No it is not a Microsoft product.

Darn. I suppose MS won't allow access to it. If TB could just use it for spell checking and add new words to it, I would love it. Pete

You cannot add to MSWord personal dictionary and get Thunderbird to use that dictionary. Microsoft simply do not enable that sort of thing.

However..... :)

Microsoft Office stores the 'personal' dictionary here:

• C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof

It's in a file called CUSTOM.DIC which you can open using 'Wordpad'. The list will be written all down the left side, one word per line.

Thunderbird keeps it's 'personal' dictionary here:

• C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<profile name>

It's in a file called: persdict.dat which you can open using 'Wordpad'. The list will be written all down the left side, one word per line.

How to make Thunderbird personal dictionary identical to MSWord personal dictionary.

• To do the following Thunderbird must be closed.

• open 'CUSTOM.DIC' file using Wordpad.
• Highlight all the content in the 'CUSTOM.DIC' file (Ctrl + A)
• Right click on highlighted text and select 'Copy' (Ctrl + C)

• open 'persdict.dat' file using Wordpad.

To make both identical:

• Remove everything then right click in area and select Paste (Ctrl+V)

To add the MSWord list to current TB list.

• Scroll down until last word is located and position cursor at end of last word and click on'Enter/Return' key to set cursor at the start of next line.
• Right click in area and select Paste (Ctrl+V)
• Save the 'persdict.dat' file.

Do not under any circumstances change the names or extensions of these files.

So whilst it is possible to match both MSWord and Thunderbird personal dictionay files, this can only be done by the method described and Thunderbird must be closed in order to do it.

Not sure that this is really any quicker than adding the word to personal dictionary via 'Spelling' Check Spelling window. But if you wanted to add several words or keep both identical then perhaps the info above could be of benefit.

Note: Appdata files and folders may not be visible. So you would need to make them visible.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders

Toad-Hall, I think you hit the nail on the head. Great detailed instructions. But I think you are right about it being a lot of trouble.

Being a klutz, I am likely to get a word spelled wrong in one of them.  ;-)

This seems like a good place for an add-on for TB. ...anybody?

What about symlinking one file as the other and then simply renaming it to be called what it is expected to be called?

I never heard of symlinking. It looks great. So: (1) I create a new file, MyWords.txt (for example) (2) I create a symlink to direct:

           C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof 

to go to the path where I store MyWords.txt

(3) I create a symlink to direct:

           C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<my name> 

to go to the path where I store MyWords.txt

I'll give it a try when I get a chance and report back here. Thanks!

Yes, and this excellent utility makes symlinking as easy as point-and-click.

http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html

This is what I would do...

Prerequisites

• A text editor with line sorting capabilities, e.g., Notepad++ (https://notepad-plus-plus.org/).
• A diff/merge tool (Notepad++ has/used to have a diff plugin but I prefer using specific tools) such as WinMerge (http://winmerge.org/), Beyond Compare (https://www.scootersoftware.com/), or an online tool like Pretty Diff (http://prettydiff.com/).
• Link Shell Extension (http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html).

Process

Ensure Thunderbird and Microsoft Office isn't running.

1. Open persdict.dat and CUSTOM.DIC in the text editor.
2. Using the text editor, sort each file using the same sort order (e.g, Lexilogical and Ascending) and save the changes.
3. Using the diff tool, merge persdict.dat into CUSTOM.DIC and save CUSTOM.DIC.
4. In Windows Explorer, rename persdict.dat to persdict.dat.old.
5. In Windows Explorer, right-click CUSTOM.DIC and select Pick Link Source.
6. In Windows Explorer, locate the folder where persdict.dat.old resides and right-click in a blank area and select Drop As... | Symbolic Link (accept the UAC).
7. Rename the dropped file from CUSTOM.DIC to persdict.dat.

END.

That looks like it will work. I am traveling now but will give it a try when I return.

Thanks. Pete

Well, I tried that and at first it seemed to work. In Thunderbird I think I was able to "write" a message and type the "word" testfromthunderbird. I clicked "add to dictionary" Then I opened Word and typed the "word" testfromword. I clicked "add to dictionary".

Both "words" showed up in "both" dictionaries.

But that no longer happens. The added word appears only in the dictionary associated with the program that did the "add".

I will experiment more later.

You may find that the words are added but that the dictionary is cached but that the application doesn't expect another process to update the dictionary and hence doesn't reload the dictionary until the application has been restarted.

You can work out what is happening by opening the dictionary in Notepad++ and have it refresh every time the file updates. You should see that the words are being added as you add a new word through one of the applications but that the other application doesn't see this change until it has restarted.

By the way, you shoulnd't have to add the word from both applications since they share dictionaries.

Try this...

Ensure you have all Office applications closed.

In Thunderbird, add a unique word to the dictionary.

Open the dictionary in Notepad++ and search it for the word you just added. Is it there? If not, close Thunderbird and ensure you reload the file in Notepad++. Search the dictionary again for the word. It should be there now. Is it? If not then there's something wrong and there's no pint continuing. If it is, continue to the next step.

Close Thunderbird if it is open.

Open Word. Type the word in a new document. It should recognise it. If not, it isn't using the dictionary for some reason. If it is, it does use the correct dictionary and there is no point continuing. However, if it is, then continue with the next step.

In Word, add a new unique word to the dictionary.

Open the dictionary in Notepad++ and search it for the new word you just added. Is it there? If not, close Word and ensure you reload the file in Notepad++. Search the dictionary again for the word. It should be there now. Is it? If not then there's an issue. If it is, all is working.

Note that you may need to do some further investigate to figure out if either application caches the whole dictionary files and rewrites it each time a new word is added because, depending on how each app does it, one can overwrite the changes of the other. This can be worked out, it requires some more steps.

I think that is exactly what I was doing except I wasn't considering the caching effect. I will try again with the precautions you describe above.

Note, I was adding different "words" in Thunderbird and Word: testfromthunderbird testfromword

If TB caches I hope it reloads each "write" not just when it starts. I keep TB running all the time and use "hibernate" in windows so TB is started only once and is left running many days.

I'll report back when I get a chance to test this.

Finally had some time to try this. It seems to only 1/2 work. I can add a word using Word and it shows up in CUSTOM.DIC and in persdict.dat. But if I add a word from TB it appears in persdict.dat but not CUSTOM.DIC. Note CUSTOM.DIC is the real file. persdict.dat is a HardLink.

Actually persdict.dat shows as a Hardlink until I add the word in TB. Then it becomes a file not HardLink. By "shows" I mean in Explorer, the icon next to the file name includes a red arrow. In TB, as soon as I click "Add to Dictionary" the red arrow disappears from the icon.

Hummmm?

Note that there really is only one file in existence with a hardlinked file. However, if, for whatever reason, the hardlink is broken, then you could end up with two separate files. This seems to be the case with what you describe. In this case it appears Thunderbird is the culprit.

I suggest you copy the content of the dictionary you wish to keep to a new text file called temp.dic then delete CUSTOM.DIC and persdict.dat and then rename temp.dic to persdict.dat and move it to the correct location. Following this create a hardlink from persdict.dat in place of CUSTOM.DIC. This should have you recreate the previous set-up but in reveres order, i.e., the hardlink is now based on persdict.dat and not CUSTOM.DIC. I would be surprised if this worked but then it might. Let me know how that goes.