Advanced Tutorial: View and Edit the Autocorrect Dictionary for Free

[errade]

How to edit the Auto-Correct Dictionary.

*Note: Where the directory is /en_us/ you should choose your local region. For example, I live in Great Britain so I would choose the folder /en_gb/

1) Install Internalz from Preware
2) Hit Menu -> Preferences and turn Master Mode to ON
3) Navigate to /etc/palm/autoreplace/en_us/ (or choose your region*)
4) Open the file text-edit-autoreplace
5) Add/Edit/Remove entries as you'd like - use the format dan|daniel or bb|bye
6) Restart Luna (or reset your device)

I highly recommend backing up text-edit-autoreplace before editing

Also, it's likely that when you update your firmware this file will be overwritten, so keep a copy of your edited version that you can apply again after you've updated. Enjoy

[errade]

As knobbysideup points out, if you're able to use vi and you have rooted your Pre, you can just edit the relevant files in-line from a terminal. Remember to remount the partition as read-write first.

[friguy3]

Thank you so much. I needed this bad as there are some words I don't want to auto changed and it is. Very annoying.

[Shadowcat]

First, let me say thank you for writing up this tutorial. It should be very helpful to those that are looking for a free option. I would like to make some corrections, however. First of all, IMO, the instructions as you've written them are suitable for people with almost any level of skill, not just advanced users. If you've been able to install WebOS Quick Install on your computer, you can follow these instructions. This is the easiest method of editing your autocorrect entries and I don't want anyone to be turned away by thinking it's for advanced users only. In fact, these instructions do not require you to have any knowledge of Linux at all.

Second, I'm not sure that I would describe this as a patch at all. In the very loosest definition of the term, in that you are making changes to a system file, I suppose it could be considered a patch, but since it's a set of instructions on how to edit a file and not something that is installed, I can't see calling it a patch. This is not something that could ever be submitted to Preware to be included in their patch list. That may be nitpicky, but it leads me to my last point...

I don't believe you need to reverse this before an update. The reason that patches used to need to be removed is because when an update happens, many system files, but not all, are overwritten with new files, and the way that certain things used to be done can be changed by a new update. Considering that text-edit-autoreplace has been the file that's been used for autocorrections since day one, it's unlikely for that to change in the near future. Also, the file is just a list of words that are used by the autoreplace code, and not actually code in itself, so making changes to the file isn't the same as making changes to code. It is possible that the new update might overwrite text-edit-autoreplace, and you could lose any additions/changes that you may have made, but there's no way that not reversing your changes will cause an issue with an update. As long as you keep a current copy of the file on your computer with all the changes that you've made to it, you can simply re-copy the file back to your Pre if the update wiped out your changes. Does that make sense?

Let me just also add that Notepad does work fine, but you need to make sure that if it saves as a .txt file, that you remove the .txt extension before you send it to your Pre. If you have your folder settings set to not display file extensions for known file types, you'll need to change that setting in order to be able to remove the .txt.

[Veritas06]

Wouldn't it be possible to make this a patch? At least for each individual user? If there was a bunch of terms someone wanted to change ( like you suggested, bbl, ttys, etc ) they could use Jason's Diff Creator to make it a patch, install it to their own device, & when an update comes, just remove the patch instead of having to get to the computer to restore the original file ( if necessary as Shadowcat said ).

I might give this a try just to see if it works.

EDIT:
& yep, i really did not think before i posted this... Of course it can be made into a patch, there's those few in the Repo... Sorry about that.

[errade]

Originally Posted by Shadowcat

First, let me say thank you for writing up this tutorial. It should be very helpful to those that are looking for a free option. I would like to make some corrections, however. First of all, IMO, the instructions as you've written them are suitable for people with almost any level of skill, not just advanced users. If you've been able to install WebOS Quick Install on your computer, you can follow these instructions. This is the easiest method of editing your autocorrect entries and I don't want anyone to be turned away by thinking it's for advanced users only. In fact, these instructions do not require you to have any knowledge of Linux at all.

Second, I'm not sure that I would describe this as a patch at all. In the very loosest definition of the term, in that you are making changes to a system file, I suppose it could be considered a patch, but since it's a set of instructions on how to edit a file and not something that is installed, I can't see calling it a patch. This is not something that could ever be submitted to Preware to be included in their patch list. That may be nitpicky, but it leads me to my last point...

I don't believe you need to reverse this before an update. The reason that patches used to need to be removed is because when an update happens, many system files, but not all, are overwritten with new files, and the way that certain things used to be done can be changed by a new update. Considering that text-edit-autoreplace has been the file that's been used for autocorrections since day one, it's unlikely for that to change in the near future. Also, the file is just a list of words that are used by the autoreplace code, and not actually code in itself, so making changes to the file isn't the same as making changes to code. It is possible that the new update might overwrite text-edit-autoreplace, and you could lose any additions/changes that you may have made, but there's no way that not reversing your changes will cause an issue with an update. As long as you keep a current copy of the file on your computer with all the changes that you've made to it, you can simply re-copy the file back to your Pre if the update wiped out your changes. Does that make sense?

