Adding dictionaries to the built-in Dictionary Application in Leopard

The Dictionary Application (Dict App for short) is really helpful at times when you are reading an eBook / web page. I even define my own shortcut key so that when I high light a word and press “Control + Command + A”, the dictionary app will come up straight away and show me the meaning of the word that I’ve high lighted.

But there is just one little problem…the Dict App only comes with a few built-in dictionaries…for instance if I want to know the Chinese meaning of a particular word, I’ll need to search online / use something else. It would be great if I can add more dictionaries and make it the “one stop” app that I’ll ever need.

Well, it turns out that with the help of DictUnifier, you can add all kinds of dictionaries to the built-in Dictionary Application in Leopard. Take a look of my list (I only use a handful of the dictionaries, others are for my friends)

Ok, so the list might be a bit too long but I hope you get the idea

Below is a step by step guide on how to add the dictionaries:

Step 1: Go to http://stardict.sourceforge.net/Dictionaries_dictd-www.dict.org.php and download the dictionaries that you will need. There are other dictionaries (like French / German / Chinese etc) on the web site too, so take your time and find the ones you need. Also, remember to rename your downloads so that it makes sense to you later on. For example, you can rename stardict-longman-2.4.2.tar.bz2 to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.tar.bz2 (don’t remove the .tar.bz2 extension!), trust me…you will probably need the full name later on

Step 2: Next, download DictUnifier 1.0 to your desktop. If the link provided doesn’t work (they may update the application later on), you can always search DictUnifier on Google; find their homepage and download it from there.

Step 3: Double click on the DictUnifier.dmg and you will get:

Step 4. Drag the DictUnifier to your Application folder:

Step 5: Double click on the DictUnifier in your Application folder:

Step 6: The DictUnifier app should come up in a few seconds. The interface is nice and simple:

Step 7: Now find one of the dictionaries that you have downloaded previously (Here I’ve chosen the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary) and single click on it so its selected:

Step 8: Now press the return key on your keyboard (which will allow you to rename the file):

Step 9: Select the name of the dictionary (in my case, its the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary) and press Command + C on your keyboard to copy the name. (or you can go: Edit -> Copy)

Step 10: After you’ve done that, rename the file to something thats easy to remember. In my case, I’ve rename it to:

Q. Wait a minute…why do I have to do this?

A. When I first started using the software, some of the dictionaries that I’ve downloaded from the StarDict website can’t be converted using DictUnifier! After some time of trial and error, I have figure out that its the file name that is causing the problem. So this is kind of like a “workaround” for the software.

Step 11: Click on the Choose button (or anywhere inside the circled area):

Step 12: Find the dictionary that you’ve just renamed and click on the Choose button:

As you can see, the Dictionary ID is not very meaningful:

Step 13: Just paste the name that you’ve previously copied into the Dictionary ID area and click on the arrow indicated in the screen shot below:

Step 14: Now you are all set and ready to go. Click on the Convert button to start the converting process:

When the process have finished, the Dict App should come up and you will see something like this:

Q. Didn’t we rename the Dictionary already? Shouldn’t it be Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary instead of just Oxford?
A. Well…don’t ask me That’s the way its. If you want the dictionary names to be more meaningful, just follow the steps below to rename the dictionaries manually (Don’t worry, its really easy!)

Step 15: Quit both the Dict App (just a reminder that Dict App means the built-in Dictionary Application in Leopard) and the DictUnifier:

Step 16: Go to your home folder (probably under your name, in my case, its called David) -> Library:

Step 17: Find the Dictionaries folder in the Library and open it up:

Step 18: Here you will find your dictionaries that you’ve converted. Our first step is to rename the folder to something more meaningful. (so that its easier for you to manage later on). You can rename the folder to anything you want, but remember to keep the “.dictionary” extension. E.g. You can rename it to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.dictionary

Step 19: After you have renamed the folder, open it up and you will see:

Step 20: Open up this folder as well, and you will see:

Step 21: Double click on the Info.plist:

Step 22: Click on the triangle next to the word Root so you can expand it:

Step 23: Here you have two places that you need to rename. One is the CFBundleDisplayName and the other is the CFBundleName. The CFBundleDisplayName is the name that you will see in here:

while the CFBundleName is the name that you will see in here:

(hope I didn’t have the names mixed up…but you will probably want to rename the both anyway)

Step 24: To change the names from Oxford to something else, place your mouse onto of the word Oxford, (left) click it once, wait for one second, and (left) click it again. Make sure you rename both of them:

Step 25: Now save your changes, quit the Property List Editor:

Now your Dictionary Application should display the dictionary names correctly:

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Are my steps clear enough?

Is this article helpful to you?

What things you did / didn’t like?

Feel free to leave your comments

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