Preface
Without a medical spell checker installed, it is irritating to transcribe with MS Word with those red underscores all over the document. You get frustrated adding such underlined words every time to the inbuilt custom dictionary of Microsoft Word by right clicking and adding. To avoid such repeated annoyance, the more permanent solution would be installing a medical spell checker itself which works in the background.
So for the last month, I have been scouring the net for any free, installable, medical spell checker software for Microsoft Word. After all, it’s going to be a free download! So it’s worth wasting the time sieving through the Internet.
By the way, I am a radiology transcriptionist. With radiology transcription, you don’t encounter complex new medical words daily. You’ll have stereotype reports that can be done without a spell checker. So I didn’t go for a medical spell checker for my computer all this time.
The making of a free medical spell checker
Nevertheless, with my current endeavor of an extensive search on the Internet, I couldn’t end up with any such free, medical spelling check software compatible with MS Word. All that I could find all over the Internet are paid ones or shareware. They would work for one month or so and then expire. The only other option left behind was to prepare a custom dictionary for medical transcription. A collection of medical words in US English that could work in tandem with Microsoft Word. Thus a free custom medical spell checker for medical transcription in US English by a medical transcriptionist was born!
The idea was successful. At first, I was able to gather medical terms lists from Open Source Medical Spelling Word List. It has around 50,000 words, updated until 2007. I had medical words from my own personal collection and custom dictionary. Accommodating all these medical words, the number of words worked out close to 100,000 after filtering out duplicate entries.
New words come into prevalence in the field of medicine on a daily basis. Hence all the words may not have found their way into this medical glossary. Especially, all those trade names and the names of all those complex surgical instruments. If you have any list of such recent medical terms or surgical equipment glossary, mail me to add them in the future versions. Now the installation instructions of our custom medical dictionary.
Download link and installation instructions:
- Download Raj&Co-Med-Spel-Chek.zip (852395 downloads) and save it to your desktop.
- Unzip the inside contents, Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic and README_Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.txt (license), to your desktop.
- Copy the dictionary file, Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic, to the folder where CUSTOM.DIC resides in your system. In my desktop (Windows XP), I found it at C:\Documents and Settings\Raj\Application Data\Microsoft\Proof. In my laptop (Windows Vista), it is at C:\Users\Raj\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Proof. So check where the folder “Proof” is there in your system and transfer Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic to that folder.
- If the folder “Proof” is not showing up, it will be hiding as a system folder. In that case, go to Tools/Folder Options/View. Click “Show hidden files and folders.” For some others, this folder name is “UProof.”
- Now open MS Word. Go to Tools/Options/Spelling & Grammar/Custom Dictionaries.
- Check the slot Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic. Click OK.
- Refer the image below for which slots that need to be checked and unchecked. Make sure to uncheck the slots “Suggest from main dictionary only” and “Hide spelling errors in this document.” Click OK.
- That’s it. Voila! Enjoy working with the free medical spell checker.
Share the joy
Spread the word if you find it useful. I took the utmost care to avoid any error at my end. However, if you find any inconsistency that has crept through, feel free to bring it to my attention to rectify the mistakes in the future versions. We have had an elaborate discussion below on troubleshooting with various operating systems. Click “View Comments” below. Sieve through them until the end of this page if you want any specific help regarding your computer’s operating system. I do update the spell checker whenever I have ample new words. So stay tuned for alerts about the future revisions of the spell checker. Subscribe to my feed or follow me on social media.
Update (July 16, 2014): Earlier I had put this free spell checker on my other blog, MT Herald. Since I am closing down mtherald.com, I have moved this custom medical dictionary to my new site here.
Is it really free after all the work you put into it? I would feel bad about that but would be so glad to get it if really and truly free! But is there a catch? It’s a fair question to ask why it’s free, yes? I don’t feel I can afford to pay much because I’m not sure an injury from a car wreck is going to let me go back to transcribing.
It’s absolutely free. No catches now or later. So you can go ahead and grab it. I’m glad that I could help at least one person in need. Thank you for recognizing my hard work.
Why it’s free? Because to help out people like you who begin from scratch, who cannot afford to spend a few hundred bucks for starting up. Because I was like that years before and couldn’t find a freebie like this then. Because Internet is an ocean of freebies.
Hope somebody else do not encash the hard work that I have put in it!
This medical spell checker is a “treasure hid in the field.” I am so very, very happy with it. Thank you very much.
I have just purchased a mac and have Word Mac 2011 version 14.0.0. I have tried everything I can thingk of and can not get this .dic into word. When I open word preferences and then spellcheck then dictionary and try to add this file after being unziped shoes but is greyed out so I cannot add it. I have tried to find where the original dictinoary is to no avail. I think the .dic is not the right ext. for this version. Any help ?
go to word preferences, spelling a grammar, click dictionaries link, click add, make sure that the all files option is enable in the window view, (can be seen in the bar below your files). then select the .dic file.
I’m a PA Student and this is fantastic. All those red lines were so annoying, and this helps me write up my notes and H&Ps accurately. Thanks!
Thank you Raj. You have helped many people.
