How to Manage Your Spell Check Dictionary

Overview

The InfraWare Transcription Client (ITC) includes a built-in spell checker.  A medical spell check word list is included as well.

Note: This medical word list contains a broad list of words, but consider it an entry-level, economy list.  It will not be as complete or up to date as a subscription-based service such as Stedman’s.

Solution

As with most spelling checkers, the ITC Editor checks words from two sources:

1. The System Dictionary word list

2. The Personal Dictionary word list

The System Dictionary is hard-coded.  You cannot view the list or change its contents.  The Personal Dictionary is available for users to add words to extend the spell checker’s vocabulary.  There are two ways to add words to the Personal Dictionary:

1. While spell checking a document, any words found to be missing (showing up as misspellings) can be added to the Personal Dictionary by clicking Add.

2. There is a Personal Dictionary tab on the User Settings screen of the ITC.  (To load, click User Settings from the Settings menu or press F10 at the main window.)

On the Personal Dictionary tab, you can add new words or delete existing words.  Deleting words is helpful if a user accidentally adds a misspelled word to the dictionary.  In addition to adding one word at a time, there is an option on that screen to import a list of words.  That list can come from any source so long as the file is plain text and there is only one word per line in the file.  In fact, for users of MS Word, the Import button can retrieve the content of a user’s personal dictionary stored in that application. Word calls the file containing those words CUSTOM.DIC.  As a convenience, the Import button will normally open to the folder containing that file.