How to add a word in the new MS Outlook

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How to add a word in the new MS Outlook

Kevin C. Kenny 0

After having built Outlook to work, excellently, the new version simply does not work easily.

Let's focus only on one mission critical issue - I can't find out how to add a word to the dictionary. I work globally and deal every day with foreign names. Many times the names of cities are red underlined as being misspelled when they aren't. In the old Outlook, it was a right click and voila, Add to Dictionary was there. Not anymore! I have also read other Answers and followed the instructions of others who have asked this. So far, none of the answers actually works in the apparently rapidly changing new MS Outlook environment. FYI everywhere else, my Windows Custom.dic works - across all MS Apps. NOT here, nor can I figure out how to fix it.

How do I easily add the word to the dictionary?

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Answer 1

Aymeric-B 29,010 Independent Advisor

Hello !

You're right : adding a word to the dictionary is not supported at the moment in the new Outlook.
The AI answer is valid : you'll need to use another Office app (like Word) to add and manage your custom dictionary entries.

If you're having issues with this workaround, your best option is to go back to the classic version of Outlook, where custom dictionaries are fully supported by the program.
If Outlook classic is not available on your PC, you can follow this tutorial to reinstall it : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/install-or-reinstall-classic-outlook-on-a-windows-pc-5c94902b-31a5-4274-abb0-b07f4661edf5

Please let me know if you have any other question !

Kevin C. Kenny 0 Reputation points

2026-03-25T03:16:16.14+00:00

Thanks for your answer, but unfortunately that does not work, I tried - several times. I have all of these words in my Custom Dictionary in e.g. MS Word, PowerPoint, etc. As you point out, custom dictionary works perfectly in the old Outlook, whereas NONE of my custom words show up in the new version, nor am I able to re-add them. Even if I had an easy way to re-add them all, I would suck it up and add them all again. Right now I can't.

If there is no better answer, then I will indeed have to go back to the Classic Outlook, even though my Gmail no longer works/is supported there since 7 Mar. In any case, the Contacts in classic Outook are 1000x better than in the new version. The new version takes me back 20 years in functionality.

I must admit, I do not understand why MS would release a product that is not yet MVP (minimum viable product)...
Aymeric-B 29,010 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-03-25T14:36:50.71+00:00

Thanks for coming back to me !

For such a case, your best option is to go back to the classic version of Outlook, and use the built-in custom dictionary.

The issue you're describing with Gmail has been solved recently, on March 23rd : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/users-get-errors-0x800ccc0e-0x800ccc0f-synchronizing-gmail-and-yahoo-accounts-in-classic-outlook-e5a7b684-7c5c-4848-ab2d-d48291451f67
Try again, it should be working ! Make sure Office is up-to-date (you can check this in Outlook settings)

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How to add a word in the new MS Outlook

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