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"The custom dictionary is full. The word was not added" error message in Word 2000

Article ID: 224035 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q224035

ERROR MESSAGE

When you try to add a word to the custom dictionary using the spelling checker, the following error message may appear:

The custom dictionary is full. The word was not added.

Note Microsoft Office 2000 has built-in functionality that allows you to get more information about difficult-to-troubleshoot alerts or error messages. If you want to enable this functionality for this and other error messages in Microsoft Office 2000, please download the Microsoft Office 2000 Customizable Alerts file from the Microsoft Office Update Web site at the following address:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8FBEE1D3-C5BB-4A36-A2F7-DC63DE2A818C

(http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/office-2000-resource-kit/customizable-alerts-HA001138315.aspx)

Note If you reached this article by clicking the Web Info button in an error message, you already have Customizable Alerts enabled.

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Cause

This behavior can occur if any of the following conditions are true:

The custom dictionary is corrupt.

-or-

The spelling files have become damaged or corrupt.

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Things to Try

Custom dictionary is corrupt

Create a new custom dictionary by performing the following steps:

Rename the old custom dictionary file. For example, change Custom.dic to Custom.old.
Start Word 2000.
On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling & Grammar tab.
Click Dictionaries.
Click New.
In the File name box, type a name for the custom dictionary, for example, Custom.dic.
Click Save.

You can now open your old dictionary file, run the spelling checker, and add the words from your old custom dictionary into your new custom dictionary.

Spelling files have become damaged or corrupt

Using Windows Explorer, search for and rename the following files:
Rename Msspell3.dll to Msspell3.old.
Rename Mssp3en.lex to Mssp3en.old.

Start Word 2000 and in a blank document, type in some text and run the spelling checker. You will be prompted with a dialog box to install the spelling files. Click Yes to reinstall the spelling files.

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