Overview

What Custom Dictionary is, when to use it, and core concepts.

Use the custom dictionary API to manage shared, organization-owned wordlists.

Words in an enabled custom dictionary are treated as correct during spellcheck.

Command name: custom_dictionary

An access key is required for this command. See Access key.

When to use it

Use custom dictionary when the wordlist is:

• Shared across many users

• Managed by admins or automation

• Split by language

• Part of a structured workflow (create, enable/disable, audit, delete)

Use User custom dictionary API when the wordlist is:

• Owned by an end user

• Mutable at runtime

• Not tied to a language

Key capabilities

• Create multiple named dictionaries.

• Assign a language per dictionary.

• Enable or disable a dictionary without deleting it.

• Add, remove, or replace a dictionary wordlist.

• List dictionaries (metadata) or fetch words (full wordlist).

Key concepts

• Dictionary ID (id)

  • Numeric value assigned by the server.

  • Save it after create. You can’t manage the dictionary without it.

• Description (description)

  • Human-readable label.

  • Must be unique per account.

• Language (lang)

  • Language code like en_US.

  • A dictionary affects spellcheck for its language.

• State (state)

  • true: enabled and used in spellcheck.

  • false: disabled and excluded from spellcheck.

Disabled dictionaries are excluded from spellcheck silently. They remain accessible via API.

Limits and validation

Word rules

• Max 63 characters per word

• No spaces

• No punctuation or special characters

Words are validated at request parse time. Invalid words reject the request before any action runs.

Limits

• Maximum 500 KB per dictionary file

Cloud

The maximum number of dictionaries depends on your current plan.

Self-hosted

Configurable via the CustDictsLimit AppServer parameter.

Actions

Action

Create a dictionary

Docs

Create dictionary (create)

Action

Delete dictionaries

Docs

Delete dictionary (delete)

Action

Add or replace words

Docs

Add list of words (addwords)

Action

Remove words

Docs

Remove words (deletewords)

Action

Fetch a dictionary wordlist

Docs

Get words from dictionary (getwords)

Action

List dictionaries (metadata)

Docs

List dictionaries (getdicts)

Action

Rename or enable/disable

Docs

Edit dictionary metadata (edit)

Next steps

• Follow the end-to-end flow in Getting started.

• Look up all inputs in Parameters reference.

• Learn response semantics in Response format.

getdicts returns metadata only.

Use getwords to fetch the actual word list.