Medical spelling checker?

[Guest]

My wife is getting into medical transcription and a specialized medical
spelling checker would be most useful. Does anyone know if such a thing is
available for Word? How easy is it to create your own specialized spelling
checker?

thanks - david

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You can have as many custom dictionaries as you like; they are just text
files, and you can add words to them as needed. The specific custom
dictionary must be selected as the default if you want added words to go
into it. See the Help topic "Create and use custom dictionaries."

If your wife would prefer to buy a medical dictionary add-in, one
possibility is Stedman's. See
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/ref=s_sf_b_as/104-7902895-4854369

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

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[Jay Freedman]

My wife is getting into medical transcription and a specialized
medical spelling checker would be most useful. Does anyone know if
such a thing is available for Word? How easy is it to create your own
specialized spelling checker?

thanks - david

The most popular medical spell checker is apparently Stedman's
(http://www.stedmans.com/product.cfm/439), but there are others on the
market, such as SpellEx (http://spellex.com/products/med.htm). Use Google to
look for them.

To create your own, there are two approaches. One is simply to type the
medical terms as they occur in documents; when Word flags one as a
misspelling, after you verify that it really is correct, click the Add
button to add the term to your custom dictionary. Over time, you'll build up
a medical dictionary.

The other approach is to prepare a list of correctly spelled medical words
in a plain text file, one word per line with no spaces or punctuation. (You
may find lists of words on the Net -- check Google.) Find out where your
custom dictionary is stored (in Tools > Options > Spelling & Grammar, click
the Dictionaries button). Open that file in Notepad and copy the medical
terms into it.

 

[mrkhwrd]

There is another one: As-U-Type (http://www.asutype.com/). Their
software supports both spell check as you type feature and text
expansion; and they have a free trial. After installing it, download
the medical spelling dictionary from their dictionary page (see
http://www.asutype.com/dictionaries.html) and you'll have a decent
medical spell checker with text expansion capability. It works with ALL
applications including Word and IE.

--mark