Converting an AZW dictionary to MOBI = no longer treated as a dictionary by Kindle

[beic]

I have a dictionary in AZW format which works fine on my Kindle. I now want to make some changes to the dictionary definitions and then reupload it to my Kindle.

Problem is, when I try to edit the AZW in Calibre, it says

ERROR: Cannot Edit Book: The book must be in the EPUB or AZW3 formats to edit. First convert the book to one of these formats.

OK, so I convert it to EPUB, make the necessary changes to the definitions, save it, then convert it back to MOBI and send it to my Kindle, but it is listed as a document, not a dictionary.

Does anyone know what META tags I need to edit so that Kindle will treat the MOBI file as a dictionary?

[pdurrant]

A Mobi/Kindle dictionary is a complex beast. You won't be able to edit it in calibre. You might just be able to unpack it with kindleunpack and recompile it with Kindlegen, but I don't know if anyone's actually done that.

[Doitsu]

As pdurrant has already pointed out, you can't edit or compile dictionaries with Calibre.

Updating a dictionary involves the following steps:

1. Unpack the dictionary with KindleUnpack or the KindleUnpack Calibre plugin.
2. Edit the dictionary HTML source file with an editor that can handle large text files.
3. Compile the dictionary with KindleGen or KindlePreviewer.

You also might want to have a look at the dictionary section of the Kindle Publishing Guidelines.

[beic]

Awesome, thanks guys. I'll let you know how I get on.