The macOS dictionary app cannot add new build in dictionaries

Actually, I tried one more thing and it works, as a temporary solution.

1. Download the from the links in the

com_apple_MobileAsset_DictionaryServices_dictionaryOSX.xml

file, as exemplified in my comment above.

2. Instead of going to the system folder, add to your user's Dictionary folder:

/Users/<user>/Library/Dictionaries

3. Rename the file to a different name, eg.

Portuguese - English2.dictionary

4. Voilá: a duplicate entrance will show up on the preferences and this one is now selectable and usable.

A bit more information, but unfortunately no solution...

The system dictionaries seem to be stored here:

/System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_DictionaryServices_dictionaryOSX

This is in the System folder, so to actually manipulate anything here, one has to disable System Integrity Protection (proceed with caution).

If one deletes any of those asset folders, Dictionary.app recreates it when we select the dictionary again.

Now, in that folder, there is also the following file:

com_apple_MobileAsset_DictionaryServices_dictionaryOSX.xml

which has the link to all dictionaries on Apple's servers. For instance, for the Portuguese-English dictionary:

<key>__BaseURL</key>
			<string>http://appldnld.apple.com/ios11.0/048-04169-20171219-3E638938-E064-11E7-BED0-328EE988D09B/</string>
<key>__CanUseLocalCacheServer</key>
<true/>
<key>__InstallWithOS</key>
<true/>
<key>__RelativePath</key>
			<string>com_apple_MobileAsset_DictionaryServices_dictionaryOSX/163595ab3e757c8ac7fa284e89f101919e3ad920.zip</string>

meaning one can get the dictionary from:

http://appldnld.apple.com/ios11.0/048-04169-20171219-3E638938-E064-11E7-BED0-328EE988D09B/com_apple_MobileAsset_DictionaryServices_dictionaryOSX/163595ab3e757c8ac7fa284e89f101919e3ad920.zip

I copied this file into the said folder, gave it the adequate permissions and tried seeing if Dictionary.app would see them. It didn't work because as soon as I selected these files on the preferences, they were deleted from the folder.

Ran out of ideas, so I give up...

Following scheeko's discovery, I figured out that you don't actually have to download anything. All the dictionaries are already preinstalled, located at

/System/Library/AssetsV2/PreinstalledAssetsV2/InstallWithOs/com_apple_MobileAsset_DictionaryServices_dictionaryOSX

Some of the dictionaries here are actually newer than the ones found in the download links in that xml file.

Hello Hahaha666,

Thanks for the post. I understand you're unable to modify the preferences for the Dictionary app on your Mac.

For confirmation, you're able to check the boxes in question, but they seem to uncheck shortly after, correct?

Does it help if you click Apple menu () > Restart and try again?

If not, try creating a temporary administrator account on your Mac. Then, log in there to see if you can replicate the issue. This will tell you if it's system-wide or user-specific: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac

Once you've tested, reply back with the results to see if the community can offer more guidance.

Have a good one.

It sounds like everyone having this problem is using the new 16" MacBook Pro. I have seen other people on the Developer forums report problems with this machine and Apple services.

Apparently, this machine has a special build of Catalina and that is causing problems with the Apple Dictionary service. Check System Preferences > Software Update and see if you have an update available, as described here: https://mrmacintosh.com/2019-16-macbook-pro-catalina-10-15-1-supplemental-update-19b2106/

That may fix the problem. If not, the next build of macOS may do it. Please use the Feedback Assistant app to file bug reports on this issue.

Hello yunyu,

To move documents into that folder, you have to disable the System Integrity Protection, as I explained in the post above. This is because Mac OS no longer wants users to freely change the contents of the System folder.

As I also documented in that port, moving them to that folder will not work as a current bug will attempt to download or copy new folders into that System folder, whenever you select the dictionary in the Dictionary.app preferences, deleting the ones you copy into it.

If you don't mind setting the dictionaries for each user, instead of System-wide, you can follow the instructions in the subsequent post I wrote, marked as solution for this issue.

