My Dashboard Dictionary used to have a drop-down that allowed me to choose among "Dictionary", "Thesaurus", and "Apple". That drop-down is no blank, and the widget only accesses the dictionary part of it now. I used that thesaurus feature all of the time.
What happened to it? Why was it eliminated? If it is just a bug in my particular computer, how do I fix it?
MacBook Air, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6)
Thanks, but that doesn't look like the Dictionary in the Dashboard at all. This is what it looks like on my computer. Notice that the drop-down on the upper left has nothing in it. It used to have the choice of dictionary, thesaurus, and apple.
Don't know if you've solved the problem or not. I had it too but was able to fix it. As someone else mentioned, open the Dictionary app, go to Preferences and add what Thes. you want. Close the app. Then, Restart your computer, and voila, thesauruses for days in your Dashboard.
mccarlson wrote:
Thanks for this information. This is very confusing, though. If Apple is not supporting the Dashboard and hasn't for a few years, why do they still put it on new computers? This one I am using, which came out in late 2016, came with Dashboard on it.
Unfortunately, here in Apple Support Communities, we are not permitted to speculate on Apple policies as per the terms of the Apple Support Communities Terms of Use.
However, we can observe when Apple dropped the skeuomorphic design strategy in 2013. Anything you see in an Apple operating system that still has that faux leather look means it hasn't been updated in 5 years at least.
And I still don't understand why the dictionary widget would abruptly stop working as it had all along. Strange!
That is one of the attributes of something that is "no longer supported". It works fine for many people under most circumstances. But if it doesn't, you're SOL. If an Apple VP hasn't mentioned it on stage for a while, no Apple programmer is going to spend any of their 80 weekly working hours on it.
But as I said above, the Dictionary is still supported. Apple recently made a significant change to how it operated. It no longer comes with a set of pre-canned dictionaries. You need to run Dictionary and go to its preferences to setup the dictionaries you want. Once you do that, they should show up in the dashboard widget. It works fine for me on High Sierra and Mojave. So try that and see if it fixes the problem.
The reason I posed this question is because it is not working.
Yes, I do know how to click on up and down arrows, and I have used this widget successfully for all of the years it's been part of the dashboard. But as I showed in the screenshot, the thing that normally gives a choice between Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Apple is blank. Clicking on the up and down arrows does nothing whatsoever, and I would like to find a way to make it work again.
The dictionary is now setup on-demand. You will need to run the regular Dictionary app and add the dictionaries you want. Then, it should show up in the dashboard version.
You should be aware that Apple is no longer supporting the dashboard and hasn't for a few years. It is turned off by default. I suggest you learn to get used to something else.
Thanks for this information. This is very confusing, though. If Apple is not supporting the Dashboard and hasn't for a few years, why do they still put it on new computers? This one I am using, which came out in late 2016, came with Dashboard on it.
And I still don't understand why the dictionary widget would abruptly stop working as it had all along. Strange!
Hi,
You have to type a word in the search field.
I use the Dictionary from Applications directory.
When I use the Dictionary from the Dashboard, I still see the Thesaurus.
Click the up & down arrow.
Try this:
Start the Dictionary from Applications, and go to Preference.
Then place a check mark on the parts you want to see.
Thanks. I understand there are different ways to access dictionaries, but I am trying to find out what went wrong with the dictionary in my Dashboard--and how to fix it.
Thank you so much! I followed your advice, and that did the trick. Yay!
Dashboard Dictionary's Thesaurus is Gone
