Organize a Growing Words with Groups and CSV

Your writing vocabulary changes with the task. A client project may need a few product names, while a personal note uses different people and places. Groups help you organize these terms and choose the vocabulary relevant to a style. CSV makes the words and replacements portable as a simple list.

Begin with a library you can inspect. A smaller relevant set is easier to maintain and test than a collection of terms you rarely dictate. Grouping also helps you see why a replacement appeared in a particular draft.

Create a project group

• Open Words and click New group.
• Enter a Group Name that explains its purpose, such as “Northstar project.”
• Add an optional description and choose a color.
• Click Create Group.
• Select the entries you want to organize and use Move to group.

The Words list supports Command-click for multiple items, Shift-click for a range, and Command-A to select all. Dragging reorders entries. Check the selected count before using bulk Delete, particularly after selecting a large range.

In a style's settings, use Word groups to choose the relevant groups. Leaving all group boxes unchecked includes all groups rather than disabling vocabulary; individual style restrictions can still apply. Check the entry's Active in styles assignment and the style/group assignments, because each can restrict included terms. If a term seems missing, inspect both.

Prepare the supported CSV shape

The import and export format has two columns:

word,replacement
Northstar Kit,Northstar Kit
snippet review,Please review the draft by Thursday.

This is a fictional example. The first row keeps a spelling unchanged; the second expands a phrase. Use properly quoted CSV fields when text includes commas or quotes. A spreadsheet's CSV export is useful for this, but review the saved file before importing it.

Click Import CSV and choose the file. Existing words are skipped rather than overwritten by duplicate imported words. If you intend to change a replacement for a word already in the library, edit that entry directly and test the change.

Export words, then preserve organization separately

Use Export CSV and choose a save location. The exported columns contain words and replacements. They do not provide a complete backup of group colors, descriptions, ordering, or style assignments. If you import the list on another setup, plan to check and restore those organizational choices yourself.

Export before a substantial cleanup if you want a copy of the current words. Keep track of which file belongs to which library; repeatedly importing overlapping files can make it harder to understand what changed, even though duplicate words are skipped.

Confirm the relevant terms still work

After regrouping or importing, record a short sentence in the intended style. Cloud recognition hints are bounded and best effort, so a large saved group does not guarantee every entry is included in each request. Prioritize the terms you use most.

See the group and CSV instructions and the companion vocabulary and replacements guide for recognition limits and troubleshooting.