Multi-Dictionary Management

[ytene]

Before I get started on the details, I'm acutely conscious that this is a feature request for a pretty rare edge case [in my specific scenario]. I hope it may be sufficiently useful to others to prompt consideration.

I would like to ask for a feature to permit LibreOffice to manage multiple dictionaries simultaneously, and to allow the user to "link" optional dictionaries to individual documents or document templates. I think it might be better if I tried to describe a use case that includes the features I'm envisaging...

In my spare time I write (science) fiction, a use of Writer that requires me to use real names [of characters, places] and sometimes to invent words in a fictional language. As a writer, I like to split my work across chapters, with one file for each chapter of my work [and, often, multiple iterative versions of each chapter]. But the problem I experience occurs when I embark on a new chapter well in to a book... In each file, the moment I mention a character/place/new word for the first time, Writer will flag this as invalid and ask me to correct it.

What I'd like to do is to have the ability to create a dictionary management feature that allows me to associate more than one dictionary with a file - in that file's meta-data - so that when I open the file, Writer automatically retrieves and opens the relevant dictionary [that contains all the bespoke words for this particular piece of work].

In the Spellcheck function, I would also then like to see the functionality of the check window slightly enhanced, so that instead of the singular "Add to Dictionary..." option, this portion of the display will dynamically expand, giving me,

"Add to Default Dictionary
Add to "Scientific Terms" Dictionary [for example, a dictionary that may span multiple works, but includes common, non-Standard terms [bad examples = "starship", "hyperspace", etc.]
Add to "Once Upon A Time Trip" Dictionary [for example, the name of a project - book - that spans multiple discrete files]
Add to "Simplified Martian" Dictionary [for example, the name of a particular contextual reference that might span multiple books in a series or "fictional universe" [e.g. "The Babylon 5 Universe"]
etc.

I think it would also be necessary to have some form of basic management feature built in to file options, to allow a file owner to add/remove dictionaries to any given document.

There are other potential scenarios that might cause trouble - for example what if one "extra" dictionary contained a single word that the author wanted to flag as a spelling error in their new document? Personally, I don't think that LibreOffice should be in the business of attempting to resolve conflicts like this - they get recursively complex far too quickly - but perhaps there is an argument in favour of making each custom dictionary a simple flat file [one word per line, separated by CR or CR+LF] and stored in an accessible location that enables the author to readily edit [and thereby clone] existing files.

The largest single problematic use case I can imagine would be for collaborative document production - i.e. a scenario in which multiple authors [say in a company or organisation] want to collaborate on a document that includes one or more shared dictionaries. Now what? The short answer is that you have to co-locate your custom [project] files with your master document. It would be easy to say, "just include it as meta-data in the main file" and that may work.

A second challenge might relate to the platform "copy/cut and paste" feature typically provided by a desktop platform or operating system. If I copy a block of text, including custom words and paste from one document to another, does that mean I'm going to have to come up with a way of transferring "correct" spellings as well? Is it as simple as detaching and attaching the dictionary [starts to sound complicated] or is the problem left to the user?

In other words, taken to an outer extreme, this use case presents some interesting challenges.

But for a regular user who wants to simplify their spell-checking of custom words across multiple files, permitting multiple dictionaries might be just the answer.


Thanks for having the patience to read this far.
Apologies if this has been discussed before: I did search the forum and did not find any other reference like this.
I would be very happy to answer questions or clarify anything that may not be completely clear.

[Villeroy]

There is no single dictionary which is used for spell checking on a per-document base. Every paragraph and any character sequence therein can be spell-checked according to its individual language setting. Paragraph styles and character styles help organizing different types of paragraphs and character sequences. Paragraph styles and character styles can be organized in templates. Paragraph styles and character styles can be assigned to keyboard shortcuts.

[John_Ha]

See some dictionary threads especially

Building a custom dictionary for spellchecking
[Solved] Save New Word to Custom Dictionary
[Solved] Automate addition of words to spellcheck dictionary
Use only custom dictionaries?
[Solved] Removing "statue" from base standard dictionary

for some ideas.