Are you using Spell Check feature in Ourlook, Word or Powerpoint? Do you think it gives crappy, incorrect suggestions as the right spellings?

If you are living in Australia, you know that there are few things that are not written in the same way as others do. One good source to get used to the Australian spellings is to refer the Macquarie English dictionary. For instance, Australians prefer to use ‘-ise’ for ‘prioritise’ instead of ‘prioritize’. But, when I typed the ‘ise’ firefox will show as an error.

Quick fix (for only firefox): Tools –> Options –> Advanced–> General –> Languages — Add ‘English [Au]‘ to your list and hit ‘Move up’ till it reaches the top of the list.

Another way to overcome this problem is to edit the “Custom.dic” file that comes with the most of the applications such as Word, Outlook or Firefox.

Where to find the custom dictionary file to edit:

Firefox
C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\ \persdict.dat

Word / Outlook /Powerpoint
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Application Data\Microsoft\Proof\Custom.Dic

Now, all set except the typing of every word in the dictionary file, you can do this manually by typing one word per line.

There are pre-built custom dictionaries available for free around the web. For Australian English (rejoice), such dictionaries are available at justlocal.com.au (courtesy of Kelvin) for FREE.

You can download the dictionary for openoffice.org and use it for firefox, outlook or word. For instance, download the kelvin_en_AU_V2.2.0.zip file from the site and unzip it. You will find a text file that can be opened with notepad. Copy and paste the list into your application’s custom dictionary.

There’s also an Aussie slang dictionary available at their blog.

That’s it, a perfect spell check from next time onwards.

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