"Proofing tool cannot write to custom dictionary"

[Amber E.]

I am using Word 2007 and imported my custom dictionary from Word 2003 (from
another computer) and am not able to add words to the custom dictionary.
When I right click the word the "add to dictionary" button is greyed out, and
if i go into the proofing tool and try to manually add it to the dictionary,
it says "Proofing tool cannot write to custom dictionary." I have checked
and the custom dictionary is set to All Languages, and I checked the
properties of Custom.dic and it is not set to read only. Is there a way to
fix this?

 

[Jay Freedman]

I am using Word 2007 and imported my custom dictionary from Word 2003 (from
another computer) and am not able to add words to the custom dictionary.
When I right click the word the "add to dictionary" button is greyed out, and
if i go into the proofing tool and try to manually add it to the dictionary,
it says "Proofing tool cannot write to custom dictionary." I have checked
and the custom dictionary is set to All Languages, and I checked the
properties of Custom.dic and it is not set to read only. Is there a way to
fix this?

Word 2003 and earlier used a plain-text ("Windows encoding") file for custom
dictionaries, but Word 2007 uses a Unicode encoding. If you were to create a
plain-text file, give it a .dic extension, and try to activate it with the Add
button in the Custom Dictionaries dialog, you would get a message that you must
save the file in Unicode format first. By copying the Word 2003 Custom.dic file,
though, you bypassed that warning. Word 2007 is able to read the file and use it
to check spelling, but it won't write to the file.

To fix this, open the file in Notepad. Click File > Save As, change the encoding
dropdown from ANSI to Unicode, click OK, and say yes when asked whether to
replace the existing file.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Oh, ouch. Guess I'd better add that caveat to my article at
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/MasterSpellCheck.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org