iOS4 has given the iPhone more than 100+ like features like folders,spell-check, enterprise support, backgrounding etc. However one feature that has gone unnoticed is adding words to the iPhone dictionary. Yes, its true. You can now add words and short-forms that we use in text messages and notes. However, the procedure to avail this feature is not that simple as it looks.
To add custom words to iPhone dictionary go to Settings and click on the General tab. General > Keyboards > International Keyboards > Add New Keyboard > Select Japanese Ten Key. Then go back to General > Keyboards > Edit User Dictionary where you can add unusual words and shorforms that will be recognized in any language. Don’t try and inquire why you need to activate an international keyboard Japan Ten Key. You can also use any Chinese keyboard to add custom words.
But the one problem that I have encountered is that even when we add the words to the dictionary we still get a annoying red underline to it as its considered to have a wrong spelling. Can’t help you about that. But this adding up of words helps you activate the spell-check and auto-correction feature of the iPhone.
iPhone / iPod touch downloads
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
The user dictionary seems designed to help people writing Japanese or Chinese. It allows users to pre-set which Chinese characters should appear when they type a phonetic version of a word. It’s commonly used for names of places and people and is a common feature of most character based input systems.
That’s why it’s appears when a Japanese or Chinese keyboard is activated.
Proppa shit that when u add words the dictionary a red line still comes up. Proppa wank!
Cant seem to get this to work….have added a couple of words to test and when i go into email and type the letters for autocorrect to correct it doesnt work? any ideas pls?
Damon,
Unfortunately the dictionary won’t do this. It’s only for the Japanese and Chinese character conversion dictionaries.
Oh ok, shame…..thanks. Just moved from blackberry 9700 to iphone4 and I used the autocorrect an awful lot on the blackberry. Thanks anyway
This solution does not work. Don’t waste your time trying it.
This DOES NOT WORK, please, don’t even bother trying, it’ll just be a waste of your time.
This does work, but has the side effect of making the 123 button smaller by adding a world symbol next to it.
this DOES work fine.
it may not autocorrect the words for you but it will stop you typing what you want and it autocorrecting to somthing else (names for example or the word shit to shot)
It did work with me. Try it, maybe it helps. Nice tutorial though.
Doesn’t work, offers hope though
I tried both the Chinese and Japanese keyboards mentioned here. It does create the ‘Edit User Dictionary’ option, however, words entered there don’t show up in autocorrect or spellcheck on my my iOS 4.1 iPhone-4.
For those saying it is working, it would be interesting to see if you’re able to provide screenshots of it doing so. I’ve tried it on a 3GS and 3 iPhone 4′s with the same results: it doesn’t work
worked for me
posted by metobe on 10.05.10 at 1:19 am:
worked for me
…Easy to type statements like that, care to substantiate it? I’ll bet not
It doesn’t auto correct when you miss spell the words you added, but it prevents it from auto correcting when you spell the word you added. The most annoying feature of auto-correct is when you want to say something not in the dictionary (especially at the end of a text since pressing send causes the word to change without chance of revision). This fix helped me a lot, thanks!
Just tried again, and what you described doesn’t work. An easy test is my initials — when I type them in lowercase they get corrected to all uppercase. I added them in lowercase to the custom dictionary using the steps outlined above and they are still corrected to uppercase when I type them. Very annoying as my primary email address my 3 initials and it looks mis-formatted if I don’t catch it before thinking I’m finished typing.
There is no consistent way to use a customized dictionary on with iOS, period…
worked for me. for years when i type ‘me’ it changes to ‘mr’ and drives me nuts. i just tested it and this worked.
i imagine that was some smart learning thing that went on in the past that I would love to undo, but in lieu of that….
Odd, typing ‘mr’ and ‘me’ has always worked without autocorrection kicking in.
Just tried it once more after the 4.2.1 update hoping it’d work now, no luck. As a test I created a blank note using the Notes app. Typed ‘hell’ and it was autocorrected to ‘he’ll’. I added ‘hell’ to the user dictionary and attempted the same again. The same autocorrect happened the 2nd try. I powered down my iPhone-4 and created a note again, same auotcorrect.
this doesn’t work. typing “hell” and getting “he’ll” automatically inserted is so goddamn annoying.
oh crap. I take it back. This DOES work.
I chose Chinese – Traditional (Pinyin) and added my words under “edit user dictionary”. Next to the fields “Word” and “Pinyin” I put “doin” so that it wouldn’t autocorrect “doin” to “soon”.
And by golly it worked.
oh wait. it’s not working again. what a pain in the ass
Finally i can type my name in emails!
Thanks!!!
Worked fine. The red line at the bottom can get a little annoying, but at least we can add our own words, considering Iphone doesn’t recognize my local languages…
Thanks!
Or go Android, where it intuitively adds them for you.
Sorry, but this still just will not work as of (literally) the end of 2010. I have a 3gs with the latest iOS4 version installed (4.2.1). When I go to Settings –> General –> Keyboard, there simply is no option called “Edit User Dictionary”; the area below “International Keyboards” is blank, grey screen real estate. I don’t know what kind of machine the author used to get that screen shot, but on the 3gs with 4.x, it just ain’t happenin’.
sas
this didn’t work, and furthermore when I tried to go back into the dictionary to edit one of the terms I had mis-spelled it calls up the wrong word – I clicked on the word “mond” and the screen pulled up “tues”
I don’t think this really does anything.
Works for me on 3gs with ios4.2.1.
Great help for people who mix different languages in text.
@SAS…read the tip again. your not implementing the japanese keyboard first.
It works. You just have to be smart enough to use your phone. Or read directions. Or both.
Thanks for the hint!!
define works.
As a test, my iPhone 3GS would always convert Passat (a VW auto) into Passer.
I followed the steps above, then added Passat to my dictionary.
My phone now accepts Passat as a word and does not auto-correct it to Passer, however it does leave it underlined in red.
works well enough.
DOES WORK AND THANKS . MY PREVIOUSLY FAULTY IPHONE 4, DID SOME HOW DECIDE THAT “ME” WOULD AUTOMATICALLY REPLACE WITH “MR”.
PISSED MR OFF TO KNOW END, BUT THAT MIGHT HAVE PLAYED A BIG PART IN FINDING ME’S WAY TO THE BOTTOM OF A PISSER.