After moving to a new MBP 16" (10.15.1) from a MBP 15"(10.14.6), I'm seeing the exact same issue.

I tried the following:

• Create new user
• Reinstall MacOS

Neither worked and I saw the same problems after both cases.

If that Dictionary was compiled as a 32-bit bundle, then it would have to be recompiled as a 64-bit dictionary bundle to work on Catalina. The dates of the dictionary are quite old, and raise that suspicion.

What version of OS X/macOS were you using on that 15 inch MBP when you could check that dictonary box?

I met the same problem as Hahaha66. Besides his problem, I also found that I cannot search any word in dictionary. Although I checked some of the dictionaries, no matter what word I tried to look up for, it tells me “entry not found”. I tried restart my device or create another test account, but still failed to solve this problem. Is there a way to fix it without reinstall macOS?

I'm also having this issue. I've made a bug report to Apple via https://feedbackassistant.apple.com

If you're also having this issue, please also make a bug report that links back to this thread. The more reports Apple gets about it, the faster this will get fixed.

I also ran into this issue with the new 16in MBP (10.15.1) and the Dictionary app when trying to add the Oxford Portuguese-English dictionary (2015, 2019).

As others have described, the checkmark flashes on, then off and the dictionary appears to be added to the Nav bar, but once you close the Preferences window, it disappears.

My 16MBP is fully up-to-date (on build 19B2106).

I was digging into the Console logs a bit and found several errors for failed downloads of different dictionaries. Some dictionaries do seem to download, others don't, so it seems like a problem on the server side.

Example errors:

Error in downloading associated linguistic data (lang:(
    pt,
    en
)):Error Domain=ASError Code=22 "Unable to copy asset information from https://mesu.apple.com/assets/macos/ for asset type com.apple.MobileAsset.LinguisticData" UserInfo={NSDescription=Unable to copy asset information from https://mesu.apple.com/assets/macos/ for asset type com.apple.MobileAsset.LinguisticData}

DictionaryApp: Start download com.apple.dictionary.OxfordSpanish
DictionaryApp: Download 'com.apple.dictionary.OxfordSpanish' failed with result code (29)

DictionaryApp: Start download com.apple.dictionary.pt-en.oup
DictionaryApp: Download 'com.apple.dictionary.pt-en.oup' failed with result code (29)

I found that there are two com_apple_MobileAsset_DictionaryServices_dictionaryOSX folders in the system.

The first one with all the dictionary resources is in the path:

/System/Library/AssetsV2/PreinstalledAssetsV2/InstallWithOs/com_apple_MobileAsset_DictionaryServices_dictionaryOSX 

The second one is in:

/System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_DictionaryServices_dictionaryOSX 

There are several folders under this path. Those folders are the dictionary resources which are actually used by Dictionary.

My approach for the problem is to move the dictionary resources files from the first path to the second path. However, I cannot copy and paste or move the resources from the first path to the second path.

Can someone help me with that?

Thanks.

Hello scheeko:

Thank you for your reply. I tried the previous solution, but it did not work for me. I am not sure if I did it wrong.

I first got the 163595ab3e757c8ac7fa284e89f101919e3ad920 file from the link.

Then I put the whole folder under the path

/Users/<users>/Library/Dictionaries 

Then I went to

/Users/<users>/Library/Dictionaries/163595ab3e757c8ac7fa284e89f101919e3ad920/AssetData 

I changed the dictionary file from Portuguese - English.dictionary to Portuguese - English2.dictionary

However, the new entrance did not appear on my dictionary preference.

I am not sure where I did wrong. Could you help me with that？ Thank you!

Put the dictionary that's inside the AssetData folder directly into the Dictionaries folder, instead of the big numbered folder, e.g.:

/Users/<youruser>/Library/Dictionaries/Portuguese - English2.dictionary

Restart Dictionary.app and the new dictionary will be listed in the preferences.