I just wanted to write to let you know how VERY much I am enjoying using the Free Medical Spellchecker for MS Word I downloaded from your website. The download was easy to find and use, and the installation instructions, particularly with the helpful screen shots at each step of the way, made installing it a breeze, even for a “non-techie” like me!
As you know, I have my own medical-transcription company. I have been using your Free Medical Spellchecker daily for approximately two weeks now, and I have YET to find a medical word your dictionary did not cover – quite impressive, especially considering the volume and variety of medical transcription we do! In fact, I am so pleased with its efficiency and ease of use, I just forwarded it to be used by all medical transcriptionists in our other offices, as well!
In closing, Raj, I thank you very much for your kind and generous offering of this Free Medical Spellchecker for MS Word for download, and I encourage everyone with a need for accuracy and efficiency in medical transcription to download and install it in their MS Word programs, too. Believe me, you’ll be glad you did! (-:
Thanks again,
Brenda Rutgers, Owner
Rutgers Transcription Services
Thank you very much for the very valuable feedback. All these days I was totally blank about the performance of this “free dictionary for medical transcription.” All I could see on my dashboard were statistics of hundreds of downloads but nobody didn’t even bother to give a feedback (not even a thanks, hehehe!).
As a valuable power user, I further welcome you to suggest any word that may have got missed to get through or any new word that you may come across.
I found it easy to add to Word 2007 by:
Download to desktop.
Open Word.
Open Spelling and Grammar.
Open Options.
Open Custom Dictionaries.
Open Add.
Copy Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic from desktop.
Paste into the add window.
Close all Spelling and Grammar windows, then open again to Custom Dictionaries and make sure Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic is checked.
Thank you so much Raj, although I haven’t used it yet, it shouldn’t be a problem!
Hi Raj – I deleted this file from my desktop after following my above instructions for Word 2007. Your file still appears in Spellcheck. To verify it there in the custom dictionaries, I am able to open the word list for your file, see all your words, and add words, etc. So it does work, at least on my computer, even if you delete the original file from our desktop. Of course, you need to COPY the file to your Spell Check, not just shortcut it.
“You need to COPY the file to your Spell Check, not just shortcut it.” In that case, it should work. Thank you for the update.
Raj
This worked for me perfect using David’s instructions above. I have Windows 7 and MS Word 2000. Works great! Thanks so much for having this available to all of us transcriptionists out there who already make too little and can’t really afford to buy a spell checker! Appreciate your efforts!
Tammy
I wonder if this will help with installing the speller? Maybe some people wonder what it means to “open Word”? That means just bring up any document you already have that was typed in Word, that’s all. (Which means go to My Documents and click on something that ends with “.doc.”) Then follow the steps to get to custom dictionaries.
Now that you’ve done that, you want to copy it into custom dictionaries but what does it look like on your desktop? It looks like a paper file-folder. Click on that, click on Copy, then go to where you have custom dictionaries on your screen and click on Paste. So, copy-paste. That should do it! Oh, I believe you also have to hit Save when done or it won’t stay there.
Then close custom dictionaries and close that Word document. You can check to see if you did it right by opening a new blank page in Word and typing some medical terms like Pfannenstiel or gastroesophageal. Finally, send a thank-you to Raj! Isn’t he wonderful!
I absolutely love this dictionary, and THANK YOU for making it available. It’s with great appreciation that you made it free. Again, I’m very thankful for it, and Thank you for your work.
Great instructions, great package, and it works like a charm on MS Office 2007.
Tim
Thanks Tim for the feedback regarding compatibility with MS Office 2007. Couple of our friends here were reporting being unable to make it work with MS Office 2007. If you could come again on how you installed the spell checker on your system, it will be helpful for them too.
Hi Raj, Certainly!
I downloaded this .zip file, which is the link that you began with on the “Installation Instructions”. https://rajn.co/download/Raj&Co-Med-Spel-Chek.zip
– Next, extract the file ‘Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic’ and copy it into the location where Microsoft keeps it’s ‘CUSTOM.DIC’. That path for me is (WinXP) C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Microsoft\UProof
– Next, open MS Word 2007, and go into the MS Word Options area and select the left-menu item ‘Proofing’.
– Next, click on the button that says ‘Custom Dictionaries’, and click the ‘Add…’ right-menu item to add the dictionary to your office program.
– Next, click ‘OK’, and click ‘OK’ again, to get out of the MS Word Options section.
– Next, close and reopen MS Word 2007 and give it a try.
Works like a charm!
You can also download the TXT version and simply edit the CUSTOM.DIC and add the words into that list. However, adding the new dictionary was a way to keep them organized.
Hope that helps… and, Thank you – again!
Ps. Where my path was: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Microsoft\UProof
Others path would be C:\Documents and Settings\(user name)\Application Data\Microsoft\UProof
To clarify!
Hi!
Solution For MS Word 2007:
In MS Word 2007, The folder named “Proof” is exchanged to “UProof”. So, download “Raj&Co-MedSpelChek” and then, copy to “X:\Documents and Settings\XXXXX\Application Data\Microsoft\UProof”.
FYI with Word 2007 you have to go to Review/ Spelling & Grammar/ Options/ Custom Dictionaries.
