How do I create a .dic file?

It is very tedious to have to add every word individually. I use a custom dictionary for spellchecking in a minority language, which isn't supported by Word's standard dictionaries. It has over 250,000 words! That would take a long time to build by adding each word individually. 

I came upon the following when my custom dictionary wouldn't work on Word 2016 for Mac.

The fast way, to bulk add a word list to a custom dictionary:

First, Create a New Custom Dictionary

1. Make sure that a document is open.If no document is open, the next step won't work.
2. On the Word menu, click Preferences.Under Authoring and Proofing Tools, click Spelling and Grammar. In Windows Go to Office Button | Word Options | Proofing and click on Dictionaries.
3. Under Spelling, click Dictionaries. Click New. IMPORTANT: If the Convert File or File Conversion dialog boxes open, don't make any changes—just click OK. (The correct text encoding setting is Other encoding: Unicode 5.1 (Little-Endian).)
4. In the Save As box, type a name for the custom dictionary. I think you can save this anywhere. By default, Word buries these files with it's other settings.
5. Click Save.

You should now see a list of the custom dictionaries. Word's default one is called Custom Dictionary and you should also see the new one you've just created.

Now, ensure that the new dictionary is the only one being used

1. Uncheck the box next to Custom Dictionary. Your new dictionary should be the only selected dictionary.
2. Click OK again to close the Spelling and Grammar dialog box, and exit the Preferences (Mac) /Options (PC).

You now have an empty text file with a .dic extension into which you can build your dictionary. At this stage I think it's useful to Add a single word to the new dictionary.

1. Open a New Word Document
2. Type a word that you want to add to your custom dictionary.
3. Right-click and select Add or Add to Dictionary

Now, you have a single word in your dictionary file. Now, Close Word. The next step won't work if Word is still open.

Populate the custom dictionary with your word list

1. In Windows or the Finder navigate to your Custom Dictionary file.
2. Open it with a texteditor. I used BBEdit for Mac. I found that using Word itself for this job didn't work well. You should use a texteditor other than Word. When you open the .dic file you should see your single work inside, followed by a blank line.
3. Paste in your word list here, with a single word on each line.
4. Save this file. Keep the .dic extension.

Now, reopen Word and you should have a working custom dictionary.

Turn the other custom dictionaries back on

You can now turn your other custom dictionaries back on if you want.

This will certainly work, but it will also work to create the text file in Notepad and save it with the .dic extension in the UProof folder. You'd still need to go to the Custom Dictionaries dialog in Word to set it as the default (if desired). It would probably also be necessary to click New... in that dialog to select the file you created and add it to the list.

Although there are ways to create a .dic file from within Word, the simple answer is that you create a text file (you can do this in Word and save it as .txt, or you can create it in Notepad) with each word on a separate line. Save it with the .dic file extension and put it in the same folder where Custom.dic is located.

If you want to do this from within Word:

1. Go to Office Button | Word Options | Proofing and click on Dictionaries...
2. Click on New... and provide a name for the dictionary, which will automatically be saved in the right place.
3. In the dictionary list, select the dictionary you just created and click Edit Word List...

Unfortunately, with this method you can add only one word at a time; at least in my experiments, it was not possible to paste in an already created word list (I'm almost certain this used to be possible in earlier versions).

Thanks Suzanne.

I'ma little confused. You say "create a text file (you can do this in Word and save it as .txt, or you can create it in Notepad) with each word on a separate line." but in the final paragraph you say "Unfortunately, with this method you can add only one word at a time; " If I've created the text file with one word on each line where does the adding one word at a time come into play?

Also is there any way to seperate the word from the meaning as you would in a dictionary?

Many thanks again

Tony

Although there are ways to create a .dic file from within Word, the simple answer is that you create a text file (you can do this in Word and save it as .txt, or you can create it in Notepad) with each word on a separate line. Save it with the .dic file extension and put it in the same folder where Custom.dic is located.

If you want to do this from within Word:

1. Go to Office Button | Word Options | Proofing and click on Dictionaries...
2. Click on New... and provide a name for the dictionary, which will automatically be saved in the right place.
3. In the dictionary list, select the dictionary you just created and click Edit Word List...

Unfortunately, with this method you can add only one word at a time; at least in my experiments, it was not possible to paste in an already created word list (I'm almost certain this used to be possible in earlier versions).