Exclusion Dictionary in Word 2007

[CaptionEditor]

I created an exclusion dictionary for Word 2007. However, the dictionary
does not flag words if they are in all UPPERCASE where it flags the same
words if they are in mixed or lower case. Previously in Word 2003 I was able
to flag words no matter what case they are in. Does anyone else have this
problem?

 

[Cindy M.]

Hi David,

I created an exclusion dictionary for Word 2007. However, the dictionary
does not flag words if they are in all UPPERCASE where it flags the same
words if they are in mixed or lower case. Previously in Word 2003 I was able
to flag words no matter what case they are in. Does anyone else have this
problem?

Have you checked that "Ignore words in UPPERCASE" is not activated in the Word
Options, Proofing tab?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[Ken Y.]

I created an exclusion dictionary for Word 2007. However, the dictionary
does not flag words if they are in all UPPERCASE where it flags the same
words if they are in mixed or lower case. Previously in Word 2003 I was able
to flag words no matter what case they are in. Does anyone else have this
problem?

 

[Ken Y.]

Sorry about that blank reply.

I was wondering how you got the ExcludeDictionary to work. When I try to
add it to the Custom Dictionaries...it wants to add a .dic extention to the
..lex extension.
I googled all over and I can't seem to find any help on this.

Thanks!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/ExcludeWordFromDic.htm

 

[CaptionEditor]

Hi, Ken. Thanks for replying.
If you are in Word 2007, go to:

C:\Documents and Settings\captionuser\Application Data\Microsoft\UProof

Underneath the CUSTOM.DIC you should see

ExcludeDictionaryEN0409.lex

Open this file using a text editor, such as Notepad.

Enter any words you want Spellcheck to flag, such as "pubic" in lower case,
each word followed by a hard return.

To my understanding, Spellcheck will recognize any instance of each word in
the list irrespective of case. For instance, it should flag "pubic,"
"Pubic," and "PUBIC."
It does this in my Word 2003 fine. However, I've found in my Word 2007 that
it doesn't catch the uppercase instances. And, yes, I have un-checked
(un-ticked) the "Ignore Uppercase" box in Word 2007's Spellcheck options. I
am at a loss for a solution.

Thank you!

David, the Captioner

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Please see the referenced article at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/ExcludeWordFromDic.htm. The exclusion
dictionary must have an .exc extension.

 

[CaptionEditor]

Hi and thank you for the reply!

Unfortunately I did try un-clicking "Ignore words in UPPERCASE" and the
problem still persists. I've tried many rational and irrational variations
of the Spellcheck preferences and still nothing. Strangely, the Spellchecker
will flag uppercase words that are truly mispelled, for instance "PUBCI," but
it won't catch "PUBIC" if I've entered it into my Exclusion Dictionary.

The purpose of this project is to easily catch common English words that in
context could be deamed profanity by broadcasting censors for closed
captioning, words like "COME," "EAT," "GOD" and so on. And our captioning
style is in all UPPERCASE words for dialogue.

Thanks again!

David

 

[CaptionEditor]

Hi, Suzanne, and thanks for the speed-of-light reply!

I have seen the page linked below. In fact that's the one I used to set up
an Exclusioin Dictionary in my Word 2003. Thank you for the very clear
explanation!

I'm now trying to set this up in Word 2007, which has a whole new and
different look and file structure. The Exclusion Dictionary in this version
is called "ExcludeDictionaryEN0409.lex" and seems to work just like
"MSSP3EN.EXC," and it's in a slightly different location:

C:\Documents and Settings\captionuser\Application Data\Microsoft\UProof

instead of

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Proof

Are you familiary with Word 2007 and its quirks?

Thanks!

David

 

[CaptionEditor]

Sorry,

The locations for Word 2007 is (including the username)

C:\Documents and Settings\(your username)\Application
Data\Microsoft\UProof\ExcludeDictionaryEN0409.lex

Thanks!
David

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I see that you are right, according to
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA101473031033.aspx. I guess MS
decided to make the process easier by including an exclusion dictionary to
begin with instead of making you create one. I'll keep this in mind when I
get around to updating that article.

Interestingly, though the specified ExcludeDictionaryEN0409.lex file is in
the specified folder, it doesn't seem to be loaded by default, and it
doesn't show up when you Browse in the Custom Dictionaries dialog in Word
2007. And, although the dialog does show my Word 2003 exclusion dictionary
as loaded, Word clearly isn't using it. It's unfortunate that MS didn't make
the exclusion dictionary as easy to edit (through Word Options) as the
custom dictionary is.

