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Change dictionary preferences in InDesign

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Learn how to change dictionary preferences in InDesign. 

Use Dictionary preferences to specify how InDesign handles hyphenation and spelling dictionaries. Proximity dictionaries are predominantly utilized in InDesign for verifying spelling and hyphenating words across various languages. If you have installed hyphenation or spelling components from a different provider, you can select a different vendor for each language. 

  1. Select Edit > Preferences > Dictionary (Windows) or InDesign > Preferences > Dictionary (macOS).

  2. In Language, specify the language you want to edit settings or change the hyphenation or spelling vendor.

  3. Create, add, or remove user dictionaries. 

  4. Select the non-Adobe components you have installed from the Hyphenation and Spelling dropdown lists. 

  5. In the Hyphenation Exceptions > Compose Using menu, select User Dictionary to compose text using external user dictionary's exceptions, and select Document to compose using InDesign document exceptions.

  6. Select Merge User Dictionary Into Document to add the exceptions list stored in the external user dictionary to the exceptions list stored within the document.

    Note:

    You might want to deselect the Merge User Dictionary Into Document option if you work with many different partners or clients. For example, if you’re a service provider, you probably don’t want your user dictionary merged with every customer’s file.

  7. When certain settings are changed, select Recompose All Stories When Modified and select OK to recompose all stories. 

    Recomposing all stories can take some time, depending on the amount of text in the document.

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