Also with Word 2007, the “Proof” folder might be named “UProof” in the Microsoft folder. It took me awhile to find out where my Proof folder was and ended up finding it when I looked at the file path in the custom dictionaries pop up window.
Fortunately it works and I’m so thankful!
This is the way to get to the “proof” section in Microsoft 7/ Office 2007
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof
or type in “uproof” in the windows search bar.
Thank you so much for sharing your spell checker! Your download instructions were very easy to follow, and I was able to install it with no problems. I’m using Windows 7 and MS Word 2007 – it works great with both. I’m going to school to become an MT and your spell checker has saved me a ton of time and money. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Would you mind if I shared your website with my fellow students?
Thank you so very much good sir!
In MS word 2007 on a windows vista OS
note: the folder is UProof not proof on my laptop.
Love it! Thank you so much, I need to learn how to properly spell these words and if the word is not even in the .dic to begin with it makes it very frustrating. You sir, are a lifesaver!
-Nate
Thank you so much!
I installed this on my mac running OS X (10.6.4) – it was a fairly similar procedure.
It was so great to see all the red underlined words in my documents just disappear! As a medical student this resource is invaluable. Thanks again.
This dictionary has been a great help. I am a veterinary student and find am so glad I can type a document now without a million red squiggly lines in MS Word.
I’m using Windows 7 and MS Office 2007, and the dictionary works great.
I’m sure this was a lot of hard work for somebody, thank you for sharing! It is much appreciated.
I have Windows 7, MS 2010! WORKS AMAZINGLY!! however, i couldnt find my ‘proof’ folder so i just linked the file path from my desktop then unchecked the boxes you said too. I love it, thank you. Transcribing my medical documents will be a breeze now.
Hi Ashleigh,
I am also running Windows 7 with MS Office 2010, and have installed the dictionary fine. The folder “AppData” will be hidden in your User folder. To show the hidden folder, go to the “Organize” menu on the top left. Choose “Folder & Search Options”. Go to the “View” tab at the top, and choose the button that says “Show hidden files, folders & drives”. Apply the settings, and you should be able to see everything you need to.
The location on my computer is:
C:\Users\Hannah\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof
Hope this helps!
thanks for providing this useful resource! it looks like some people here were confused about enabling the dictionary on mac. here are the instructions:
1. download as described in the post.
2. drag the Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic file to /Users/~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008/ (the ~ is your computer username).
3. in Word, go to Preferences>Spelling and Grammar, and click on the “Dictionaries…” button. click “Add…”, and add the Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic file to your set of custom dictionaries.
4. enjoy!
for reference, i’m using microsoft 2008 on a macbook pro os 10.6.
thanks again!
I found the file where the custom dictionary was and put it there. I found the custom dictionary in:
Places – my name (whatever name you gave your computer)
Library
Preferences
Microsoft
Office 2008 (This is where I drug the file)
Then I went into the preferences for MS Word and under dictionaries, made sure the MT dict showed up and that there was a checkmark next to it.
Hope this helps.
Lisa
for 2007 go to word options that is in the dropdown menu of office logo. Once there go to proofing and custom dictionaries. That will open a window that will give you the path where to put the new dictionary. Once you have placed the dictionary in the correct folder, click add dictionary and select it.
Thank you so much for this fabulous medical dictionary. I didn’t think I could do it, but your directions were great! Now, I don’t have to worry if I spell a difficult medical term incorrectly. I double checked it with numerous medical words and it caught every one that I misspelled purposely. This is absolutely wonderful! Again, many thanks for your efforts. I’ve been doing medical transcription for some years now, but one cannot know how to spell every word in every specialty without going crazy! Excellent job!
This is just wonderful that you’ve created this and are sharing it with others. Thank you for your kindness. I am wondering, however, if this could be used with Open Office. I have a new account that insists on using Open Office instead of Word, and I’m not sure how I would install your Spell Checker to run in that program. Any suggestions?
Mac users: you can download the dictionary to any folder – no need to search around for some special folder. Once you’ve saved the file to your computer, rest of the instructions are almost the same except you just need to locate the folder where the Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic has been saved.
Thanks, that’s really helpful. I’ve tried it with Office 2010 and Windows 7. It should be put here:
C:\Users\myname\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof
Thanks so much for this! My computer was damaged and I lost everything on it, including my very expensive medical spellchecker. I couldn’t afford to replace the spellchecker and I thought I’d be stuck adding medical terms to my dictionary as I transcribed them, except you saved me from that horrible fate! Best wishes to you!
Very useful. Thank you so much. If you are using windows 7, I would recommend you to search Uproof folder and paste the dictionary there. In word 2007 it won’t be recognized right away, go to dictionary section inside the word and ADD the dictionary.
Raj,
I have just started my MT classes and this medical dictionary is awesome. I was worried when I first transcribed a report, but with your spellchecker it made it so easy to type and not worry about spelling. I am so greatful for people like you will to help someone out without monetary gain. I am doing well in my classes, Thank you again!
You may also use this to improve vocabulary for speech recognition, just copying the content into a note pad and importing that as vocabulary.
