How to Create an Exclusion Dictionary in Microsoft Word

This tutorial shows how to create an exclusion dictionary in Microsoft Word. An exclusion dictionary is a list of words that will always be marked as incorrect by Word’s Editor even if they are spelled correctly. You may want to add frequently confused or “inappropriate” words to your exclusion dictionary.

This tutorial is also available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.

Watch more than 200 other writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.

Important Notes: These steps are for Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2021, Word 2019, Word 2016, and Word 2013 running on Windows. These steps won’t work on older versions of Windows or on a Mac.

Your exclusion dictionary applies to your entire Office suite (e.g., Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook), not just Word.

How to Create an Exclusion Dictionary in Microsoft Word

The location of your exclusion dictionary may differ from the location shown here.

Press the Windows key + E on your keyboard to open the File Explorer. (Alternatively, you can search for “File Explorer” in the search box in the taskbar.)
Select Windows (C:) in the File Explorer.

Windows File Explorer C Drive Sidebar Option — Figure 1. Windows (C:)

Select the Users folder.

Users folder in the File Explorer — Figure 2. Users folder

Select your username folder. For example, my username is Erin.

Username folder in the File Explorer — Figure 3. Username folder

Select the View tab.

File Explorer View Tab — Figure 4. View tab

Select Hidden items to show the hidden folders.

Hidden Items option in the File Explorer — Figure 5. Hidden items option

Select the AppData folder.

AppData folder in the File Explorer — Figure 6. AppData folder

Select the Roaming folder.

Roaming folder in the File Explorer — Figure 7. Roaming folder

Select the Microsoft folder.

Microsoft folder in the File Explorer — Figure 8. Microsoft folder

Select the UProof folder.

UProof folder in the File Explorer — Figure 9. UProof folder

Locate the file that says ExcludeDictionary followed by a letter and number code matching your language and geographic region.

Each language–region combination has its own exclusion dictionary file. So, you may see more than one exclusion file in your UProof folder if you have used more than one language while working in Word or your other Office apps.

Here are several English-language examples:

English—United States	ExcludeDictionaryEN0409.lex
English—United Kingdom	ExcludeDictionaryEN0809.lex
English—Canada	ExcludeDictionaryEN1009.lex
English—Australia	ExcludeDictionaryEN0C09.lex
English—India	ExcludeDictionaryEN4009.lex

You can find the complete list of codes in the Documentation section of the Microsoft website.

ExcludeDictionary file in the File Explorer — Figure 10. ExcludeDictionary file

Right-click the file and select Open with from the shortcut menu.

ExcludeDictionary file shortcut menu in the File Explorer — Figure 11. ExcludeDictionary file shortcut menu

Select Notepad from the “How do you want to open this file?” dialog box. You may have to select the More Apps link to locate Notepad. (You can also choose WordPad.)

"How do you want to open this file?" dialog box — Figure 12. “How do you want to open this file? dialog box

Select the OK button.

OK button in the "How do you want to open this file?" dialog box — Figure 13. OK button

Type the words you want to exclude (i.e., the words you want Word to mark as incorrect) on separate lines in Notepad.

Notepad with list of words for exclusion dictionary — Figure 14. Notepad with list of excluded words

Select the File tab.

Select Save from the drop-down menu.

Save option in the File menu in Notepad — Figure 16. Save option

Select the X to close Notepad.

Closing X in Notepage — Figure 17. Notepad closing X

Select the X to close the File Explorer.

If Word is open, save your file, close Word, and then reopen it. Your exclusion dictionary changes should take effect after you reopen Word and run the Editor.