The Problem:
I've added all the words I need to a custom dictionary. Now I need to share it with the other users of my computer so that we agree on our spelling.
The Solution:
You can do this by placing the dictionary in a shared folder. The best place is probably a subfolder in the Shared Documents folder, as files you place here are automatically shared with all users of the computer. But if you've set up another shared folder, you may choose to use that instead.
To move the dictionary from its current folder to the shared folder:
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Remove the dictionary from the Custom Dictionaries list. Choose Tools » Options, click the Spelling & Grammar tab, and click the Custom Dictionaries button (Dictionaries button in Word 2000). Select the dictionary and click the Remove button. (This removes the dictionary from Word's list but doesn't delete it.) Leave the Custom Dictionaries dialog box open.
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Use Windows Explorer or your preferred file-management application to navigate to the folder where you stored your custom dictionary (the default is your %userprofile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Proof folder), and move it to the shared folder.
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Switch back to Word, click the Add button in the Custom Dictionaries dialog box, and add the dictionary from its new location.
If you're on a network, you can share a dictionary among two or more computers by placing the dictionary in a shared folder. Unless two or more users happen to add a word to or delete a word from the dictionary at precisely the same moment, there should be no problem with sharing the dictionary.
Protect Your Custom Dictionary
The Problem:
Word seems to have deleted almost all the words I've been painstakingly adding to my custom dictionary. Help!
The Solution:
This behavior is enough to drive even reasonable people up the wall. It occurs when the word you add to the custom dictionary takes the dictionary over its size limit of 64 KB. To get the dictionary's size down, Word deletes most of the dictionary's existing contentwithout even telling you.
To avoid this problem, keep backups of your custom dictionaries together with backups of all your key files. Check the size of your custom dictionaries regularly and prune or split any that are nearing the 64 KB line of death.