In addition to this, you may also Dorland’s in MS word simultaneously.
Dear Raj,
Thanks a lot for such a valuable information. You have solved my very big problem. Actually, just recently I bought a new system where I encountered this problem and was very worried about spellcheck and timely I got your solution and I am very thankful to you for this information and I heartily appreciate your generous helping nature.
Also, I will be happy if you address me a problem with Quick Look functioning. Actually dictionary gets installed properly but when I start searching medicines, it shows only loading but information gets loaded only when I close it and open it again. Please let me know if you have any solution for this.
Thanks a lot.
Krishna
Hi Krishna,
Your problem with Quick Look is due to the incompatibility between Quick Look and the version of Internet Explorer in your system. Use the correct version of Internet Explorer recommended by your Quick Look and your problem will be solved.
Dear Raj,
I have to say heartfelt thanks to you, once again your suggestion of internet compatibility is worked. Successfully I am working now. Here, I would like to confess that I had upgraded the internet explorer to have latest facilities, but it was working adversely. Now, I have rectified it.
I sincerely thank you once again.
Krishna
Thank you so much for this. I did a search (like yourself initially) for a free medical dictionary and found this wonderful site. I don’t do medical transcription at all but do carry out interview transcription for clients who have interviewed consultants etc or patients and having this in my tools for working with these clients is going to be great. No more searching on Google for correct spellings and then manually adding them to the spellchecker. I’m from the UK but guess the medical terminology is pretty universal (I hope)
The spellings are different for UK. They add an additional “a” everywhere, like paediatrics, gynaecology, anaesthesia,haemoglobin etc. Be careful.
It appears that this installation works on Mac OS as well. I’m running Snow Leopard on one Mac and Lion on another. I’ve installed on the SL machine and I’m going to try it on the Lion machine tonight. It’s very simple… just go into Word Preferences, Spelling and Grammer, then hit the Dictionaries button. Hit the Add button and browse to the location the free medical dictionary was downloaded to. If it is grayed out, choose to show all with the small drop down menue. Load it and you’re done!
Thanks Eric. That’s a great news and should help our friends with Apple Macintosh computers as well.
Thank you very much. I just bought my wife a new computer and upgraded her to Office 2010. The $100 spell checker she had did not give the option of installing it on Word 2010. I found your site while trying to figure out what file(s) I would need to hack in order to make the other one work. No need now thanks to you!
Ok I am embarrassed because I do not know how to unzip this file. I downloaded it and I found where to add it in Word but I gather you have to unzip it first?
Double click the downloaded zipped spell checker; you will get an interface that will guide you to unzip. However, if your computer does not recognize the file, search the web for free WinZip or Filzip, download it and install it. After installing it, double click the downloaded zipped spell checker again. This time it will definitely guide you.
There is a better program. It is called 7zip. It open source (free) and works like a charm. There are no trial periods to worry about.
Thank you so much!! I am just starting MT as a way to earn money from home…been in healthcare for over 20 years but needed to find something that allows me to be accessible for my son. I am a spelling geek and it has been driving me nuts with all the squigglies from Word when I know they are spelled correctly. I just love this and I am so thankful! I’m a single mom, and like most, couldn’t afford to go buy something of this sort. You are an angel, Raj!
I want to thank you so much for this!! I have been using it for quite some time now and I have not had to add too many words to it. Thank you again!!
Thank you so much! I am studying brain chemistry and was forced to slow way down and check every word for correct spelling. Now I have no worries about incorrect spelling of words such as indoleamine and catecholamine. This is a real time saver.
Thanks
Hi Raj,
This is amazing thanks sooo much.
Do you know if you can download it to powerpoint?
Sorry im not just illiterate but also computer illiterate.
Thanks
Sian
Hi Sian,
Once you install it for MS Word, it should work with PowerPoint also. As far as I know, you don’t have to install it separately for PowerPoint or any other MS Office product like MS Excel etc.
Hi Raj,
Thank you so much for putting this together. I was struggling without a spell checker and did not know where to get it from. I work from home. The instructions you put are so simple that me being a computer illiterate could do it by myself, and it works so well. I know it had to have taken a lot of time and effort and I appreciate you taking the time to do this. Thank you very much. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much for this free download! I just finished installing it and it seems to have worked fine on my first document. My primary computer just suddenly died and my backup computer didn’t have a medical dictionary or spellchecker loaded onto it. You free medical dictionary download has saved me not only hours of time double-checking spelling through Google searches, but appears it will save me about $100 (the cost of the electronic Stedman’s). Grazi, grazi, grazi, Raj!!!!!
What an outstanding contribution – have been using this for a few years and it’s fabulous – integrates with MS Word (all versions). Many thanks.
Hello. Thank you so much for sharing this free spell checker. I’ve been using it in Word 2003 for about a month now. It’s great.
However, I will be soon taking a job with a new company and they use the Integra platform. Is this spell checker compatible with Integra? If so, how would I make it work?
Thank you again, you don’t realize what a nice thing you’ve done for the medical transcription community! Susan
I am not sure whether this will work with Integra. Try yourself and let us know.
Hi Raj,
I will be back to work after suffering from stroke which had left with not working for one year.
