macOS Dictionary Builder

Python script to convert a tabular text file into a macOS .dictionary bundle.

• Special feature: translations in Spotlight results

Install

pip3 install macos-dictionary-builder

Build your own dictionary

Download your own copy of the Vocabulary Database from dict.cc. Then run this script on the extracted txt file.

Easy-usage script

Choose one, both of these are equivalent:

macos-dictionary-builder de-en.txt

python3 -m macos_dictionary_builder de-en.txt

Python module usage

from macos_dictionary_builder import parser, meta, devkit

# step 1: parse translation entries
with open('sample.txt', 'r') as fp:
    count = parser.makeDictXML(fp, 'data.xml')
    print(count, 'entries')

# step 2: create metadata
plist = meta.makeMetaPlistDict('bundleId', name='...', ...)
meta.writeMetaPlist('meta.plist', plist)

# step 3: create dictionary
devkit.callDevKitScript('Sample.dictionary', xml='data.xml', plist='meta.plist')

or call the individual modules separately:

python3 -m macos_dictionary_builder.parser sample.txt -o data.xml
python3 -m macos_dictionary_builder.meta meta.plist -b uid -n Sample ...
python3 -m macos_dictionary_builder.devkit Sample data.xml meta.plist

About this project

I've been using the pre-compiled dictionary by dict.cc. My workflow: type a word into Spotlight and immediately get a translation for the word. But ever since macOS 10.15 (or so), Spotlight stopped doing that. The Spotlight entry would just show my searched word, but no translation. Till now, I was forced to open the Dictionary app to see the translation.

So, after years of postponing, I finally found time to follow up on this project. Initially, I hoped to rebuild a new dictionary with the old python script by bernie43. However, the script is very old (Python 2) and does not work anymore. I've also seen the new repo by LeChatParle who ported the code to Python 3, but even this repo does not show the translation in Spotlight.

After a few modifications to the old code, I threw away everything and started from scratch. My code is a bit more modular but still restricted to the dict.cc style of formatting (one line per translation). E.g. the beolingus format won't work because each line contains multiple translations and plurals.

Future work: additional parsers for other formats.

Dictionary Development Kit

This project relies on the Dictionary Development Kit by Apple. The bundled version is extracted from Additional Tools for Xcode 12.5 (latest for macOS 10.15). If you want a newer version, download via the link above and place it in:

~/.config/macos_dictionary_builder/Dictionary Development Kit