|
|
How can you hack the LocalDictionary on a Mac system?Another question about the built-in Mac spell dictionary. (I did read the previous question How can I forget or edit a learned word in the Mac spelling dictionary?) Under User>Library>Spelling> I have both LocalDictionary and en. What is the relationship between these two? Adding a great number of specialized, technical words one at a time as they appear in my writing is taking a lot of time. Is there a way to add a great number of (specialized) words to one of these? Great question and an interesting one both, because it turns out that the Mac OS X spelling subsystem that underlies its common spelling capability is eminently hackable. How can you tell? Simply open up the LocalDictionary file that you reference. Before I do, however, I will say that it's important to use the right editor: if you use an editor that adds the wrong line-end sequences, you can presumably mess up the dictionary. My suggestion, since I'm comfortable with the command line, is to open up Terminal.app and use either "emacs" or "vi" to add content to the file. Save the original file before you start, though, and presumably you could also just try something else like BBEdit, TextEdit or even Microsoft Word. It messes up? Just copy back the original! Even if you don't want to hack the file, you can still open it up and have a look by using TextEdit. Launch the program, then navigate to Library > Spelling and open "LocalDictionary". Here's what mine contains: ![]() Does it work? To test it while in TextEdit, I added the nonsense word "ptoi" and saved the file, then opened a new TextEdit window and typed that word in to the window. The result was that it was still marked as a spelling error. Hmm... To test further, I logged out and logged in again. The result: ![]() No red squiggly line means that "ptoi" is now a valid word with an understood spelling. Sweet! So there ya go. You don't need to use Terminal.app or the command line, you simply need to open up the file with TextEdit and add the words you need, save it, and you're good to go. Nice job making this easy to work with, Apple!
More Useful Mac OS X Help Articles:
✔ Audacity can't find LAME library, I can't save Mp3?
Hey Dave. I read your article Audacity can't save mp3 audio files and am still puzzled because I downloaded the LAME Mp3 converter...
✔ How to remove Dashboard as a "space" in Mac OS X Spaces?I'm a big fan of the Spaces utility in Mac OS X that lets me have multiple virtual screens [see Set Up Mac...
✔ Best place to buy a cheap MacBook laptop?Hi Dave. I am looking for two gently used MacBook laptops for my teen daughters. Personal computers would greatly facilitate their studies as...
✔ File too big error copying to USB flash drive on my Mac?I'm baffled. I have a 16GB Kingston USB flash drive that I use on my Mac system and I'm trying to copy a...
✔ Stealth image capture photo from webcam on my Mac?Someone sneaks into my cubicle while I'm at lunch and takes candy out of my desk. Petty, but stupid too. I want to...
Let's stay in touch!
Sign up for my weekly AskDaveTaylor Newsletter and you'll receive even more tech and gadget help
right to your inbox, along with exclusive news and industry updates. It's good stuff. I promise!
Categorized:
Mac OS X Help
(Article 10221,
Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: hacking the mac, local spelling, mac os x, mac spelling, spelling dictionary Previous: How can I have Pinterest updates appear on Facebook? Next: How can my Pinterest pins link to specific Web page URLs? Reader Comments To Date: 2Dr S Venkatkrishnan said, on February 9, 2012 6:10 AM:
Dear Dave,
I do have a comment, now that you mention it!Check This Out Too... |
Recent Entries
Look for Answers
Recommended
All Our Categories
Apple iPad Help
Articles and Reviews Auctions and Online Shopping Blogs and Blogging Building Web Site Traffic Business and Management Computer and Internet Basics d) None of the Above Facebook Help Google Gmail Help Google Plus Help HTML, JavaScript and Web Site Programming Industry News and Trade Shows iPhone and Cell Phone Help iPod, Sony PSP and MP3 Player Help Kindle Fire Help Mac OS X Help Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising Pinterest Help Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Shell Script Programming Tech Support Video Help The Writing Business Twitter, LinkedIn and Social Network Help Unix and Linux Help Video Game Tips and Help Windows PC Help Find Me on Google+ ADT on G+ |
I am the original poster. Wow! Thanks a lot. Followup question: As I said in the post, I have two files in the Spelling folder: LocalDictionary and en. What is the "en" file? And as I add words the conventional way by Learn Spelling, both en and LocalDictionary both seem to be getting updated at different times. (I have read that en may stand for English and other languages might have their own spell check file but I have only used English on this computer.)