When I was arranging my system and software so that everything will be okay before I start as it will take two to three weeks as i have recovered only 90%.
So, thanks for the spell checker and other software, which would have been difficult for me to make arrangement.
Thank you once again.
San
It is just a passing cloud. Fight it out with an unrelenting mind and recover soon. My prayers are there with you.
Raj, you have a heart of gold and have answered my prayers. Thank you so much. As a nursing student I am still learning proper spelling and have been searching for months for a dictionary like yours. I will be using this in school and with my relief group. You are a life saver.
It’s my greatest pleasure Paul of being helpful to you in getting a nursing degree for crisis relief work. Hope somewhere down the line I too could join your movement. Wish you good luck in getting your degree soon. God bless you.
Thanks for putting this together. It has been awesome having this correct my spelling, even if I still can’t pronounce the words. =) It is very useful in pharmacy school to have all the drug names already recognized. =)
Dear Raj,
Thank you for the wonderful dictionary. I was searching for something like this for quite sometime. Glad that you have kept it free. You will always have our best wishes.
Regards,
Sajjan.
Dear Dr. Sajjan,
The spell checker is for American English. Beware of the hiccups if you use it in context with Indian (British) English.
Can this be used in Word Perfect also?
Hi Debbie
It is 11 long years since I used WordPerfect. I have forgotten everything about WordPerfect. However, I think it should work fine with WordPerfect also. You may need to rename our spellchecker file that ends with .dic to .UWL for working with WordPerfect. For WordPerfect 8, it should reside in My Documents\Corel User Files folder on the drive where WP is installed. In WordPerfect 9, typically, it is stored in Program Files\Corel\Shared\Writing Tools\9.0\Corel User Files. Sometimes it is stored in My Documents\Corel User Files. Find out where the custom dictionary resides in your case and do accordingly. Find out more information on this here: How do I edit dictionaries (word lists) in WordPerfect? Try it yourself and tell us all here on how you did it, so that it could help somebody else like you. Feel free to revert if I can be of any further help. Good luck.
Hi Raj,
Just want to say thank you for this one. Been having trouble with this since M. word upgraded their versions. Since this is free, it’s but proper that I thank you and acknowledge the hard work that you did. :)
Thank you so much!!!!! My computer crashed last week and I still use Windows XP but decided to use Word 2007 instead of 2003 this time. I wasn’t sure if my Stedman’s Medical Spellchecker 7.0 that I have had forever would work with it or not and didn’t want to chance it. I am so glad I found this. Thank for all the hard work you put into this. I can’t wait to try it out in a few minutes. :) BTW, I used David Schneider’s instructions to install.
Thank you Raj. Has this dictionary been updated since you first posted it ~4 years ago?
Yes, many times, and I inform that to my friends and followers through blog posts (subscribe here) and through social media on Facebook and Twitter. Stay tuned through any of these channels.
I am a medical transcriptionist and I have this program installed to my Word 2003 and when I spell check it is not picking up any of the misspelled words. What am i doing wrong.
Correlate the second image above with the Spelling & Grammar settings of your MS Word. See if the appropriate slots are ticked.
Thank you so much! My computer died, and I lost my medical spellchecker with it. With all the expenses of a new computer, I really did not want to pay $95 for a new spellchecker. I like your spellchecker very much because I did not have to make any big changes to my new computer to get it. If I decide I need to go back to Stedman’s spellchecker eventually, it will be a simple matter to uncheck the box for this text file. Thank you for your generosity.
For Windows 7 and Word 2010, locate proof (C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft\Shared\Proof) paste your file there. Then open word options and proofing. Click on custom dictionary and add, locate your file in the folder proof and then double click to add it. Click ok on the custom dictionary box and it will work.
This works well for Mac as well, presently using microsoft word 2011
here are the steps:
The Custom Dictionaries dialog box in Word lists the available custom dictionaries the application can use to check spelling. If the dictionary that you want to use — for example, one that you purchased from a third-party company — is installed on your computer but not listed in the Dictionary list box, you can add it.
Make sure that a document is open.
If no document is open, the next step won’t work.
On the Word menu, click Preferences.
Under Authoring and Proofing Tools, click Spelling and Grammar.
Under Spelling, click Dictionaries.
Click Add, and then locate and double-click the custom dictionary that you want to import (The file that you downloaded here need to have been unzipped and place in a folder other than the download folder… also, your mac might prompt you for administrators password, so be sure you have that privilege)
If the custom dictionary doesn’t have a file name extension of .dic, on the Enable pop-up menu, click All Files (for some reason, i had to click on All Files, despite the fact that the dictionary had a .dic extension)
Thanks loads Raj
the above steps were from microsoft’s site (with some of my added comments)
OK, I’m on a Mac running MS Office 2011 and I CANNOT get this thing to work. I followed the steps Vikash has, just above, after placing the file in the following folder on my hard drive (per one of the above suggestions)
Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic file to /Users/~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2011
(the ~ is my user name on my computer). The file is in there, everything seems fine, but when I go through the steps above, the file is greyed out. The original .dic file is in there for me to choose, but not this new one. Why is it still greyed out?
