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The BEST way to use dictionary - Seriously!

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James Philp said:
Sorry but the office one sucks! I have to ctrl-click, get a bunch of options (about formatting yada yada yada) and then go to dictionary, it then opens up a separate panel (as it always does) and has the definition then - rubbish implementation! You can't just mouse over words like with the apple version.
Click to expand...

That's because no one expects MS to have the easiest coolest feature like we do with Macs. :rolleyes:
 
snickelfritz said:
Try this:
Command-Shift-4, followed by Command-Control-D, then click on a word; the definition will pop-up. Now mouse over other words and the definitions will pop-up like rollover buttons. =P
Click on a non-text area to turn off the mouse-over behavior.
Click to expand...


excellent tip! :D

also - for the original cmd+ctrl+d tip... no need to open up Dictionary or anything beforehand. cmd+ctrl+D worked for me since the start.
 
Yeah, it's a bummer NONE of the apps I use every day work yet. Maybe safari is the way to go now. Used to be safari would choke due to a memory leak. Now it seems firefox gets beachballs every time i open more than five tabs at once.
 
Dictionary via Preview?

There's no way to use Dictionary from within Preview, is there? I have tons of PDF ebooks and a context menu lookup would be awesome. I'm new to Mac so perhaps there's some preference button or plugin I'm overlooking. If not, then I'll just have to copy and paste into Dictionary.
 
montom said:
There's no way to use Dictionary from within Preview, is there? I have tons of PDF ebooks and a context menu lookup would be awesome. I'm new to Mac so perhaps there's some preference button or plugin I'm overlooking. If not, then I'll just have to copy and paste into Dictionary.
Click to expand...
Highlight the word (you might need to do command-2 in Preview first), then from the menu pick Preview->Services->Look Up in Dictionary. It's not as slick as in other programs, but it's there.
 
Thanks, I'm sure in time the dictionary context menu function will be integrated into Preview. Will use the services -> dictionary function for now. Better than leafing through a hardcopy.
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Thanks James – I knew about this feature but couldn't for the life of me get it to work. I like to tidy away my apps into neat little folders but didn't realise it would break the dictionary. I've moved it back and problem solved!
Click to expand...

I used to do this back in OS 9 but since OS X its always better to leave them exactly where Apple puts them, as the software update feature and obviously services like this, seem to need to have a predictable path to work properly.

Lots of people on this forum who say they don't get this or that software update even though the app is installed, usual reason is they have moved the App.
 
Please help!

The cmd-ctrl-d used to work for me... Now it doesn't! I've already repaired permissions (would that even help?!) and I haven't moved the dictionary app outta the applications folder. :( Any suggestions?
 
devilot76 said:
The cmd-ctrl-d used to work for me... Now it doesn't! I've already repaired permissions (would that even help?!) and I haven't moved the dictionary app outta the applications folder. :( Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Are you sure you're trying it in a Cocoa application, Devilot?
 
mkrishnan said:
Are you sure you're trying it in a Cocoa application, Devilot?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what a Cocoa application is. It used to work for me in Safari (ie on MR), but now it won't work. When I hit the three keys I hear a little "pop" or "click" type sound but nothing shows up anymore. :(
 
devilot76 said:
I'm not sure what a Cocoa application is. It used to work for me in Safari (ie on MR), but now it won't work. When I hit the three keys I hear a little "pop" or "click" type sound but nothing shows up anymore. :(
Click to expand...

Hmmm...Safari is a Cocoa application. It's an API set. Some applications don't work with the dictionary, such as Firefox, because they were not written with that API set...so the text in them does not inherit the property of being, erm, lookupable. But Safari was.

Is the beep you get the same as your system error beep sound?

Some steps:
1) Go to system prefs -> keyboard & mouse -> keyboard shortcuts, and make sure the one for the dictionary is on and has not for some odd reason changed away from cmd-ctrl-D.

2) Try to press cmd-ctrl-D anywhere on a page, but not necessarily on a word, and then after you press and release, mouse over a word.

3) Try going into the following directory:

/users/(you)/library/preferences/

(where you is your home directory) And trash the following two files:

- com.apple.PopupDictDaemon.plist
- com.apple.Dictionary.plist

and then /users/(you)/library/caches/

and trash the following directories:

- Dictionary
- com.apple.dictionarymanager
- popupdictdaemon

You may need to restart after you do all of this to get the daemon running again.
 
This is another awesome lil mac os tick! One I shall be plodding down in my lil black book of mac hints
 
mkrishnan said:
Some steps:
1) Go to system prefs -> keyboard & mouse -> keyboard shortcuts, and make sure the one for the dictionary is on and has not for some odd reason changed away from cmd-ctrl-D.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much. Man, do I feel lame. I must have once gone there and set my keyboard shortcut to F1 instead of the default. Thank you so much though, or else I would have completely forgotten what the key was and how to change it! :eek:
 
I have found the only browser it works in is Safari, no support for firefox or camino which is a shame..

SHadOW ;)
 
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