Differentiating Between Dictionaries

As you create documents and check their spelling, you will start to see that the words you use fall into several categories:

• Common words that are included in Word s main dictionary.

• Uncommon words that you use rarely. You will want to tell Word to ignore these when checking the spelling of a document. Word will then attach those words to the document in which they are used as a sort of document-specific dictionary and will not flag them as misspellings if you check the document s spelling in the future.

• Uncommon words that you use often in different kinds of documents. You will want to add these words to Word s built-in supplemental dictionary (Custom.dic) so that Word does not flag them as misspellings.

• Uncommon words that you use with a specific type of document. Instead of adding these words to the supplemental dictionary, you might want to create a custom dictionary for use with only that type of document. To create a custom dictionary, click Options on the Tools menu, click the Spelling & Grammar tab, click the Custom Dictionaries button, and then click the New button in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box. Type a name for the dictionary, and click Save. Verify that the new dictionary is selected in the Dictionary list box, and click OK. On the Spelling & Grammar tab, verify that the Suggest from main dictionary only check box is deselected, and click OK. (You can also create and open custom dictionaries on the Spelling & Grammar tab that appears when you click Options in the Spelling and Grammar dialog box.) When you check a document s spelling after creating the new dictionary, you can click the Add to dictionary button in the Spelling and Grammar dialog box to add words to it. (Before starting a spelling check, it is a good idea to click the Options button and verify which custom dictionaries are in effect.)

Knowing how Word uses the available dictionaries is important to being able to check your spelling quickly and efficiently , especially if you create documents about topics that include industry-specific terms or jargon.