After you click “Add New,” just look for this at the bottom of your window: “Files of type: Dictionary Files.”
Pull down the menu and make it to read “All Files.”
Couple of users had this trouble earlier, and they have suggested this remedy in the comments above. Read all the discussions above. Hope that helps.
You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. Thank you for this amazing free resource.
Thank you from bottom of my heart. I had to force format my system due to some issues. First time when i upgraded to 2007, a friend like you helped me but unfortunately I lost the file he provided and now he is not sure how he did it at that time :). My Google search took me to your page. Thanks a lot again.
Guru
I can’t thank you enough for sharing this file and providing step by step instructions generously. That’s a tremendous help for techno illiterate like me. Thanks a million.
Yin
hello, thanx a ton for this, i have been banging my head for the past couple of days with this problem and your solution was so quick and easy..thanx is only a small word to express my sincere gratitude
Thank you! I’m in college and pre-health. Typing in Word for any of my classes was so annoying! Everything had the red mark below it. On top of getting rid of misspell flags, I now know if I’ve actually spelled one of the medical words correctly!
Thank you!
Thanks a lot. Great job. Deeply appreciate your efforts.
Tested and works just fine with Microsoft office Home and Student 2013 running on Window 7. For anyone who needs help with installing:
Download and extract Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic and copy to the following location:
C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof
Open Microsoft Word.
Go to file – options – proofing – custom dictionaries – add…
Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic file
THANK YOU!!! I just downloaded this and typed up 11 patients. So far, I am extremely impressed!! I have always used Stedman’s, but my old software is not compatible with my new Windows 8 laptop.
You have saved me LOTS of money and time. I am so grateful for all of your hard work. I truly appreciate your time and effort in making this available to us.
Sincerely,
Angie
Medical Transcriptionist
Dear Raj:
No words are enough to convey my thanks for your yeoman service and help to the poorly paid and exploited transcriptionists who all are trying to work from home. Getting a spellchecker, which is indispensable in this profession, is pretty costly and definitely pinches the pocket.
Also, I read your thought provoking analysis regarding this industry, which will definitely be an eye-opener to all who are working in this industry and those (very few) who now want to join this industry; only die-hard optimist can deny with your writings.
Thanking you once again.
Sincerely,
Manoj
Thank you so much for the wonderful spellchecker you developed. I have used it for several years with no problems and have so appreciated this wonderful program. However, I recently purchased Word 2013 and I’m having trouble getting the spellchecker to work with it. Is it something I’m doing wrong? I’ve never had trouble with the other versions of Word that I’ve used. I’ve always followed your instructions and they were spot on. If you have any tips, I would be so thankful.
Thanks again for a wonderful program.
Find the instructions for adding Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic to Word 2013 here: http://www.howtogeek.com/142069/how-to-use-custom-dictionaries-in-word-2013/
Scroll down that page and you can find the details midway.
I still can’t get it to work. I have done it multiple times. I figure it’s the user. Sorry for any inconvenience. Thanks for your quick response.
I am stumped! Did you uncheck the slot “Suggest from main dictionary only” that is found in Word Options/Proofing/AutoCorrect Options? Most probably you wouldn’t have unchecked that slot. There shouldn’t be a tick mark in that slot.
Otherwise Raj&Co-MedSpelChek.dic is working fine with MicroSoft Word 2013. I don’t know where you are going wrong. Fiddle with it and once you are able to make it work, kindly let us know where you were wrong.
Raj, it was the fault of the operator, me. I kept trying to get it to work, kept undoing and redoing. Finally, I opened the .dic to see if I could use the word list for reference, worst case scenario. When I opened the file in notepad, it was empty. I checked the file on my old computer and when it was opened in notepad, there were a list of words. That got me thinking. So, I deleted every file that I could find, re-downloaded the zip file, unzipped it, and then opened the .dic file again. The list of words came up and I knew I hadn’t messed this file up with all the copy and pasting or whatever I did wrong. Then I followed the instructions you gave me. I also shut down Word after I finished and reopened it, and VIOLA! It was there waiting for me. I’m one happy camper now. I feel a little ignorant, but I did get it to work. Thank you for all your help. I really appreciate it so much!!!
I couldn’t imagine how the file got corrupted at your end. However, I am glad that the spell checker finally worked for you. Again, this should help/alert somebody in the same situation like yours.
If you’re not a geek and didn’t understand how to install the spell checker, here is a video to make it easier for you: http://youtu.be/JZnvgAJ2SXg
Do you know if this application would work with the new Microsoft Office 365?
I have not yet tried. Try yourself and let me know.
Does this cover dental terms? I’m in dental school and having trouble finding a dictionary of dental terms for MS word. If it doesn’t cover those, are there any that you might know of? I feel like this should be an easy find but I’m having trouble doing so
I downloaded it and such and just so people know, this does cover dental terms, at least a couple that I tried worked – I’ll update here if there seems to be a major lack of terms
So sad to hear the twist arm tactics of Google that resulted in closure of MT Herald. Google made its name and fame on the basis of the very websites that it has discarded. Now this s.o.b. is out to make fame in my India with their Android One mobile devices. Sorry Raj. My sympathies with you for the trouble that you are going through to keep your help for mankind afloat through other servers.
