Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Tip 200
Correct Your Mac's Dictionary
Here's how to correct a few issues that arise with the built-in Mac spell-
checking software that works in most apps.
Forcing Autocorrect to Learn Words
Some apps automatically correct what you type, replacing words with what
OS X thinks are the correct ones. Needless to say, this doesn't work 100
percent all the time, and in particular autocorrect has an irritating habit of
correcting slang or unusual names into other words.
The solution is dogged persistence: if you see that autocorrect has changed
a word you've typed correctly, hit
COMMAND
+
Z
to undo the correction, hit the
Right cursor key, and then type the word a second time. Autocorrect will
again correct the word, so again hit
COMMAND
+
Z
. On the third time you'll find
that autocorrect has now learned the word. This doesn't mean the word won't
be highlighted as being incorrectly spelled—autocorrect's list of words is
separate from the main dictionary used by OS X. However, as with any word,
you can add the word to the dictionary by right-clicking and selecting Learn
Spelling.
Deleting Accidentally “Learned” Words
Your Mac will spell-check text when you type, but you might have accidentally
told it to “learn” a word that's spelled incorrectly. Usually this is done by
right-clicking a word highlighted as incorrect and selecting the Learn Spelling
option from the menu that appears. The result is that the word isn't highlight-
ed as misspelled and is ignored in spell-checking passes.
To undo the damage, open Finder, and then hit
SHIFT
+
COMMAND
+
G
. Then type
~/LIBRARY/SPELLING
into the dialog box, which will open the location where your
personal dictionary is stored.
Once there, double-click the
LOCALDICTIONARY
file. This will open in TextEdit, and
you'll see a list of words you've added to the dictionary. Just locate the mis-
spelled word and delete it, removing the line break also (so there's still a
continuous list of words without any blank lines). Then save the file. The
changes should take effect immediately, but if they don't, try logging out and
back in again.
