Something discussed in my introductory post on Global AutoCorrect was the frustration of words being autocorrected to the wrong one, or not being corrected at all. A simple way that we can get around this is by adding dictionaries.

To demonstrate, with no dictionaries added, I’m going to intentionally mispell the word ‘metaphysical’, typing it phonetically as ‘metafizical’. You can see that the word remains underlined in red, and doesn’t correct automatically to the right spelling.

So, to combat this, I’m going to add in a dictionary that will definitely know the correct spelling of ‘metaphysical’. Because I study dual honours politics and philosophy, I usually have dictionaries for both subjects working in tandem, but to demonstrate, in this tutorial I have removed all my usual dictionaries.

To add a dictionary, open Global AutoCorrect on your computer, and when it is running either right click on the icon in your taskbar and select ‘open Global AutoCorrect’ or press Ctrl+Shift+G. That opens up the main GAC page…

On the top right of the page select ‘Options…’ which will bring you to the following page:

Select ‘Dictionaries’ from the options at the top…

Type in the subject that you’re looking for a dictionary for: in this case, I’m looking for philosophy, so I type it in and tick the box!…

At this stage you can search and tick multiple dictionaries if you need more than one. After this you can either click OK if you’re done adding dictionaries, or apply if you want to make the changes and continue searching for dictionaries.

The following dialogue box will appear, and if it’s your first time adding dictionaries then press ‘show me how’ to change the autocorrect settings in word and outlook to avoid interference.

Then the smart autocorrect kicks in next I misspell ‘Metaphysical’ phonetically as ‘metafizics’. It also works for non-phonetical mistakes, for example: if I miss a letter out and spell it as ‘metaphyscal’ or any number of close-but-no-cigar spelling mistakes.

It’s worth noting that the procedure for adding dictionaries in GAC for Mac is slightly different: if you left click on the GAC icon in the taskbar, you can press ‘options’ straight from the drop down menu without needing to open the main correction list window first, the process of searching and adding dictionaries is essentially identical.

You can access a free trial of Global AutoCorrect from Lexable’s website. This may be useful if you want to test the software out before asking your Needs Assessor to recommend it for you as part of your DSA package, or if you are waiting for your DSA to come through and would like to be able to use it and familiarise yourself with it now. You can also purchase Global AutoCorrect, but at £364 it isn’t cheap!

Quick user guides and interactive tutorials for Global AutoCorrect on Mac and PC can be found on Lexable’s frequently asked questions page.

I have also written a tutorial on how to add shortcuts and alerts in Global AutoCorrect and a basic tutorial on adding, removing and customising autocorrections.

Thanks for reading,

Rachel