Dashboard dictionary no longer offers a selection of sources.

[BudVitoff]

Running under macOS Sierra.

The dictionary widget has stopped showing its choice of sources to use (English, Thesaurus, etc.) and I don't seem to be able to do anything to get them to show. It's possible that this problem started when I recently installed Sierra. Any ideas?

 

[MacInWin]

Can't help, but I can say it's working for me in Sierra. Maybe remove it with the "-" and put it back with the"+"?

 

[toMACsh]

Ok here, I think. Just updated Sierra yesterday. I get "Dictionary" "Thesaurus" or "Apple" as choices. Good suggestion above. Let us know if it works.

 

[BudVitoff]

Sorry, no joy. Is that the sort of thing that can happen to a senior device? My Mac is about eight years old.

Also, did they change this for Sierra? I used to have Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Spanish-something.

 

[Slydude]

It's possible that the options you used to see have somehow gotten unchecked. Launch Dictionary and open its preferences. Make sure the options you want to appear are checked. You might have to scroll through the list to get to the one's you want. Close preferences, quit Dictionary and re-launch it.

If that does not work we can try locating the preference file and moving it out of its folder. this will force Dictionary to create a new preference file.

 

[BudVitoff]

Sly, between you and MacInWin, I'm a winner! I corrected the checkboxes in the Dictionary App, and when that didn't have any effect, I did Mac's - and + routine, and everything is good!

Thank you for the help, gentlemen!

 

[Slydude]

Glad that worked out for you. This might be a good tip for the Sunday show.

 

[MacInWin]

Re-install is kind of brute force, but for widgets, it's low effort and low risk so why not give it a go?!

 

[BudVitoff]

Mac, I'm confused.

About four hours after I posted a thank-you to you and Slydude for a successful solution, you come up with another suggestion.

Why am I confused?

 

[MacInWin]

Don't be confused. The "-", "+" routine basically uninstalled and reinstalled the widget. It's brute force way to drive it back to default settings, but since it's a widget, it's easy to do and low risk to you. If the problem were with a more sophisticated application, say Word, or Photoshop, uninstalling/re-installing is definitely the LAST resort. But with a widget, it's painless so why not? That is all I meant. No confusion intended!