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I'm trying to find the dictionary file for Google Chrome on OS X - I'd like to remove certain words from the dictionary so that I don't use them when writing email (such as 'foolish' for example).

In Firefox, this was a simply a matter of editing the dictionary file, but I'm not sure were I would find it in Chrome?

Joe
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6 Answers6

31

It doesn't appear that there is a user-editable file with the default dictionary in it. I just looked through the .app folder and saw nothing like a dictionary. Also, ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/Dictionaries/ doesn't list any dictionaries.

OS X

The file for the custom dictionary is:

/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Custom Dictionary.txt

You may also find it at:

/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Custom Dictionary.txt

In the comments, it's mentioned that you can find “misclicks” here, too, which is related to how OS X handles its dictionary:

/Users/<user>/Library/Spelling/LocalDictionary

Windows XP and Windows 7/Vista

It appears it's in (for Windows XP and Vista/7, respectively):

C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Custom Dictionary.txt
C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Custom Dictionary.txt

Linux

The location depends on whether you're running Chromium or Google Chrome

Chrome: ~/.config/google-chrome/Default/Custom Dictionary.txt

Chromium: ~/.config/chromium/Default/Custom Dictionary.txt


If you are using a non-default profile, instead of the directory named Default, check for a directory named Profile n where n is a number starting from 1.

slhck
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19

For future reference, I found it under:

/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Custom Dictionary.txt

OSX Lion 10.7.4
Chrome 19.0.1084.56
June 2012

LRE
  • 925
13

Add a new word to the dictionary

If the spell-checker keeps underlining a word that you often use, right-click the word and select Add to dictionary.

Windows, Chrome OS, and Linux only: Words that you choose to add to the dictionary are added to your "Custom spelling dictionary".

Edit your Custom spelling dictionary

  1. Click the Chrome menu on the browser toolbar.

  2. Select Settings.

  3. Click Show advanced settings.

  4. In the "Languages" section, click Languages and input settings.

  5. Click Custom spelling dictionary.

  6. In the open text field, type the new word that you want to add. To remove a word that you've previously added, hover over the word and click X.

  7. Click Done.

Source: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95604?hl=en Checked: October 4, 2014. Rechecked May 26, 2015.

enter image description here

Bob Stein
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David
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4

The actual dictionary is baked into the browser when it is compiled, so you can't normally find or edit it without re-compiling Chrome yourself. That said, there are a bunch of dictionaries, and they're all listed here:

https://cs.chromium.org/chromium/src/third_party/hunspell_dictionaries/

mlissner
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4

This accepted answer is incorrect or out-of-date w/r/t Google Chrome on Windows. This is where Google Chrome version "31.0.1650.63 m" actually stores the custom dictionary:

\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Custom Dictionary.txt

It's just a text file, with LF-only line terminations, and a list of words in case-sensitive alphabetical order, one per line. There's a checksum at the end, with no LF at the end of that line.

There's also a backup version, in the same folder, named "Custom Dictionary.txt.backup".

According to this https://chromiumcodereview.appspot.com/11414282 if the checksum fails to match in the regular version of the Custom Dictionary, and there's a backup version with a correct checksum, Chrome will silently discard the regular version and revert to the backup version.

Maybe that's be why Chrome keeps losing my custom dictionary words. :-(

So I think if you want to edit the custom dictionary file (e.g., to remove misspelled words), you'll need to delete the backup version, to prevent Chrome from reverting to it. (Note: I've not actually done this.)

2

Location of Custom Dictionary.txt on MAC has changed yet again. This is due to the fact that Chrome now supports multiple user profiles.

It is now:

/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Profile 1/

Profile 1 will change based on which account is used.

  • Browser: Chrome 49
  • OS: Mac OS X El Captan 10.11.2
slm
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war59312
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