Microsoft Word Autocorrects

[Roedy Green]

I have been attempting to decode a file used my Microsoft Word, one
that stores the autocorrects, possibly to create some utilities to
manage them, export, import etc.

I wrote this little program to dump out the contents of an autocorrect
file to test my understanding of the format. It had a number of
unexpected wrinkles after I thought I had it nailed.

There are still few puzzles left. I thought some people here might
enjoy the challenge of solving them. If not, just ignore this post.

/*
* @(#)Autocorrects.java
*
* Summary: read MS Word autocorrects file.
*
* Copyright: (c) 2010 Roedy Green, Canadian Mind Products,
http://mindprod.com
*
* Licence: This software may be copied and used freely for any
purpose but military.
* http://mindprod.com/contact/nonmil.html
*
* Requires: JDK 1.6+
*
* Created with: IntelliJ IDEA IDE.
*
* Version History:
* 1.0 2010-03-01
*/
package com.mindprod.example;

import com.mindprod.common11.StringTools;

import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
import java.io.DataInputStream;
import java.io.EOFException;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.IOException;

import static java.lang.System.out;

/**
* read MS Word autocorrects file
* <p/>
* Outstanding puzzles:
* 1. what is the significance of the 0x2000 and 0x2100 spacers?
* 2. what are the bits in the mystery region used for?
* 3. How is the language encoded if it indeed is?
* 4. Precisely how do all the options map onto bits?
*
* @author Roedy Green, Canadian Mind Products
* @version 1.0 2006-03-24
* @noinspection WeakerAccess
* @since 2006-03-24
*/

public class Autocorrects
{
// ------------------------------ CONSTANTS
------------------------------

@SuppressWarnings( { "UnusedDeclaration" } )
private static final String BRITISH_AUTOCORRECTS =
"C:/Users/Roedy/AppData/roaming/Microsoft/Office/MSO2057.acl";

@SuppressWarnings( { "UnusedDeclaration" } )
private static final String AMERICAN_AUTOCORRECTS =
"C:/Users/Roedy/AppData/roaming/Microsoft/Office/MSO1033.acl";

@SuppressWarnings( { "UnusedDeclaration" } )
private static final String FRENCH_AUTOCORRECTS = "F:\\Program
Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office\\1036\\mso.acl";

/**
* table to convert a nibble to a hex char.
*/
static char[] hexChar = {
'0', '1', '2', '3',
'4', '5', '6', '7',
'8', '9', 'a', 'b',
'c', 'd', 'e', 'f' };
// -------------------------- PUBLIC STATIC METHODS
--------------------------

/**
* Fast convert a byte array to a hex string
* with possible leading zero.
*
* @param bs array of bytes to convert to string
*
* @return hex representation, two chars per byte.
*/
public static String toHexString( byte[] bs )
{
StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer( bs.length * 2 );
for ( byte b : bs )
{
// look up high nibble char
sb.append( hexChar[ ( b & 0xf0 ) >>> 4 ] );

// look up low nibble char
sb.append( hexChar[ b & 0x0f ] );
}
return sb.toString();
}

// --------------------------- main() method
---------------------------

public static void main( String[] args ) throws IOException
{
// O P E N
final FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(
FRENCH_AUTOCORRECTS );
//
final BufferedInputStream bis = new BufferedInputStream( fis,
65536 /* 64K bytes */ );
final DataInputStream dis = new DataInputStream( bis );

int offset = 0;
// 4 bytes : signature 04 01 96 00
byte[] signature = new byte[4];
if ( dis.read( signature ) != 4 )
{
throw new IllegalArgumentException("trouble reading
signature bytes");
}
out.println( "signature: " + toHexString( signature ) );
offset += 4;

// 4 bytes : option e.g. 22 c0 ef 05
byte[] options = new byte[4];
if ( dis.read( options ) != 4 )
{
throw new IllegalArgumentException("trouble reading
option bytes");
}
out.println( "options: " + toHexString( options ) );
offset += 4;

// 4 bytes: little endian length of file in bytes
int fileLength = Integer.reverseBytes( dis.readInt() );
out.println( "file length: " + StringTools.toLZHexString(
fileLength, 4 ) );
offset += 4;

// 5 bytes mystery e.g 93 03 00 00 b9 or 9f 03 00 00 53
byte[] mystery = new byte[5];
if ( dis.read( mystery ) != 5 )
{
throw new IllegalArgumentException("trouble reading
mystery bytes");
}
out.println( "mystery: " + toHexString( mystery ) );
offset += 5;

int count = 0;

try
{
while ( true )
{
out.print( StringTools.toLZHexString( offset, 4 ) );

// bypass possibly multiple spacer 0s. usually 1.
// Why bother with spacers? probably originally to
make the file more acceptable to C++
// which likes 0-terminators on its strings.
// Why variable numbers of them? Probably just to
mess with the minds of
// people attempting to export the data.
int lena = 0;
while ( lena == 0 || lena == 0x2000 || lena ==
0x2100)
{
// read length or spacer
lena = dis.readShort();
offset += 2;
}
// read abbreviation UTF-16BE
if ( !( 1 <= lena && lena <= 1024 ) )
{
throw new IllegalArgumentException( "corrupt file
abbreviation length: " + lena );
}
final char[] abbr = new char[lena];
for ( int i = 0; i < lena; i++ )
{
abbr[ i ] = dis.readChar();
}
offset += lena * 2;

// bypass possibly multiple spacer 0s. Usually 1.
int lene = 0;
while ( lene == 0 || lene == 0x2000 || lene == 0x2100
)
{
// read length or spacer
lene = dis.readShort();
offset += 2;
}

// read expansion UTF-16BE
if ( !( 1 <= lene && lene <= 1024 ) )
{
throw new IllegalArgumentException( "corrupt file
expansion length: " + lene );
}

final char[] expansion = new char[lene];
for ( int i = 0; i < lene; i++ )
{
expansion[ i ] = dis.readChar();
}

offset += lene * 2;
count++;
out.println( " " + count + " " + new String( abbr ) +
" --> " + new String( expansion ) );
}
}
catch ( EOFException e )
{
dis.close();
}
}
}
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.
~ Douglas Adams (born: 1952-03-11 died: 2001-05-11 at age: 49)

 

[Roedy Green]

I wrote this little program to dump out the contents of an autocorrect
file to test my understanding of the format. It had a number of
unexpected wrinkles after I thought I had it nailed.

I have Office/Word 2000. If you have any other version, please run
the program on one of its autocorrects to see if the format has
changed.
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.
~ Douglas Adams (born: 1952-03-11 died: 2001-05-11 at age: 49)