Custom Dictionary is full; Word 2016

In more than 30 years I never have seen a "full" Custom Dictionary :-) Custom Dictionaries are saved as simple text files which can store literally hundreds of thousands of words. My guess is that there is either something about what it is that you're attempting to add or some other issue that's causing the prompt.

Do you have more than 1 Custom Dictionary?

Does your Custom Dictionary have a specific Language attribute applied?

Are both your installation of Office & OS X (which version?) fully updated?

Have you tried Restarting your Mac?

Okay for 2011 There is actually two if you have had since originally installed:

2011 (old version)

/users/home*/library/application support/Microsoft/office/preferences/office 2011

(* home or ~ signifies the profile you setup when first install OSX - same Directory used when stalling software the * does no show up in name)

New newer version 

/users/home*/library/preferences/Microsoft/Office2011

Note there is no extension designation on 2011 custom dictionaries.

Word 2016:

/users/home*/library/Group Container/UBF8T346G9.user content.localized.

OH, it has the specific extension of : .dic and is not compatible with custom dictionary in 2011. Although 2011 Custom Dictionary doesn't have an extension, I think its .txt.

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The questions, discussions, opinions, replies & answers I create, are solely mine and mine alone, and do not reflect upon my position as a Community Moderator.

In my Group Containers folder, I have four folders entitled "UBF8T346G9:"

Only the first one, "UBF8T346G9.Office," has a User Content folder.  And that folder does not have any "dic" or "txt" files:

I found the Custom Dictionary at library/application support/Microsoft/office/preferences/office 2011.  I dragged it out to the Desktop, retititled it, and restarted the computer.   Word 2016, however, continues to refuse to accept any additions to my Custom Dictionary.  

Word 2016 has not added a new Custom Dictionary at library/application support/Microsoft/office/preferences/office 2011.  And, as I reported two days ago, I cannot find anything that looks like a custom dictionary in any of the four UBF8T346G9 folders in the Group Container.  

It appears that I have a custom dictionary somewhere, and it is not that of Word 2011.

I got this solution to work for a few days, but now I’m back to where I was. 

Here is the path to the custom dictionary:

/Users/(me)/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Custom Dictionary.dic.

I dragged the old Custom Dictionary to the Desktop and saved it as a “docx” file.  Then in Word I created a new custom dictionary.

I then opened my “Custom Dictionary.docx” and ran spell check.  For a few hundred words in this document, Word allowed me to add them to my new Custom Dictionary.  But I do not have time to sit here all day and add new words to my new Custom Dictionary, so after a while I stopped and went back to work.

The next day I added some more words to the new Custom Dictionary. 

But today, when I try to add some more words to the new Custom Dictionary, I get the same dialog box (as above) telling me that my Custom Dictionary is full.

I went back to the Desktop and opened my old Custom Dictionary, “Custom Dictionary.docx.”   I had hoped to re-use it as my Custom Dictionary, because it has the words that I need Word to recognize.  But Word will not save the document as a “dic” file.

What gives?  

Q:  Do you have more than 1 Custom Dictionary?

 A.  Not that I know of.

Q.  Does your Custom Dictionary have a specific Language attribute applied?

A.  I try to set "English USA" as my default language for Word.  I say "try" because Word 2016 almost always forgets that I want to use spell-check.  Word sets itself to not check for spelling and grammar.  I then have to pull down the "Tools" menu to "Language."  I then check OFF the box for spelling and grammar.  While there I always re-select "English USA" as my default language.   I do this several times a day on documents that I created in both Word 2011 and Word 2016.   Does my doing so then apply a specific Language attribute to the Custom Dictionary? 

Q.  Are both your installation of Office & OS X (which version?) fully updated?

A.  My OS is 10.11.4.  Word is 15.21.1 (160411.)

Q.  Have you tried Restarting your Mac?

A. Every night.

Well, here's something odd.   Spell Check is working again.  After I posted the previous two messages here, I re-opened both Custom Dictionaries--the old one now a "docx" file and the present one at /Users/(me)/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Custom Dictionary.dic.  I tried a cut-and-paste from the former to the latter, but Word would not allow me to save the current Custom Dictionary that way.  I closed it without saving.  For grins, I then ran Spell Check on the old Custom Dictionary, and now Word does allow me to add its words to the new Custom Dictionary.   

I have no idea what is going on.

I don't know if this helps or is totally unrelated, but using tables in Word 2016 has been a major frustration.  Typically I get my tables from two sources:  my own Excel files and a particular website.   When I past my tables into a Word 2016 document, Word insists on setting the formatting:

Word sets a check mark in the box for preferred width.

Word sets a minus mark in the box for preferred column.

Word sets a check mark in the box for preferred cell.

And just within the last half hour it has started setting a check mark for preferred row.

I go through these tables, uncheck all these boxes, tell Word to AutoFit the table, and it does.  

But, then, if I do anything with the table, even something as click the cursor inside one cell, Word 2016 goes nuts.  Most of the time Word 2016 shrinks the columns to maybe a millimeter in width.  Once or twice in the last couple of days Word 2016 has merely re-set the table to the width it had before I used AutoFit.  And every time Word 2016 disregards my my settings and restores its own unwanted preferred formatting.  I am losing a lot of valuable work time setting and re-setting my tables.

And Word 2016 never remembers that I want to use the tool for checking spelling.  Every time I have to pull down the Tools menu to Language and click off the box that says "don't check spelling and grammar."  Even I then click "default," Word 2016 refuses to allow me to run spellchecker without re-setting this preference.

Word 2016 is the buggiest application I have ever dealt with.  Bar none. 

I tried again.  Yesterday I trashed Custom Dictionary #2.  I quit and restarted Word 2016.  Then I created a new Custom Dictionary.   I opened my first Custom Dictionary (now residing on the Desktop as .docx file) and ran spell check.   Word 2016 added to my new, current Custom Dictionary the words that I selected in my old Custom Dictionary.  After adding a couple score, I stopped and went back to work.  At the end of the work day, as always, I turned off the computer.  This morning I started the computer, opened the CustomDictionary.docx on the Desktop, and ran spell checker.  This is what I got:

After my last post, I trashed Custom Dictionary #2 and created a new Custom Dictionary.  This is my third.   It worked nominally for several days.  But this morning, when I started the computer, opened Word, and ran spellchecker, the "add" button in the spellcheck window was dimmed.  I could not add new words to the current Custom Dictionary.

I then opened Word's Preferences and selected Spelling & Grammar.  In the window for that preference, the Custom Dictionary appears with a blank check box to the left.  I clicked that box and closed the window.  No change.  Spellcheck still will not allow me to add new words to the Custom Dictionary.    I tried two or three times.

There's something wrong with Word 2016, but I don't know what.