It is easy to import other word lists, ranked or not, into your Word-Hyphen-Vault Word List. Imported word list must be plain text files, and if they are ranked, the separator between the word and the ranking must be a ‘;’ (this is how Crossword Compiler word lists are exported).
You have two options when importing a word list:
- Automatic: Imports all words at once, assigning either a default rank or no rank
- Manual: Import the list in small batches, where you can individually assign a rank to each word, as well as a default rank
Automatic Imports
Automatic Imports are the simplest and faster, but they have the disadvantage of not letting you curate your word list piecemeal. It is an “all or nothing” approach.
To start, click the Import button at the top of the Main Window.
The Import Wizard window will open. Choose File – Automatic at the top.
Click the Browse button and select the word list file you want to import. The wizard will scan the word list and provide some stats about the list, how many total words are in it, and how many are new versus duplicates in your open Word List.
Here you also have options about how to treat the duplicates, and what default ranking (if any) you want to assign, or if the list is already ranked, if you want to keep those values.
If you choose Skip Duplicates, then only the new words will be added to the list. If you choose Overwrite Duplicate Rankings, then any duplicates will have the rankings for each of their profiles overwritten by the new list.
If the Keep rankings from file option is enabled, it means the word list was previously ranked. If you check this box, the rankings from the file will be applied to all profiles. If you un-check it, then whatever you put in the Default Ranking text box will be used (if you leave it blank, then the previous rankings of duplicate words will be erased, and the entire list will be added un-ranked).
When you have set your options, click the Import button, and the list will be merged with your existing Word List.
Manual Imports
Manual Imports take significantly more time for larger word lists, but allow you to rank the incoming words one at a time, and separately for each profile. This is useful if you have a list that has a lot of junk in it (say, “All Wikipedia Articles”), and you only want to add in the “good stuff”.
You do not have to import an entire list in one sitting. Another advantage of the Manual Import is that you can import a chunk of words (usually 10 at a time), and stop when you are finished, then pick up the task later.
To start, click the Import button on the Main Window, and select Import Words Manually. At first you will see an empty list, since you have not started any imports yet.
Click the Add File button to open the New Manual Import window.
Click Browse and select the file you want to import. The wizard will detect if there are any rankings already associated with the file. If there are, the Keep rankings from file check box will be enabled. Once the file has been read initially, you see the same statistics as the Automatic Import window, and you have similar options for keeping or ignoring duplicates, and keeping or ignoring the file’s current rankings, or setting a default value for all words.
When you have set all of the options, click the Start button.
The Manual Import window will open, and you will see the first batch of 10 words in the list.
At the top of the window, there are four global settings to pay attention to.
- Words at a Time: The number words in each batch to be processed (10 is a pretty good start)
- Add Unranked Words to List: This determines what to do if you skip over words in the batch. If you leave each of the rankings blank, and this box is un-checked, the word will not be added to the list. If it is checked, the word will be added, but left un-ranked.
- Save Each Batch: If this is checked, then the your Word List will be saved automatically each time you complete a batch of words and click “Next Batch” (highly recommended!).
- Auto Clue Lookup: If this is checked, the Cruciverb clues for the list will automatically be loaded without having the click the Cruciverb button (or use CTRL+R or CTRL+U).
The Words and Rankings Panel works just the same as on the Main Window. You can use the Tab key after each ranking to automatically pull in the next word, and when you are at the last word, click Next Batch to pull in the next 10 words. When you are finished, even if you have not parsed the entire list, click Done, and Word-Hyphen-Vault will save the current batch and remember where you left off the next time you start again.
You can also use the Cruciverb button to see what entries the current word might have in the Cruciverb.com Clue Database. CTRL+R and CTRL+U can be used to lookup the Cruciverb clues without using the mouse.
The graph below the words and rankings panel shows the result of calling the Google ngram Viewer for the word, displaying historical usage of the word in books from 1900 to 2008. This is useful for detecting outdated words and assigning them much lower ranks.
Now the Import window lists the Import you already started, and shows you your progress in completing the Import.
You can remove the Import file by clicking the Delete button.