# Kindle 3 Dictionary Problem



## k9rulez (Sep 12, 2010)

I set up my Kindle last week to default to The New Oxford American Dictionary.  It was working fine originally and now does not work.  I no longer have the setting to switch the dictionary to the other dictionary, because, according to the documentation, the option does not exist if only 1 dictionary exists.  When I try to access the selected dictionary, I get the message that "The selected item could not be opened.  IOf you purchased this item from Amazon, delete the item and redownload it from archived items in Home"  It will not allow me to delete and it was not bought so does not exist in my archived items.  Any help would be appreciated.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I read your post three times and I still don't understand... You switched your dictionary, but you only have one dictionary


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## dimples (Jul 28, 2010)

I've seen a few people with that 'delete the item and redownload' message for regular books. I believe in their case everything was solved after a restart with wireless on. Have you tried that? You can restart by going into Settings, then hit the menu button and you'll find the restart option.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

pidgeon92 said:


> I read your post three times and I still don't understand... You switched your dictionary, but you only have one dictionary


I think what the OP is saying is that originally they had two dictionaries and so the option to switch was available and they switched to the American one. Now they want to switch back and the other one isn't there, so the switch option is greyed out.

I'm in the UK so my K3 came with both the American and English dictionaries. I swapped from American to English, but the option to switch back is still there and both my dictionaries appear on the list of books in the home screen. Choosing one did not send the other to archive and when I go into Menu --> Settings --> Menu I still have the option to 'change primary dictionary'.

k9rulez - I would suggest that if restarting your Kindle doesn't sort this out then this is something you will need to speak to Kindle customer services about.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

k9rulez said:


> I set up my Kindle last week to default to The New Oxford American Dictionary. It was working fine originally and now does not work. I no longer have the setting to switch the dictionary to the other dictionary, because, according to the documentation, the option does not exist if only 1 dictionary exists. When I try to access the selected dictionary, I get the message that "The selected item could not be opened. IOf you purchased this item from Amazon, delete the item and redownload it from archived items in Home" It will not allow me to delete and it was not bought so does not exist in my archived items. Any help would be appreciated.


I was looking at my dictionaries and there doesn't appear to be a delete function on them to move them to the archives and back to home like one can do with the Kindle guide. As a guess, the file corrupted if you can see it on your home pages but can't open it. If a restart doesn't work, I agree with Linjeakel - call kindle customer service. And, I'd call them not the regular customer service as the kindle people seem to know more about the idiosyncrasies of our electronic children.


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## k9rulez (Sep 12, 2010)

What I did was set up the dictionary and it was working, but now it isn't.  When I try opening the selected dictionary from "Home", it gives me the message that it could not open.  I did not delete it, but somehow it won't open.  Now, I think, the kindle thinks I only have 1 dictionary but the one I am set up to use is not there.  Last night was also the first time I connected the Kindle to my computer so I did not mess with it before the issue started.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Have you actually tried restarting your Kindle?


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## Pfarris (Oct 15, 2010)

I think Kindle software has trouble with dictionaries since I have a similar issue, but on my K2. Yesterday I downloaded and installed a non-Amazon Dictionary. (It would be awesome if it did not have so many Optical Character Recognition errors in it – The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia is a must have for Dicken’s era fans.). My first install had trouble opening the new document with some kind of corruption so I deleted two files from the Documents folder. Later I realized my New Oxford American Dictionary which had been my Primary was gone and that another one WordNet 3 that I had installed months ago became my default without me choosing it as Primary. The Cyclopedia probably did not become default because the Kindle doesn't recognize it as a dictionary type of document. I think I probably deleted a portion of the Oxford dictionary by accident trying to resolve the corruption and didn't realize that as my error until I started composing this post.

A Restart today did resolve the issue for me the second time (but not the first time I did it yesterday). Change Primary dictionary has also returned as an option for me. Just for clarity, the option does not grey out it simply goes away if you only have a single valid document type that could be that Primary Dictionary. I hope this helped someone else as much as it helped me. This group is very therapeutic as I talk through my issues and solve them.


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