Sharing Custom Dictionaries in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

Each logged-in user has a default custom dictionary called CUSTOM.dic. Additionally, you can create and use many more custom dictionaries. Over time, your custom dictionaries may become a very useful resource, especially since any custom dictionary loaded is used by all the Office applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Let us assume that you have added several words to the custom dictionaries over the last 4 or 5 years, and now you need to move to a new computer. Or probably you have a colleague who is going to help you with some documentation, and you obviously want him or her to use your custom dictionary. To share the actual dictionary files (.dic), you first need to find out where they are stored on your computer.

The CUSTOM.dic is typically stored in a separate folder for each local user:

• If you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7, you can find the custom dictionaries within:
  Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof
• If you are running Windows XP, the custom dictionaries can be found in:
  Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\UProof

Unlike CUSTOM.dic, other custom dictionaries could be stored anywhere else on your system! Therefore, it is a good idea to find out the path where your custom dictionary is located. This process will enable you to find out the location of any dictionary which is loaded within PowerPoint 2010 for Windows:

1. Launch PowerPoint 2010, and choose File | Options, as shown in Figure 1.
2. 
   Figure 1: Choose Options within the File menu
2. This opens the PowerPoint Options dialog box. Click the Proofing option on the sidebar to view the interface that you see in Figure 2, below.
3. 
   Figure 2: Proofing section of the PowerPoint Options dialog box includes the Custom Dictionaries button
Tip: If you are already doing a spell check, just click the Options button within the Spelling dialog box. This gets you to the Proofing section of the PowerPoint Options dialog box, as shown above in Figure 2. Want to know more about the Spelling dialog box? Head to our Spell Check in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows tutorial.
3. Now, click the Custom Dictionaries button (highlighted in red in Figure 2, above). This summons the Custom Dictionaries dialog box (see Figure 3). Select any of the dictionaries under the Dictionary List. You will notice the File path text box which displays the selected dictionary's location (highlighted in red in Figure 3).
4. 
   Figure 3: File path displaying the selected dictionary’s location
4. Now, select the location in the File path text box (highlighted in red in Figure 3 above) and right-click the selection. From the resultant menu, select the Copy option, as shown highlighted in red in Figure 4.
5. 
   Figure 4: Location of the custom dictionaries copied
5. Open Windows Explorer and paste (Ctrl+V) the copied location within the Address Bar (highlighted in red in Figure 5). And click the Go to button (highlighted in blue in Figure 5) or press the Enter key on the keyboard.
6. 
   Figure 5: Copied location pasted within the Address Bar
6. This will open the folder where the custom dictionary is stored, as shown in Figure 6.
7. 
   Figure 6: Custom dictionary location accessed
7. Now, select the dictionary file you want to copy. Thereafter, you can easily copy this file to a thumb drive, or external hard disk, or even send the dictionary file (.dic) via email. Once the dictionary file is thus shared, it can be easily loaded onto another system using the process explained in our Load Custom Dictionaries in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows tutorial.
8. Save your presentation often.