Custom Spell Check Dictionary of
Latin Names for MS Word
These were a ton of work to
build. If you find these helpful, please consider
making a donation to help some needy kids. Read more HERE
Yes, ole Rawge is a horrible speller, especially when it comes to scientific
names. To save my staff
and me a lot of time, I have
created some custom dictionaries to use as spell checkers in MS Word. These
dictionaries include all
of the scientific names for North American birds*, scientific
names for all wetland plants mentioned in the "1996 National List of
Vascular Plant Species That Occur in Wetlands", fish species of the United
Sates, mammal species of the world, California Fauna, Grass families
and Genera of the United States, and a collection of insect and arthropod names,
terms, etc.
Creating and formatting these lists was a ton of work, so I wanted to make
them available to other wildlife biologists. I will be adding and updating files as I have time, so check back
occasionally to make sure you have the most current file.
To use a custom dictionary in MS Word, you must first download the file(s) onto your computer.
Next, you have 3 options.
Option 1. If you only want to use one of the dictionaries. Open the file and copy the contents into the custom dictionary that
is currently being used. To access the current dictionary, search your hard
drive for a file named "custom.dic". (if that made you laugh, you
probably should get help with this part :) You may find more than one with this
file name. The
one you need will probably be located something like this:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office
Once, the file is located, open the file, and paste in the info from the
downloaded file. Then click "Save" and you should be in business.
Option 2. If you only want to use one of the dictionaries. Open Word. Click "Tools", then "Options", then
"Spelling and Grammar". Next, click "Dictionaries" and check
a box next to Custom.dic. Now, click "edit" and it will open the
custom dictionary in a Word document. As in option 1, cut and paste the new
dictionary contents into the file. Click save.
You will likely need to reopen the "Tools", "Options",
"Spelling and Grammar" box again, and re-check the "Check
spelling errors as you type" box. This feature is automatically disabled
when you edit the custom dictionary.
Option 3. You can also download and use all or several of the
dictionaries. To accomplish this, first download and save the dictionaries that
you want. save them to a folder on your hard drive that you can easily browse
to. Next, open Word and click "Tools", then "Options", then
"Spelling and Grammar". You should see a box like this:
Click Dictionaries, and it will open a new box
Now, simply click "Add", and then browse to the folder containing
the downloaded dictionaries. Once you've highlighted the dictionary, Click OK.
Do this for each dictionary. Make sure the boxes beside the new dictionaries are
checked, and then click Ok on the original box. You will likely need to reopen the "Tools", "Options",
"Spelling and Grammar" box again, and re-check the "Check
spelling errors as you type" box. This feature is automatically disabled
when you edit the custom dictionary.
**Tip. It is a good idea to un-check the box that "Ignores words
in Uppercase", otherwise it will not spell check a Genus that is in
Uppercase.
Here are the Dictionaries. Please remember that these were created by
none other than a poor old hard-working biologist, so there is always the
possibility of errors. Although I haven't found any yet, please let me
know if you do.
To save a file, right-click on a file name and choose "Save Target
As" or "Save Files As"
North American Birds (from
Sibley and Monroe) (added common names, families and orders 0-02-03)
Want another helpful computer accessory? Try this
units calculator. Converts almost anything, Very handy! Use
online, or download to your desktop by right clicking here,
and choosing "Save target as"
