CyberTaz]

Not sure about X, but I think it's the same as '04. PPt uses the same custom
dictionaries as Word. Go into Word menu to Preferences>Spelling & Grammar,
click the Dictionaries button, then select your custom dict & click Edit.
BTW - Entourage & Excel use the same ones.

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

 

[Jack]

Nope, it's not in the dictionary I find there.

Not sure about X, but I think it's the same as '04. PPt uses the same custom
dictionaries as Word. Go into Word menu to Preferences>Spelling & Grammar,
click the Dictionaries button, then select your custom dict & click Edit.
BTW - Entourage & Excel use the same ones.

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

 

[CyberTaz]

Then perhaps [but unlikely] it has been added as an AutoCorrect entry. Try
there.

What is the actual problem? If oyu type the 'bogus word' what happens - gets
marked by automatic speller or not?
Is it found by regular speller or skipped over?

As I said, I'm not sure about v.X, but you might check PPt prefs to see if
it does have its own spell check dictionaries.

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

As I said, I'm not sure about v.X, but you might check PPt prefs to see if
it does have its own spell check dictionaries.

No, it doesn't. It uses the same Custom Dictionary as all the Office apps,
which should be accessible from Word (as its first-listed custom dictionary
if you have more than one there). The "bogus word" should be there in the
Custom Dictionary editable from within Word's prefs, where you can remove it
and save. But it will still be "acceptable" to PowerPoint until you quit and
relaunch PPT. Once you relaunch it, you should find the red-dotted line
again under the bogus word and in spelling checks.

The difference with vX, as I best recall, is that when you edit the Custom
Dictionary in Word, you'll be informed that you also need to quit and
relaunch Word to get spell-checking working in Word again. In 2004, you just
need to go to Tools/Spelling & Grammar,. and that gets it going again.

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.

 

[Jack]

Well, Office is always full of surprises.

The custom dictionary that I created (and the one shown in Word's Edit
dictionary dialog) wasn't the one that was being used. I searched for
"Custom Dictionary" and found another. This one had the bogus word in
it.

I closed PPT. I trashed the custom dictionary I had believed was in use
and moved the 'mystery' dictionary to the location that I wanted.

I went back to Word, removed the custom dictionary there. Closed Word.
Then went back in and re-selected the newly moved dictionary. Then
editted out the bogus word.

Quit Word.

Returned to PPT.

The bogus word was not still not flagged.

I deleted it and re-typed it, then it was flagged.

I don't know why it wouldn't be flagged as soon as PPT had a dictionary
that did not contain it, it's hard to believe that Office keeps track
of every single word that's already been spell checked in a document,
but that's what it looked like.

Anyhow, the lesson is you can't trust the Custom Dictionary location
dialog in Word preferences. The dictionary specified there might not be
the one really being used.

Opened Word, chose the dictionary

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

I said that PPT uses the Custom Dictionary listed first in Word. But it's
possible that PPT (unlike Word) needs to be able to find its Custom
Dictionary in the default location, since it doesn't have any dictionary
preferences of its own (unlike Entourage, which does).

The default location for Office's Custom Dictionaries is:

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/

I am inclined to agree that this is an unsafe location. Although people
nowadays don't often trash whole folders of prefs, they could, plus if you
ever use Remove Office to do a clean reinstall of Office, it does trash this
folder, and there goes your custom dictionary. Not good.

Still, if you had set up a different CD for Word somewhere else, PPT
possibly wouldn't know about that, If it looked in Microsoft prefs folder
and didn't find one, it would create a new one there/ Is that what happened?

What I would suggest is this:

Move your Custom dictionaries to somewhere safer, but create an alias in
(hold down cmd=opt while moving the mouse to) the regular Microsoft prefs
location. In Word, you could probably locate it at the alias (or the real
place). PPT should follow the alias and not create a new one.

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.

 

[Jack]

Paul, your supposition is correct. PPT *always* looks in the default
location. If there is no custom dictionary there, PPT re-creates one
there if words are added.

The alias suggestion was brilliant. Elegant, simple and works like a
charm.

Thanks! Jack