Let me just also add that Notepad does work fine, but you need to make sure that if it saves as a .txt file, that you remove the .txt extension before you send it to your Pre. If you have your folder settings set to not display file extensions for known file types, you'll need to change that setting in order to be able to remove the .txt.

Thanks Shadowcat, I think you are correct on all counts. I admit I was overly cautious about this - I wanted to help people get the most out of their devices but I also don't want to be responsible for breaking them so I plastered warnings all over the place to cover them and myself.

I will update the original post to include some of your suggestions,
SqyArc

[Shadowcat]

Originally Posted by Veritas06

Wouldn't it be possible to make this a patch? At least for each individual user? If there was a bunch of terms someone wanted to change ( like you suggested, bbl, ttys, etc ) they could use Jason's Diff Creator to make it a patch, install it to their own device, & when an update comes, just remove the patch instead of having to get to the computer to restore the original file ( if necessary as Shadowcat said ).

I might give this a try just to see if it works.

EDIT:
& yep, i really did not think before i posted this... Of course it can be made into a patch, there's those few in the Repo... Sorry about that.

Well, as for the patches that are available in the repo, they make a static list of changes to text-edit-autoreplace. So while it is indeed possible to write a patch to add a specific list of words to the file, I don't have a clue how you could make a patch that would let each user input a bunch of different entries. I suppose someone could make a blank template and then each person who wanted to use it would edit that blank template and fill in their own list, but for frequent edits, I think the above method is probably the easiest that can be done for free. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I make new additions to my dictionary on almost a daily basis. Then again, I use the autoreplace feature more for shortcuts rather than spellchecks, so whenever I'm texting, I'm always running across yet another word that I want to shorten, and since I use AutoCorrect Edit, it's convenient for me to make changes frequently.

If someone did want to try to make a blank template kind of patch, keep in mind that while the other patches seem to make a point of keeping the text-edit-autoreplace entries in alphabetical order, that's not actually necessary. AutoCorrect Edit always adds new entries to the bottom of text-edit-autoreplace, so my file is definitely not completely in alphabetical order and yet my corrections work perfectly.

[Shadowcat]

Originally Posted by SqyArc

Thanks Shadowcat, I think you are correct on all counts. I admit I was overly cautious about this - I wanted to help people get the most out of their devices but I also don't want to be responsible for breaking them so I plastered warnings all over the place to cover them and myself.

Hey, nothing wrong with being cautious and CYA! But in this case, considering that no actual code is being changed, I believe you'll be safe. Good job!

[pip smith]

Can't believe I only now stumbled onto this, this is great and perfect for what I need. Two problems solved in a single day by SqyArc.

[iTz Nicholas72]

Thanks so much for the tutorial. Now I can finally type ur and get your!!! And type idk and get I don't know!!! I'm going to look so much smarter now all thanks to your tutorial.

[prubin]

I can get it to my desktop, but when I open text-edit-autoreplace it is blank.

[pip smith]

@prubin
Which file did you pull? US or UK?

[prubin]

Originally Posted by pip smith

@prubin
Which file did you pull? US or UK?

i reloaded and it is there but it is chaotic and I can't figure out how to edit it.

[pip smith]

Did you open in notepad or different program? It should open in a really nice self explanatory way incorrect|correct
incorrect|correct
and follows this pattern all the way alphabetically.

[toddfoutz]

Originally Posted by prubin

I can get it to my desktop, but when I open text-edit-autoreplace it is blank.

This happened to me as well. I've Received the US vers of the file and when I try to open via NotePad or NotePad++, the file is blank.

I've tried this twice now and had the same result.

Obviously, I'm doing some thing wrong.

Thoughts???

[pip smith]

Only new to this myself, I'm sure SqyArc will have a better answer. All I can think, is possibly check that your grabing the right file but I should imagine you have done that. Or maybe are you using any of the auto-replace patches or the apps? This maybe could affect the file your grabbing.
I must admit mine went pretty smoothly.

[toddfoutz]

I have HAD some auto replace patches and apps on my device before including Rick Hong's demo. But I have checked via WOSQI Device Management and I see no remnants of any such patches or apps. However, I do wonder if there's something hanging around on my phone from these that may be interfering. Hmmmm....

[pip smith]

You could try EFV or webOS repair utility since neither harm your device but I'm not sure if they will locate the specific files that could be corrupted. Or it might be worth waiting for the maintainer of this thread since he might have a much better idea than me of what's wrong.

[toddfoutz]

I'm waiting.

[Cooknn]

Originally Posted by SqyArc

As knobbysideup points out, if you're able to use vi and you have rooted your Pre, you can just edit the relevant files in-line from a terminal. Remember to remount the partition as read-write first.

...and make sure you back it up (if using vi). As mentioned above, it will get clobbered when there is a webOS update.