Dictionaries

If you want Grammarly to stop flagging specific words as misspelled, you can add those words to an application dictionary.

A Grammarly for Developers app can support up to 20 dictionaries, and each dictionary can support up to 10,000 words. You can configure the Grammarly Text Editor Plugin to use any combination of dictionaries, giving you the flexibility to support different kinds of terminology across your app.

Application dictionaries are only available on the Plus plan. Learn moreopen in new window about our plans.

How it works

When you want certain terms to no longer be flagged as misspelled for your users, you can create a dictionary in the App Console and add words to it. Then, you can configure the Grammarly Text Editor Plugin to use one or more application dictionaries.

Note that an application dictionary is different from a personal dictionary. Dictionaries for applications are created and managed in the App Console and apply to all users of your app. A personal dictionary is managed by an individual user as part of their Grammarly account, and is only available for that individual if they connect their account to your app.

Create new dictionary

To create a dictionary, complete the following steps.

1. Open the App Console by choosing an application from My Appsopen in new window.
2. Select Dictionaries in the left menu.
3. Select Add new dictionary.
4. Give the dictionary a name and select Create. You can edit the dictionary name at any time.
5. Review the dictionary status. By default, the status is On.
6. Review the alias. By default, the alias is set to the dictionary name, but it can be changed at any time.
7. Build your dictionary by adding individual words or importing a list of words.

Dictionary name

The Dictionary name is used to identify a dictionary in the App Console. It will never be shown to your application's users.

You provide a name initially when creating a dictionary, and you can change the name at any time. When changing the name of a dictionary, press Save to persist the change.

Dictionary status

The Dictionary status in the App Console indicates whether the dictionary is ready to use. When you create a new dictionary, its status is On by default. When changing the status of a dictionary, press Save to persist the change.

To start using dictionaries in your app, you will additionally need to change your Grammarly Text Editor Plugin configuration. You can configure the plugin to use all dictionaries that are On, or you can select specific dictionaries to use by providing their aliases. No matter what your configuration is, the plugin won't use a dictionary if its status is Off.

Alias

The alias is the unique value that you will provide in the dictionaries configuration option to select this dictionary to use.

If you change the alias, remember to update all references in your configuration from the old value to the new value.

Manage words

After you create a dictionary, you can add and delete individual words, or import a list of words from a CSV file. You can also download the words in the dictionary to a CSV file at any time.

When managing a dictionary, you can add and delete words individually, or you can manage words in the CSV file itself, then use the import process to add, remove, or update multiple words at one time. We recommend that you download your current CSV file before importing a new file, as the entire contents of the dictionary are replaced during import.

• Add words
• Delete words
• Import list
• Download CSV
• CSV file format

Add words

To add words to a dictionary individually, complete the following steps. Note that up to 10,000 words can be added to a dictionary.

1. Open the App Console by choosing an application from My Appsopen in new window.
2. Select Dictionaries in the left menu.
3. For the relevant dictionary, select Edit.
4. Within the Manage Words section, type a word, then select Add word.

TIP

Note that dictionary entries must be single words without spaces or special characters such as #, $, %, &, or '.

Delete words

To delete words from a dictionary individually, complete the following steps.

1. Open the App Console by choosing an application from My Appsopen in new window.
2. Select Dictionaries in the left menu.
3. For the relevant dictionary, select Edit.
4. Within the Manage Words section, for the word you wish to delete, select the Trash icon.
5. After reviewing the warning, Select Delete word.

WARNING

The delete action can't be undone and after a word is deleted from the dictionary, it can't be recovered.

Import list

To import a list of words from a CSV file, complete the following steps. Note that up to 10,000 words can be added to a dictionary.

1. Open the App Console by choosing an application from My Appsopen in new window.

2. Select Dictionaries in the left menu.

3. For the relevant dictionary, select Edit.

4. Within the Manage Words section, select Import list.

5. Follow the recommended steps for maintaining a CSV file and, after reviewing the warning, press Next.

6. Select your CSV file, then press Import.

WARNING

When a list of words is imported to a dictionary, all existing words in the dictionary will be replaced. The replaced words cannot be recovered.

Download CSV

To export the existing list of words to a CSV file, complete the following steps. Note that export is only available after a few words have been added to the dictionary.

1. Open the App Console by choosing an application from My Appsopen in new window.
2. Select Dictionaries in the left menu.
3. For the relevant dictionary, select Edit.
4. Within the Manage Words section, select Download CSV to save the file on your computer.

CSV file format

When importing a list of words, the import file must adhere to the following format. Additionally, when downloading a list of words, the same format is returned as a new file on your computer.

In the following example which adheres to the file format, note that the column header (line 1) is titled as Word and that the dictionary word entries (apple, orange, banana) are separated and delimited by new lines. In total, this example contains one required column header and three dictionary word entries.

Word
apple
orange
banana

Delete dictionary

To delete a dictionary, complete the following steps.

1. Open the App Console by choosing an application from My Appsopen in new window.
2. Select Dictionaries in the left menu.
3. For the relevant dictionary, select Edit.
4. Within the Delete dictionary section, select Delete dictionary.
5. Type the name of the dictionary and, after reviewing the warning, select Delete dictionary.

WARNING

The dictionary and all its words will be deleted permanently and can't be recovered.

Configuration

In order to use dictionaries in your app, you will need to set the dictionaries configuration option for the Grammarly Text Editor Plugin.

• To use all dictionaries with a Dictionary status of On, set dictionaries to "on". Note the status of your dictionaries before making this change in production.
• To stop using dictionaries, set dictionaries to "off".
• To activate one dictionary, set dictionaries to the alias of the dictionary.
• To activate multiple dictionaries, set dictionaries to a list of the aliases of the dictionaries.

Configuration example

Let's consider four example dictionaries for an app integrated with the Grammarly Text Editor SDK for JavaScript. Note that Dictionary B has a dictionary status of Off.

• Dictionary A:
  • Dictionary status: On
  • Alias: dictionary-a
• Dictionary B:
  • Dictionary status: Off
  • Alias: dictionary-b
• Dictionary C:
  • Dictionary status: On
  • Alias: dictionary-c
• Dictionary D:
  • Dictionary status: On
  • Alias: dictionary-d

If you set the following configuration, the plugin will use all dictionaries that are On, which are currently A, C, and D.

const pluginElement = document.querySelector("grammarly-editor-plugin");
pluginElement.config = { dictionaries: "on" };

To tell the plugin to only use Dictionary A, set the following configuration.

pluginElement.config = { dictionaries: "dictionary-a" };

To tell the plugin to use Dictionary A and Dictionary C, set the following configuration. Note that this configuration uses a list of aliases, with spaces between each alias.

pluginElement.config = { dictionaries: "dictionary-a dictionary-c" };

To tell the plugin to use Dictionary A and Dictionary B, set the following configuration. Note that Dictionary B will not be ready to use by the plugin until you set the status for Dictionary B to On.

pluginElement.config = { dictionaries: "dictionary-a dictionary-b" };

Example

Give dictionaries a try by navigating to our demo appopen in new window.

Notice in the demo that the word printf is not flagged as a misspelling. Contrast this experience against our online demoopen in new window. In the online demo, which uses default configurations, printf in an example sentence like "printf is a function." is flagged as a misspelling, with underlines and a suggestion card to accept or dismiss the suggestion.