MAC TREAT #213: Unlearn Words From Spell Check

As a person who writes a fair amount for Small Dog, I use the Spelling and Grammar check on a daily basis. Often times, I write about products (among other things) that I know for a fact are spelled correctly, and yet Apple’s dictionary doesn’t know the word. Luckily for me, OS X has the ability to learn new words so they aren’t continually marked as incorrectly-spelled words.

However, what happens when you accidentally click the Learn button instead of Ignore? Up to this point, I had feared the word would be permanently spelled wrong for all eternity! I did some digging, and found a way to unlearn words from Apple’s dictionary.

If you want to unlearn words simply follow these steps:

• Navigate to Library > Spelling
  You can find the Library directory by holding down the option key while clicking on the Go menu in Finder
• Open the file named LocalDictionary in Text Edit or your favorite text editor
• Delete the offending word or words from the list
• Save and close the document

I can confirm this tip works with OS X Lion (10.7). I am not completely sure this will work in OS X Mountain Lion (10.8), but the process has been the same for many years now. While the Dictionary file name may change, the process is the same.