Custom dictionaries on macOS Ventura

[Mark_G]

Hello. Does anyone know how to install custom dictionaries for Publisher 2 on a macbook running Ventura 13.3.x? I found these instructions, but the OS seems to have changed now: there is no longer a Library/Spelling folder, and the Keyboard system settings do not have the options described here. I created ~/users/username/Library/Spelling, and pasted the dictionaries, in en_GB and then in the root, but I cannot find out how to make the option appear to use them.

I am trying to add additional dictionaries rather than replacement ones (they have scientific names of plants and animals, not all English words).

 

[MikeTO]

7 hours ago, Mark_G said:

Hello. Does anyone know how to install custom dictionaries for Publisher 2 on a macbook running Ventura 13.3.x? I found these instructions, but the OS seems to have changed now: there is no longer a Library/Spelling folder, and the Keyboard system settings do not have the options described here. I created ~/users/username/Library/Spelling, and pasted the dictionaries, in en_GB and then in the root, but I cannot find out how to make the option appear to use them.

I am trying to add additional dictionaries rather than replacement ones (they have scientific names of plants and animals, not all English words).

Hi and welcome to the forums. I use Ventura and I have a Spelling folder in ~/users/username/Library/Spelling. Please ensure you're looking there and not in ~/Library/ where there isn't a Spelling folder.

I reviewed the instructions and they're still current for Ventura.

[Mark_G]

Thanks, Mike. That was the problem (I am new to mac and still finding my way around). I could not see Library in ~users/username so I was getting confused, but now I know I get there by option+Go in Finder. I opened LocalDictionary in Spelling, and pasted in the list of names. In case anyone else is not familiar with how this works, here are two other things I found out:

The LocalDictionary has to be sorted alphabetically, and is apparently not case-sensitive. I was starting with a blank LocalDictionary, so that was easy, but if I want to make changes in future, I will copy the LocalDictionary, add new words, de-duplicate, sort, and then paste back in.

I needed to restart the computer to get the additions to take effect.

It all works now, and because the words are in LocalDictionary, they are in spellcheck for all the other apps I use, which is great.

[MikeTO]

4 hours ago, Mark_G said:

Thanks, Mike. That was the problem (I am new to mac and still finding my way around). I could not see Library in ~users/username so I was getting confused, but now I know I get there by option+Go in Finder. I opened LocalDictionary in Spelling, and pasted in the list of names. In case anyone else is not familiar with how this works, here are two other things I found out:

The LocalDictionary has to be sorted alphabetically, and is apparently not case-sensitive. I was starting with a blank LocalDictionary, so that was easy, but if I want to make changes in future, I will copy the LocalDictionary, add new words, de-duplicate, sort, and then paste back in.

I needed to restart the computer to get the additions to take effect.

It all works now, and because the words are in LocalDictionary, they are in spellcheck for all the other apps I use, which is great.

A couple of tips:

• Affinity doesn't use LocalDictionary - that is the dictionary used by macOS when System Settings > Spelling is set to Automatic By Language. Affinity will always use a language-specific dictionary such as en_CA for English Canada. To ensure the words I've added for my notes and my documents use the same dictionary, I changed macOS to use the language I'm typing my Affinity documents in. If you change it to something like English Canada then all of Apple's apps will use the same en_CA dictionary file as Affinity does.
• You don't have to figure out what the file abbreviation is for the language you want. Set the language for some text in Affinity and learn a word - macOS will generate the dictionary file automatically.
• Be very careful about alpha sorting the dictionary file - a slip up will cause it not to work correctly.
• Always restart macOS after editing a dictionary file - there is some caching going on and you may encounter issues if you don't restart.

Unfortunately, macOS spelling is riddled with bugs. Sometimes learned words will be flagged as errors in an app. Sometimes incorrect words won't be flagged as spelling errors in an app. Sometimes one app will show a word as an error while another app will not. Sometimes right clicking on a misspelled word won't show options to learn or ignore the word. All of these are bugs in macOS and not in Affinity. You will encounter these bugs mainly with long documents, whether in Affinity, Apple Pages, Apple Notes, Apple Mail, or any other macOS app that uses the macOS spelling system.

Cheers