Create text files to import into specialty dictionaries on Mac
After you set up a Japanese input source, you can use a spreadsheet or text-editing app to create a text file that contains a list of words to import as a speciality dictionary.
In an app on your Mac, enter each word on a new line in the text file.
For each word, enter the following elements in the order shown, separated by an ASCII comma (
,), then press Return.Word reading
,word,part of speech,(,,notes)Element
Description
Word reading
Enter the word reading using hiragana. It can’t be longer than 32 characters.
If you include ASCII commas and spaces in a word, put quotation marks (“”) around the word.
If you enter ASCII quotation marks (") in a word, place single-byte quotation marks around the word, then enter two continuous single-byte quotation marks around the single-byte quotation marks.
Word
Enter the desired conversion result. A word can’t be longer than 64 characters. The word can include any characters and symbols defined by the Unicode Consortium.
Part of speech
Specify the part of speech as one of the following:
common noun
sahen noun
proper noun
place name
adjective
adverb
suffix
verb
all other parts of speech
Notes
Notes are optional. Precede a note with two ASCII commas (
,,). Notes are not registered in the user dictionaries.A line can’t contain more than 127 characters. Homonyms and words with different parts of speech must appear on different lines.
To import your file, switch to a Japanese input source, click the Input menu in the menu bar, then choose Open Japanese - Kana Preferences or Open Japanese - Romaji Preferences.
Drag the file into the “Specialty dictionaries” box at the bottom of the preference pane.
Tip: You can also Control-click the “Specialty dictionaries” box, then choose Install Dictionary from the shortcut menu.