Hello, my name is Erin.
I’m a professional copy editor who shares writing tips for the real world on this channel
and on my blog at erinwrightwriting.com.
Today’s tutorial shows how to create a custom dictionary in Microsoft Word.
All Microsoft Word users have a default custom dictionary
that acts as a catchall for their spelling preferences.
In fact, every time you right-click on a flagged word, which may or may not be misspelled,
and select “Add to Dictionary,” that word goes to your default custom dictionary.
However, you can create additional custom dictionaries in Microsoft Word
for specific documents.
This tutorial explains the following: How to create a custom dictionary.
How to add words to a custom dictionary.
And, how to add or remove a custom dictionary for specific files.
I’ll be using Word for Office 365,
which is currently the same as Word 2019.
However, the steps are the same for Word 2016 and Word 2013 and similar for Word 2010.
To begin, select the File tab.
Then, select Options in the Backstage view.
Next, select Proofing in the Word Options dialog box,
followed by the Custom Dictionaries button.
Select any of the available options in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box
to make the New button available.
If All Languages or English is selected, the New button will be grayed out,
which means it is unavailable.
Now, select the New button.
Choose a file location for your new dictionary in the Create Custom Dictionary dialog box.
Note that the default UProof folder chosen by Word will be appropriate for most users.
The UProof folder is connected to your Office user account,
which means that only you can access dictionaries stored in that folder.
If you want to share your new dictionary, save the file in another folder accessible
by others in your organization.
Later in this tutorial, we’ll walk through the steps for adding dictionaries
saved in locations other than the UProof folder.
Next, type the name of your new custom dictionary in the File name text box.
Then, select the Save button.
The Create Custom Dictionary dialog box will close automatically,
and your new dictionary will appear in the Custom Dictionary dialog box.
If you do not want your new dictionary to be automatically applied to current or future documents,
uncheck it in this list.
I do want my new dictionary to be automatically applied, so I’m going to leave it checked.
Finally, select the OK button in the Custom Dictionary dialog box.
Now we’ll add words to a custom dictionary.
If you want to edit the existing words in your default custom dictionary
or another custom dictionary,
you can also watch my other video titled “How to Edit Your Custom Dictionary in Microsoft Word.”
To begin, select the File tab.
Then, select Options in the Backstage view.
Followed by Proofing in the Word Options dialog box.
Once again, select the Custom Dictionaries button.
And then select the dictionary you want to add words to in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box.
Next, select the Edit Word List button.
Now, type one word at a time into the Word(s) text box.
Followed by the Add button for each word.
When you’re finished adding words, select the OK button to save your changes
and close the Custom Dictionaries dialog box.
In a separate tutorial, we’ll use a simple text editor such as Notepad
to add multiple words at once to a custom dictionary.
By default, Word’s Editor (which is the new name for the spelling and grammar check)
applies all custom dictionaries to your documents unless specific dictionaries are manually
unchecked in the Custom Dictionary dialog box.
Therefore, I strongly encourage you to review the Custom Dictionary dialog box regularly
to ensure that Word is using the dictionaries that you want—and none that you don’t.
The following steps show how to add or remove a custom dictionary already connected to your document.
Then we’ll add a custom dictionary unconnected to your document.
To add or remove a custom dictionary already connected to your document,
we’ll once again return to the Custom Dictionaries dialog box.
To begin, select the File tab, followed by Options in the Backstage view.
Select Proofing in the Word Options dialog box.
Then select the Custom Dictionaries button.
From here, you can or uncheck specific dictionaries that you want applied to your document.
When you’re finished, select the OK button to save your changes.
The Custom Dictionaries dialog box will close automatically.
To add a custom dictionary currently unconnected to your document, again select the File tab,
then Options in the Backstage view,
Proofing,
and the Custom Dictionaries button.
Now, select any of the available options in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box
to make the Add button available.
Select the Add button.
And then navigate to the location of the dictionary you want to add in the Add Custom Dictionary dialog box.
Select the dictionary file.
For this example, I have a custom dictionary stored in a folder on my desktop.
However, you can select any dictionary file accessibly through this dialog box.
Once you’ve located the dictionary file, select the Open button.
The Add Custom Dictionary dialog box will close automatically,
and the dictionary you just selected will appear in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box.
Select the OK button to save your changes and close the Custom Dictionaries dialog box.
The corresponding blog post for this video along with many other writing tips
appears on ErinWrightWriting.com, which is linked below.
Feel free to leave me a comment if you have a question about Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat
that you’d like me to address in the future.
And please subscribe to my channel and give this video a thumbs-up if you found it helpful.
Thank you so much for watching!