What I would like to see is a local project dictionary, where I can add in all the place names, character names etc that I only need for this project. I don’t want to add them all to the main dictionary. The same applies to special technical words
It probably wouldn’t need to have the full dictionary mechanism (indexes, compression etc) since it would usually hold only a hundred or so words, maybe a couple of hundred sometimes. A couple of shareware word processors have done this using a simple text file with all the words added, separated by spaces - makes removing an incorrectly spelled word easy. Since the entire file was only a few ks, it could be sucked into memory and searched very quickly. And the spell checking code would only need to search this file in the event of finding a mis-spelling
The ability to have a single set of words that are additions to the dictionary but only within the context of specific projects would be so so useful.
For example, I’ve got a series of stories, each developed in a separate Scrivener project but they share a common set of fictitious place and character names, which aren’t necessarily plain English.
I use a Mac by the way but this request is really platform independent…
Well, it might seem as if it is, but actually it is not: Scrivener for the Mac uses the Apple text engine that is also used by TextEdit and various other programs on the platform. In other words, spell checking is handled by the system software, not by Scrivener. The best option for someone wanting special spell-checking facilities on OS X is to use a separate program like Spell Catcher, though unfortunately the future of that program must now be in doubt, since the developer sadly died prematurely some weeks ago. I have no idea what text engine is used by Scrivener for Windows, so I can’t offer any comment on that platform.
I also populate my dictionary with project specific names, locations etc, and would like to see this feature available.
Perhaps a simple workaround, is we gain the ability to clone a standard dictionary (e.g. English/UK) and select the clone when we configure the project. This would then allow us to use/abuse the dictionary in the standard way without having to add any technical nightmare mechanics to the engine
This is something i’ve half-heartedly investigated for a while. It seems doable on the Mac side at least, if you can locate the spelling dictionary files, copy them, and the modify them internally to identify as a new language (like American English-[Project Name]). Then, presumably, if you only have one language selected at a time, additions to the dictionary will go into a supplemental file for that ‘language’s’ dictionary.
I have yet to track down what set of files these might be, so I haven’t gotten very far in my research. There’s always something more shiny to divert my attention.
I’ve been assuming that to have a separate added-words dictionary supplement for each project, I’d have to copy the entire built-in dictionary, renaming it to reflect my novel/series, then select that “language” for spell checking, and finally, adding in the legitimate words for the context. The added words would then show up in something like “English_Automaton”, rather than being lumped into en_US or similar with all my other added words.
But I’ll certainly file that away for when I get further along on my quest; that editor seems easier to deal with the raw file.
