Ten steps to get started

Work through these in order and you will be ready for a job in about half an hour. Steps 1 to 4 alone are enough to start using it today.

1. Try the sample first

   Open the app and tap “Try a sample glossary” on the opening screen. Twelve terms go in; look up METI, QE or hedge. You can delete the sample later.

2. Import one of your own glossaries

   Tap “Import from Excel” and choose your file. Numbers, Word and Pages go in through the same button (from Word and Pages it reads the tables of two or more columns, nothing else). You are shown which column is the headword, the translation and the example, so you can check first. Column names in the first row are recognised, and you can tick just the terms you want.

3. Give it an assignment name as you import

   The file's own name is filled in as the assignment name; keep it or change it as you like. It lets you narrow the search to that job later. Your original Excel file is untouched. Keep it.

4. Try the three ways of searching

   Below the search box: Starts with for everyday use, Exact for abbreviations, and Full text to search inside translations and examples as well.
   In “Glossary”, under How it searches, Search from the translation too (reverse lookup) lets you look a term up from its translation.

5. Switch between “All” and an assignment

   Open “Glossary & dictionaries” and you will see All, Shared and your assignments. Use All while you work, and choose an assignment when you prepare. Shared means “no assignment”, not “everything”.

6. Bring in the rest of your glossaries

   Import each job's file with its assignment name. If you keep one large combined file, import it without a name: it lands in Shared and is searched whichever assignment you choose. 50,000 terms across 100 assignments still search instantly.

7. Add and edit terms

   “+ Add” at the top right saves a new term, and any term you open can be edited. A phrase that comes up mid-job can go in on the spot.

8. Send a missing term to ChatGPT

   The ChatGPT button beside the search box opens ChatGPT with the question already written. You can save the answer into your glossary, or come back without saving. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to return to Lexicon.

9. Set up copies and sync

   After a job, “Export to Excel” gives you a copy, and “Export to Word” gives you a two-column table to print as your cheat sheet. The Excel file is saved as “assignment name.xlsx” with the header row as column names, so you can edit it and import it again. You can overwrite your original file, but other columns and formatting are not kept, so saving under a new name is safer. If you use both an iPad and an iPhone, press Sync with your other device in “Glossary”: the first device starts, the second joins it, and after that it is one tap. On a single device it still makes a good backup.

10. Last of all: your dictionaries, if you have any

    PDIC (.dic) and EPWING dictionaries are added at the foot of Settings, under Open and manage dictionaries. Once added, they are searched together with your glossary. This one is only for those who have them. You can work a whole assignment from your glossary alone.

On the day

Before you go in, choose today's assignment and leave the search box empty. Its terms are listed in order, so you can read through them from the top — no need to open the spreadsheet again.
Once it starts, switch back to All and look terms up as they come. Put anything new in with “+ Add”, and export to Excel when the job is over.

If you get stuck

See the questions and answers, or write to lexicon.support2026@gmail.com.