Coming back to this topic, while searching the Net for a British English Dictionary I chanced upon a website: http://www.jpetrie.net/scientific-word-list-for-spell-checkersspelling-dictionaries/ that has both, US English and UK English custom dictionaries of over 600,000 entries each including Medical Terms, but does not have drug names. It has been updated as of Jan 03, 2014. It may come in hand if you plan a next update of Raj&Co-Med-Spel-Chek. I now have a separate folder for British English at my 4shared: http://www.4shared.com/account/dir/5532146/7f8c2cca/sharing.html?rnd=90.
Kind regards Raj.
I have also uploaded a free software, Text Duplicator, at my 4shared in the folder, British English.
I am looking for a free software that compares two text files and lists what is not in one but exists in another. The idea is to compare two custom dictionary files. Raj would you know of any such free softwares?
Raj&Co is a great blog.
I am in need of a UK English Drug Word List to add to my MS Word 2003. It should comprise of both, Branded and generic drug name. It should include drugs prescribed by NHS for all specialties. Pl let me know from where I can download the same or it could be uploaded at the free 4shared site meant for us Indian MTs at http://www.4shared.com/account/dir/5532146/7f8c2cca/sharing.html?rnd=90
Great thing! Thank you very very much!
This is a very nice app. I used to use Stedman’s Spellcheck exclusively, but I think this one is far more complete, easier to install, and FREE!
You have a done a awesome job buddy. Cheers !!
Thanks,
Raj
Thank you. Downloading and installing this was so easy!
Got there in the end one step at a time thank you Raj.
Now I’m searching for a medical dictionary of definitions.
Best regards Steve
Awesome! Thanks!
Hi can someone kindly answer my question, is this a british medical vocabulary spell checking software?
Sorry. It’s American.
What a hero! Thanks a million. This is so helpful. I use British spellings, but this is still very helpful as many of the spellings are the same and I can just add the British spellings as I go.
Hi Raj,
Over the weekend I took part in the NHS Hack Day May 2016 Hackathon. My team focused on helping clinicians in the UK type faster and more accurately through medical spell checking.
We started out thinking we would need to create a dictionary. Then we came across your excellent list! So, we decided we would make it as easy as possible to install the list across the applications that clinicians in the UK use.
After a busy weekend, we have created:
http://medical-spell-checker-dictionary.github.io/
It’s a one stop shop for helping clinicians install your dictionary.
We would love to get your thoughts. How can we make it better? What applications are we missing? How could the experience be easier?
It would also be great to hear from other visitors to this site – if there’s anything we can do to make the installation easier, get in touch through the website.
Thanks so much for sharing your dictionary and licensing it under GPL so other people can built upon it.
Best wishes,
Calum
Good. I could refer those who seek UK English to your site if you keep updating it with UK spellings.
I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate this. I was trying to build my own dictionary and it was a nightmare feeling it would never be complete. I have yet to come across a word you have missed yet. Thank you SO much.
Actually….having some trouble now. I have found a few “doubles” where one is spelled incorrect and one spelled correctly. I am trying to go in to correct it but I cannot seem to modify the files? suggestions?
Don’t know if it’s a mess-up between US and British spellings. Mail me the inconsistencies to raj at rajn.co. I can correct it in the master copy for the benefit of everyone.
You can edit the copy in your system as well by opening the .dic file in a text editor.
In the present world of fraud, deception and virus, your sincere free dictionary is truly a blessing to a needy transcriptionist. God bless you.
Thank you. I am glad that I could be of some help.
Hello Raj
I really appreciate for the efforts you have done. It helps so many people who does medical transcription. Can you suggest a similar way for UK spellings to be checked (English & Medical words) as I am doing transcription for an UK Account.
Thanks
Sam
With our spell checker as foundation, one of our friends, Calum J. Eadie, has built a UK spell checker on the top of it. Find it here. Voila.
Big Thanks from Saudi Arabia
Thank you Raj…it’s really helpful…..there is one more help you if you could provide drug spell check….?? thank you for your hardwork.
Hi, Raj.
Does your spell checker work with Windows 7/Word 2000?Also, is it possible to include generic and brand names for drugs?
Thanks
Vivek
1.) Yes, it should. Read user comments/discussion above.
2.) Included.
Thanks Raj for this wonderful dictionary. Amazing piece of work. You sure have lit up the faces of several medical transcriptionists!!
Everyone has a little bit of OCD about those red lines. Raj & Co. thanks for making us sleep a little easier
Thank you very much. This is a great help for me and my wife with proofing our Journal Articles before submission.
Wow, just wow!! This is a godsend to so many! I am so glad I found this. Thank you so very much!
Hey Raj.
Thanks a lot buddy. I recently installed MS Word 2007 in my pc and I was annoyed by those red lines in the document. You solved my issue. Are you from medical transcription field?
Thank u so much again brother.
Thank you
Hi, I’m reading great things about this medical dictionary and would love to be able to use it. Has anyone checked compatibility with Office 2016? Also, does it only work with MS Word or is there a way to make it run across the board for all Office applications? Thank you!
