Signal should allow words to be added to the dictionary

[konomikitten]

• I have searched open and closed issues for duplicates

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Bug Description

Signal should allow words to be added to the dictionary

Steps to Reproduce

1. Type a word the dictionary doesn't have
2. Open the right click menu
3. There's no option to add the word to the dictionary

Platform Info

Signal Version: v1.32.0

Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux bullseye/sid

Linked Device Version: Android 7.1.2

[josh-signal]

I'm not sure if this is a feature we want to support. Since you're on Linux I suppose you're using the hunspell dictionaries that come with your distro, you should be able to add a word to that dictionary and it'll be accessible throughout your entire machine. A quick search through stackexchange turned up this answer. I'm going to tag this with feature request.

[konomikitten]

A quick search through stackexchange turned up this answer.

I tried following the directions there but I don't have hunspell installed just aspell, adding words to ~/.aspell.en.pws as per the stackexchange post didn't make Signal pick them up.

[josh-signal]

@konomikitten that's strange, Signal only uses hunspell dictionaries for linux. The dictionaries are commonly located /usr/share

[konomikitten]

@josh-signal I do have a single hunspell dictionary installed there but that is from a separate package, I don't have the binaries for hunspell which the guide suggests I use. The guide also mentions even if I did it only lasts for the current session or something. I spent a good 15 minutes searching the hunspell manual files to see it their was a user file for words but found nothing. Therefore it seems the only way to add words to a dictionary for Signal and have them persist across reboots would be for Signal to implement the feature itself.

[Jamesnastics]

I have the same issue under Linux and Windows 10 desktop applications. I don't want to use the American dictionary as I am Australian and use Australian/British English.

[josh-signal]

Since my last comment we've switched to use electron's built-in spellchecker which also uses hunspell dictionaries under the hood.

[Jamesnastics]

Thanks @josh-signal
How about under Windows 10?

[josh-signal]

@Jamesnastics the spellchecking on Windows 10 is provided by the OS so to add words I believe you can edit the .dic files that should be in the %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Spelling folder. You can open these files with notepad and edit them.

[Jamesnastics]

Thanks very much for that :-) Have a great day!

…

On Sat, 20 Jun 2020 at 13:28, Josh Perez ***@***.***> wrote: @Jamesnastics <https://github.com/Jamesnastics> the spellchecking on Windows 10 is provided by the OS so to add words I believe you can edit the .dic files that should be in the %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Spelling folder. You can open these files with notepad and edit them. — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#4012 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABXCTO7GOKVEN7O65H2SWQ3RXQUFRANCNFSM4LCCWI3A> .

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[chaserene]

Since my last comment we've switched to use electron's built-in spellchecker which also uses hunspell dictionaries under the hood.

does that somehow enable adding words to the dictionary? I still can't do it.

this issue may be related, it suggests it's not possible: electron-userland/electron-spellchecker#36

[aquarichy]

I guess this is closed, but that's a bit upsetting. The guidance about adding to hunspell user dictionaries doesn't seem to work from personal testing. Using lsof, it seems the only dictionary file signal-desktop uses on my system is this:

~/.var/app/org.signal.Signal/config/Signal/Dictionaries/en-US-10-1.bdic

And it's not in a trivial format that I can just edit.

This is also the only application I use that doesn't support user addition of terms.