Extract text from User word lists (UWL)
To convert UWL Word lists to another format, you need WordPerfect or other Settings software.
To convert other file formats to the "Custom Dictionary File" file type, you need software like WordPerfect or a similar tool.
The .UWL file extension represents a User Word List, primarily generated by Corel WordPerfect. This file acts as a custom dictionary, storing specialized terminology, proper names, and acronyms that you have manually added to the spell checker to prevent them from being flagged as errors.
While essential for maintaining a personalized workflow within WordPerfect, .UWL files create a significant problem during migration. They are not natively supported by modern word processors like Microsoft Word or Google Docs, meaning your years of curated vocabulary are effectively locked inside the Corel ecosystem. Attempting to open these directly in a standard text editor may reveal the words, but often surrounded by proprietary headers or formatting characters that require cleaning.
To migrate your custom dictionary to a new environment, the most practical solution is converting the .UWL file to a plain TXT format. This allows you to copy the raw word list and import it into the "Custom Dictionary" settings of other applications, ensuring you don't have to re-teach your spell checker from scratch.
Convert.Guru analyzes your UWL file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted GWI, NAB and NFC files.
If you want to convert UWL file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use WordPerfect or similar software from the "Spell Check Dictionary" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DBF, XML, SQLITE, XLSX, SQL, TSV, ACCDB, YAML, MDB, CSV, ODS or JSON files to UWL, try WordPerfect or another comparable tool in the "Spell Check Dictionary" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our UWL converter.