Word 2016 Custom Dictionary is full.

I tried to select the English (UK), but then it would not give me the option of adding words to the custom dictionary, therefore i had to select "none" in the custom dictionary, and add "new" custom dictionary, which gave me the default location of saving the new custom dictionary, i just had to click ok. now i can add words to custom dictionary however, i cant select the English(UK) or any other languages as the default dictionary for spelling checking (which would disable the adding word to custom dictionary as mentioned earlier), it seems like the spellings are checked in accordance with English (US) by default (which i checked by typing color and colour). Now at least i am able to add words to the custom dictionary and i hope to add all the English (UK) spellings with the passage of time, but i am worried that many spellings would go un-noticed and would not be underlined if written correct according to the English (US).

See the screen shots below.

It could very well be a bug. I see Bob Jones helped you. He has been a Microsoft MVP for years and I would trust his advice. Since he mentioned he's never seen this before, it indicates to me it's a bug.

The only other suggestion I could suggest would be to set language.

If this fails...

I suggest you test in a new User. This will quickly tell you if the problem is system wide or if it's your User's folder that contains the problem.

You can use the Guest User or create a new User for testing.

CREATE A NEW USER

Go to System Preferences --> Create a New User in Users & Groups.

Switch to the New User by logging out/in or use Fast User Switching.

Only default Apple apps will be in the Dock in the new User. Go to Applications to open Microsoft Word.

Do you still see the issue?

If yes, then the problem is with your base files. (this would indicate a bug in Word)

If no, then the problem is in your User's folder.

What does any of this have to do with El Capitan? It's a Microsoft issue.

Be sure to send Microsoft feedback using the Smile feature located under the search field in the upper right corner of the Outlook window. Feedback goes directly to the appropriate product manager.

You will not get a reply.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac

Thanks! This is just what I needed. I was having that custom dictionary problem in Outlook for Mac and couldn't figure out how to solve it. When I opened Word, and followed your directions for setting the Language in the Custom Dictionary (which was set to None) to English, it worked. I can finally save to the dictionary.

Glad this worked for you. 🙂

The problem for me was that since installing office 2016 on my mac, word has been pointing at a non-existant "custom dictionary" file in location set by office 2011. By adding a new "custom dictionary" (to which word added a ".dic" extension) put in the right place, and deleting the old one, everything works now.

Bad entry:

good entry, now working:

Thanks. Selecting a language seems to have fixed it for me, at least on the first try at saving a spelling.

[update - I see you've already had the same answer from other sources! Nice we're all on the same page... If you mark the answer that helped as 'helpful' or 'this helped' it turns the discussion a different colour, I believe, and lets other people know the answer is contained here]

You need to set your language in Preferences (as dianeoforegon suggests)

Go to Word>Preferences, then select Spelling and Grammar.

Click on 'Dictionaries' as highlighted in the attached screenshot.

In the next window select a language (in my case, English (UK) - or 'English' as we call it here... 😉)

You should now be able to save words to a custom dictionary.

This is a bug - strange MS haven't dealt with it...

Thanks for this. I also noticed my custom dictionary was in office 2011 but wasn't sure where to change it to. This has fixed the problem! 🙂

The path to the dictionary file in Office 2016 has changed.

Office 2011

• Originally in User's Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2011/Custom Dictionary
• SP updater moved it to User's Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/Preferences/Office 2011/Custom Dictionary (left the original in Preferences but no longer uses).

Office 2016

User's Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Custom Dictionary

Due to the new security sandboxing system, Word requires user permission to look outside its own document files. The 2011 dictionary is outside the correct location in Group Containers. You should be able to navigate to it to select but it could require a fix in Terminal for correct permissions.

Resource:

Use a custom dictionary in Office for Mac - Office Support

Applies To: Excel 2016 for Mac PowerPoint 2016 for Mac Word 2016 for Mac Word for Mac 2011 Excel for Mac 2011 PowerPoint for Mac 2011

Thanks, dianeoforegon. This has been nagging at me for months (but never enough for me to actually try to resolve it). Setting a language worked for me. Thanks!