[pendragon]

Both in Mail 3.1 and 3.2 (10.5.2), there is no option to forget or unlearn the "errors" one has added to Mail's dictionary. Well, none that I could find...

At one time there was a workaround by accessing Text Edit's dictionary and deleting the word from there. But with 10.5.2, this option is now gone.

Waddya think, is there another solution?

[zro]

~/Library/Spelling/en

Not on 10.5 right now, but in 10.4 and earlier that was the file to which strings were added. You could try manually editing it.

[pendragon]

Zro, I'm a bit confused: I'm using 10.5.2 and (still) found "~/Library/Spelling/en". I opened that file ok and it looks like it is easily editable.

But were you saying that file is no longer resident in 10.5? If so, perhaps I have it as a result of my machine originally coming with 10.4. I dunno...

Many thanks for your time and comment; both useful and appreciated.

[pilotdude]

Try going to TextEdit and type the custom word you want to remove. Highlight the word, control-click or right-click on the word and select "Unlearn Spelling". I didn't see this option from within Mail.

Since you can "Learn" a word in Mail, you should be able to "Unlearn" the word from the same Mail menu. Otherwise it is not very intuitive at all IMO.

[zro]

I meant that I'm not on 10.5 right now so can't test if that is still a file used by the system or if it will help you in Mail.

Sorry for the confusion.

[pendragon]

Originally Posted by pilotdude 

Try going to TextEdit and type the custom word you want to remove. Highlight the word, control-click or right-click on the word and select "Unlearn Spelling". I didn't see this option from within Mail.

That's the rub. In Text Edit v1.4, I can do what you suggested. But Text Edit v1.5 has no unlearn/forget capability. As the creation date for v1.5 is Oct 26, 2007 (Leopard's release date), I suspect that is but a Leopard feature. Grrrrr.

Now, I wonder if some clever chap or chapette could direct Mail to use some other dictionary, such as Word's, and thus allow easy editing as well accommodating several/different custom dictionaries for those who are bilingual etc.

And of course, many thanks for your efforts!

[pilotdude]

I am using 10.5.2 and TextEdit v1.5. Here is a Screenshot with the "Unlearn" option at the top of the contextual menu. I'm not sure why its not showing up for you.

[pendragon]

Pilotdude,

My contextual menu looked identical yours with the exception of the Unlearn at the top. So at thi spoint I suspected a corrupted plist. But before dumping it, I toggled the "Styles" drop down menu. BINGO! That did it.

Many thanks. Without your help, I would [continued to] blame Apple. Alas, a poor carpenter always blames his tools. Oh, the shame...

[pilotdude]

No Problem, Glad you got it figured out!