Windows Spell Checking API
UltraEdit for Windows ≥ v25.00 and UEStudio ≥ v18.00 use on Windows 8.1 and newer Windows versions like Windows 10 or Windows 11 the
Windows Spell Checking API.
The Windows Spell Checking API is not available on Windows with a version lower than 8.1 like Windows 8 or Windows 7.
The custom words are stored by the Windows Spell Checking API in the file
default.dic in the language directories in the directory
%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Spelling. This directory with all its
language tag subdirectories and files can be copied from one PC to another PC. The
language tags are something like
en-US or
de-DE.
Aspell spell checker
UltraEdit for Windows < v25.00 and UEStudio < v18.00 use on Windows 8.1 and newer Windows versions like Windows 10 or Windows 11 the
GNU Aspell spell checker.
UltraEdit for Windows ≥ v25.00 and < v28.10 and UEStudio ≥ v18.00 and < v21.10 use on Windows 7 and Windows 8 the GNU Aspell spell checker.
There is no support for spell checking at all on Windows 7 and Windows 8 since UltraEdit for Windows v28.10 and UEStudio v21.10.
The INI file with fully qualified file name displayed at
Advanced - Settings or Configuration - Application layout - Advanced contains the section
[SpellChecker] with the setting
DataDictDir=. This directory contains the Aspell files
*.prepl (personal replaces) and
*.pws (personal words). The
Personal data directory can be configured at
Advanced - Settings or Configuration - Spell checker - Dictionary directories.
The Aspell
*.pws file can be edited also in UltraEdit/UEStudio. Please note the number of words at the end of the first line in the
*.pws file and the trailing space at end of the first line which must be kept on editing manually the personal words file in UE/UES. After copying and pasting words line by line into this file and sorting the lines with the words alphabetic with ignoring case (not necessary but recommended), move the caret to the end of the file which should be a new line, i. e. the last line of the file ends with a line termination. Look in the status bar on the line number. Subtract 2 from this line number and edit the number of words in first line with the result. Example: A personal words file with 100 words shows 102 as line number with caret at the end of the file at column 1. Keep the trailing space on first line!
Other custom dictionary files
Here are the locations of custom dictionary
*.dic files of Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word) for completeness:
- %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\Office version number\hexadecimal number\Proofing\RoamingCustom.dic
- %APPDATA%\Microsoft\UProof\*.dic
Office version number can be
16.0 or
12.0 or something similar.
hexadecimal number can be something like
37d53b5b.
Two related Microsoft documentation pages:
Mozilla Firefox stores words added to the custom dictionary in the text file:
%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\profile name\persdict.dat 