Thanks Raj…..It helped me a lot….Thank you so much.
Superb contribution to MTs Mr. Raj. Thanks a ton. Will spread a word about you in my website, if you permit. Do visit my website http://www.mtexperience.info where I am sharing my MT experience to help newbies and less experienced gain experience. It’s completely a noncommercial website and my way of saying thanks to my profession. Thanks again.
Thank you. Will be glad to find me and my blog mentioned on your site.
Hi Raj,
I am an editor and copy edit medical books for US and Indian authors. I am in need of a spell checked for MS Word. In addition to medical terms I also look out for pharmeceutical terms. So is there any cost for this software of yours? If yes, then please let me know the amount and I will buy it.
Thanks
1.) This one too has pharmaceutical terms too but not all.
2.) It’s completely FREE. Enjoy. Pass on the favor to anyone in need.
Thank you very much for the prompt reply. I will definitely pass on this valuable information to all my colleagues who are looking for spell checker.
Will get back to you in case I come across any doubts!
Thank you very Much for great work to help many many people in the world. I am sure you will be remember in the heart by every one who will use your great work. It is really really helpful for me. I am again thankful to you for your effort in making my work easy.
May Allah give you good health and thousands of happiness in life.
Best regards,
Haleem Abbasi
Abbottabad Pakistan
Raj,
From an aspiring BME student, this dictionary has spared me hours of combing through little squiggly lines to make sure that I have spelled all those medical terms right when writing up lab reports for my Anatomy and Physiology Lab. I’m going to suggest that my professor recommend that all students download this Spell Check dictionary in the future!
Thanks so much!
I’m glad if you could spread the word. Let it help those in need.
Thank you so much, I am a legal assistant in an injury law firm and your program helps me do my transcription with ease. Thank you, you are a hero!
Thanks, Raj, you’re the best. I was looking up medical dictionaries and one on reddit popped up. This cleared up my files real quick. Thanks again for all the hard work. I’ll be sure to tell my professors and likely other students.
Can we use your dictionary in libre office? Can you give gnu license free to use it? I think libreoffice needs oxt extension and some aff file or something to be added to make it work.Can I refer your work to gnu so that some techie will package it to be useful in libreoffice?
Check the license that comes along with this spell checker. Let us know here if you made it work with Libre Office. You will be helping someone needful.
Yes its already on its way…. https://github.com/glutanimate/wordlist-medicalterms-en/blob/master/README.md
But a lot of work….. thanks raj……
Hi! Thank you so much for this. You have a grateful transcriptionist from Puerto Rico.
I’m just wondering if you know if there is an English UK version of this please?
One of our friends, Calum J. Eadie, has built a UK spell checker with mine as the foundation. Find details and download link here.
Thanks a ton! I can’t tell you how much useful to not see those red underlines anymore. Makes working so much easier.
hi. did anyone get this to work on a iPad?
-med student
You’ve saved me after a hard disk failure while setting up my desktop for work in a hurry and having to do reconfiguring with MS Word. Don’t know if I’ll get my old configuration back with the medical dictionary that was installed but your dictionary is working really nicely so far. Thanks so much!
Thank you so much Raj. I am a medical teacher and it helps me to write their learning material much faster. God bless!
Hello,
First thank you for putting this up. I have been searching for something like this for my wife who is new to medical transcription. I downloaded from the link above and saw that the dictionary file was last modified in 2014. Are there any plans to update the list further? Also if you are using this can you add words to it within word?
Again thank you so very much, this will be a great help.
Thank you so much!!! You are really a blessing to people like me.
I had steadmans medical dictionary but its no longer compatable. This is a lifesaver! I’m in NP school and have some learning disabilities so I can misspell words so bad that they can’t be deciphered, this is wonderful! Thank you. Is there a donation page/link?
I am glad that I could help a student. Rather than accepting a donation, let it be my gift to you. Pay it forward.
Does this still work? When I try to download it by clicking the link it just takes me to your home page. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks!
Of course yes.
Transcribing medicals can be a time-consuming occupation — particularly when you’re transcribing imaging studies relative to an extensive TBI. The standard dictionary just doesn’t cut it obviously, and today, double checking every word for accuracy and spelling was getting me. Frontotemporoparietal? Type that one fifteen times and double check it to make yourself crazy. I googled, found, and added your dictionary, and it far outweighs my efforts of adding each word individually to my own custom dictionary. I’ve been transcribing medicals for closer to two decades and my custom dictionary was still incomplete. Thank you so much for this and for the work you put into it. I see comments from well over a decade ago, your product continues to help people. Bravo!
I even deleted hundreds of two or three-worded comments like ‘Thank you.’
Hi Raj,
First of all thanks for your spell check, works like a charm. Great Job.
I have a favor to ask. Do you by chance have any VBA (macro) for word 2016 to check male and female words by highlighting them. I got one one, but does not seem to work on windows 10/MS Word 2016 architecture. I would be grateful if you could provide or develop this VBA macro or give reference of some one who could do it. I don’t mind paying for it.
Thanks again.
Nope. I am helpless.