The Collaborative Word List for Crossword Compiler Users

Once you've gotten the app, here's how you proceed:

Double-click on the app to run it. The app will download two files: xwordlist.txt (the file you want to use and modify) and xwordlist.old. NOTE: do not change or delete xwordlist.old in any way, or any changes you make to the word list may be lost.

On your first use, you will want to create a word list in Crossword Compiler to correspond to xwordlist.txt. Open CCW and pick 'Word List Manager' from 'Words' menu. Pick 'Plain text scored list' from 'Convert' menu ('Plain text list' will also work), select the xwordlist.txt and hit 'Open'. Hit 'Create' to create the word list and 'OK' to confirm creation.

Once you have used Crossword Compiler to make some changes to your list, you are ready to "check in" your changes. Go back to 'Word List Manager' and select the word list. Pick 'List to plain text file' from 'Convert' menu and hit 'Save'. Hit 'OK' to confirm an overwrite of xwordlist.txt and hit 'Yes' to include scores. On subsequent uses you will need to simply delete the word list you've created and create a new one as above.

If you have a word list you would like to merge with the master list: export it as text as detailed above. Then drag and drop it onto the app to receive instructions on how to proceed. If you are making too many changes it will not let you continue -- e-mail me and we'll work out a solution.

I recommend you run the app once before you open Crossword Compiler (to get the newest version of the list) and once immediately after (so that your changes are registered quickly). Enjoy!