Moreover, I just opened the ExcludeDictionaryEN0409.lex file, added "pubic,"
and saved the file, and it still isn't marked incorrect in Word 2007. Oh,
wait, you have to "press ENTER after each word." Now it works. Okay, thanks.

That's still more of a pain than Word 2003. In that version, even though you
had to create the file manually, you could get it to load in the Custom
Dictionaries dialog so that you could edit it through the dialog instead of
having to browse to it and edit it in WordPad.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Sorry,

The locations for Word 2007 is (including the username)

C:\Documents and Settings\(your username)\Application
Data\Microsoft\UProof\ExcludeDictionaryEN0409.lex

Thanks!
David

 

[CaptionEditor]

Thanks.
I didn't know about editing the dictionary from within Word 2003 using the
dialog box. That's great. And, no, Word 2007 seems to not allow you to do
that. And so far it doesn't flag uppercase words. I guess it's a case of
when you improve one thing, you make something else worse.

Still, if you hear or figure out or think of an idea how I might get it to
flag uppercase words, please let me know.

Have a great weekend!

David

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Did you enter the word in the dictionary all in lowercase? At this point I
have just the single word "pubic" in my dictionary, and Word 2007 flags
"pubic," "Pubic," and "PUBIC." If it's the last you're not seeing, make sure
you don't have "Ignore words in UPPERCASE" checked in Word Options |
Proofing.

 

[CaptionEditor]

Suzanne,
At least I know it works in 2007, (that it flags the uppercase instance). I
already did uncheck "Ignore words in UPPERCASE" with no luck. There might be
something wrong with the Word on the machine in which I tested it. I'll try
again on another machine Monday.

Thanks,
David

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I thought I remembered that you'd already said you had that option
unchecked. Aside from that I can't think of any explanation. This is the
point at which one must just quote Office MVP Bob Buckland: "Word rarely
misses an opportunity to perplex."

 

[CaptionEditor]

Hi, Suzanne.
Just to clarify, you were able to get Spellcheck to flag the all-uppercase
instance of "PUBIC" when you entered it in all lowercase letters in the file
ExcludeDictionaryEN0409 in Word 2007? Were you able to enter the word by
going through the dialogue box in "Proofing" while inside Word, or did you go
through Windows File Manager? Did you save the ExcludeDictionaryEN0409 by
"Save-as" or just "Save"? Is your Word 2007 part of Office 2007? Had you
downloaded any service packs?

Sorry to keep bugging you about this, but it could save us a lot of labor
hours if we could get this function to work, so I wanted to see if I can
replicate exactly what you did. I would feel extremely grateful.

Thank you so much!

David Adae

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Okay. Word 2007 is part of Office 2007 Ultimate (not all apps installed),
installed side-by-side with Office 2003. I entered "pubic" (all lowercase in
the ExcludeDictionaryEN0409 file after opening it in WordPad through Windows
Explorer (My Computer) and then just saved the file normally (Ctrl+S or
clicking on a Save button--don't remember which).

According to Office Button | Word Options | Resources, Word is
12.0.6311.5000 with SP1 MSO (12.0.6320.500).

I've just noticed an odd thing. If I type "pubic pubic PUBIC," the first
word is AutoCorrected to "Pubic" and marked as misspelled, and both the
following words are marked as misspelled. But if I type PUBIC at the
beginning of a paragraph, either by holding down the Shift key or by turning
on Caps Lock, the first PUBIC is not marked as misspelled, but a subsequent
one is. Adding "Pubic" to the exclude dictionary doesn't help. Even adding
"PUBIC" doesn't help. I'll report this up the line as a bug.

 

[CaptionEditor]

Suzanne,
Thank you very much for all your help! It looks like Word 2007 does indeed
have a bug. I think it was flagging repeated instances of the word in your
test, but when you start a line with the uppercase word, or if it comes after
a different word, it won't flag it.

Fortunately for the office here, it turns out that most of us will continue
to use Word 2003, so we're set for a while. Maybe a solution will arrive in
a future service pack.

Take care and thanks again for taking the time to investigate this issue and
for replying so quickly!

David Adae

--D

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Oh, ouch, you're right about the repeated word. That does make sense. So it
just doesn't do the UPPERCASE at all. I'll add that to my escalation
request. Thanks.