Microsoft Exchange Cannot Open Custom Dictionary

After you install Microsoft Works version 4.0 for Windows 95, you may receive the following error message when you try to spell-check a message in Microsoft Exchange:

The Custom Dictionaries key in the registry has been set incorrectly.

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall Windows 95. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

NOTE: For information about how to edit the registry, view the Changing Keys And Values online Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe). Note that you should make a backup copy of the registry files (System.dat and User.dat) before you edit the registry.

To correct this problem, follow these steps:

1. Add a Custom Dictionaries key to the following registry branch:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Proofing Tools
2. Add the following string value for the Custom Dictionaries key:
   1
3. Set the string value of 1 to
   <path to Custom.dic>:\custom.dic
   where <path to Custom.dic> is the path to your custom dictionary file.
   
   In most cases, the path is:
   C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Proof\Custom.dic

Note that this problem has been corrected in Microsoft Works version 4.0a for Windows 95.

Before you change the registry, you should back up the registry files. For information about backing up the registry files, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: