Dictionary shortcut stops working; linked to keyboard viewer and character palette disappearance

Monday, June 30th

Mac OS X has a dictionary/thesaurus that can be accessed with the ctrl-cmd-D keys, in which a user hovers the mouse over a word and presses those keys to invoke a dictionary lookup on that word. This feature can also be accessed by the mouse's contextual menu in some applications. Many users seem to be experiencing a problem with this shortcut, as described by Apple Discussions poster strobexii:

"I have the dictionary keyboard shortcut enabled in my Preferences, but pressing Ctrl-Cmd-D doesn't bring up the dictionary. I've tried it in several cocoa apps, but it never works."

When the issue occurs, the dictionary lookup process itself seems intact, since users can successfully look up words with the dictionary by using the mouse contextual menu where it is available. However, the keyboard shortcut for doing the same thing does not work. Additionally, in the keyboard system preferences the "ctrl-cmd-D" key combination is enabled for the dictionary and is not in conflict with other commands.

While the exact cause is unclear, users have linked the problem to another issue associated with the "International" system preferences, in which the keyboard viewer and character palette do not show up as options to be included in the international system menu.

The fix for both of these problems is related to the data cache for the international settings, and removing this cache manually fixes the problem.

Fix: Remove the data cache files for the international preferences

1. Navigate to the /System/Library/Caches/ folder and remove all four files with "IntlDataCache" in their names (you may be prompted for a password). This can alternatively be done by opening the terminal and entering the following command (include the asterisk):

sudo rm /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.IntlDataCache*

2. Use the terminal to remove the hidden cache files for the international preferences by entering the following command:

sudo rm /var/folders/*/*/-Caches-/com.apple.IntlDataCache*

(The asterisks in the folder name include all folders at that node in the directory tree. As such, while this could be done manually using the "Go" menu to display the hidden folder "/var", one would have to remove many specific files buried deep in several directories)

3. Restart the computer.

NOTE: Since these commands use wildcards (the asterisk), be sure to enter them properly (it is recommended to copy and paste) as an error can lead to irreversible data loss.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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