•  Home
•  Features
•  Downloads
•  SooSL Web
•  Help
•  Support

• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Documentation - Help files

Read these files for more instructions and information.

  SooSL-0.9.4 for Windows (100Mb)
  SooSL-0.9.4 for macOS (124 Mb)

  SooSL-0.9.4 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS "Noble Numbat"
(124Mb)
  SooSL-0.9.4 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS "Jammy Jellyfish"
(140Mb)
  SooSL-0.9.4 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa"
(76Mb)

  SooSL-0.9.4 Debian 13 "Trixie"
(124Mb)

Windows and macOS users:

Download the file for your operating system and double-click on it.
No need to uninstall any old versions of SooSL.
(Windows exception: If you want to install to a different location than your old version,
 then you will need to uninstall your old version first.)

For "silent" installation under Windows, run the installer in a command prompt window with either the "/SILENT" or "/VERYSILENT" command line parameter.
For more information about these command line parameters and others that may be useful, see: https://jrsoftware.org/ishelp/index.php?topic=setupcmdline

Linux users (Ubuntu and Debian) have two ways to install SooSL:

1. Setup access to the packages.sil.org repositories.
   (Wasta-Linux already has this access setup.)
   (Debian users may need to edit the SIL repository in "Software & Updates" to include "contrib":
   "http://packages.sil.org/debian trixie main contrib".)
2. Download the.deb file to the left for your system. Install using your favourite package manager, or in a terminal change to your download directory and type: "sudo apt install <>".

• First time Linux users: If you've never installed SooSL before, it "may" not start on your first attempt, but please try again, as it probably will run on your second try.
• If your Debian version is older than "Trixie", one of the earlier Ubuntu versions "may" work for you.
  For Debian "Bookworm (12)" try Ubuntu "Jammy (22.04)"; for Debian "Bullseye (11)" try Ubuntu "Focal (20.04)".

  Installation instructions also found in README.

(For SooSL 0.9.4. For older versions, see: "Older software and sources" below.)

All users:

This file is an example of a SooSL project for SooSL. We suggest you download and import it as an easy way to learn how to use SooSL before you try making a dictionary of your own.
Click on the "tools" icon (right-most icon at the top of the program window).
Use the "Import Project" icon to make it available for use with SooSL.

Released - August 2nd, 2025

1. Documents and download folders added to sidebar of file dialogs.
2. Linux builds are now self-contained. Larger download file, but few or no dependencies required apart from VLC and FFmpeg.
3. A reminder dialog at startup if there is saved feedback to send, as there was already for error/crash reporting. (SOOS-32)
4. File locks (used when editing) now differentiate between multiple users and/or SooSL instances on same computer.
5. Error and crash reports recorded to website; this works around issue with sending large reports to development team. (SOOS-170)
6. Error and crash reporting updated to make use of JSON format for files.
7. When SooSL starts, operating system and version details are uploaded and recorded to website to aid in future development. NO USER DETAILS are included with this upload.
8. Fixed issues with removing expired lockfiles left behind after crashes during editing or uploading. (SOOS-264)
9. Alter appearance of dialect icon when dialect filter is active. (SOOS-135)
10. Alter appearance of search and filter icons when parameter search is active. (SOOS-135)
11. Fixed issues with finder list while editing - keep showing only glosses for sign being edited (for now).
12. Automated download of updated help files. (SOOS-325)
13. Using HTML for Help files across all operating systems. (No more CHM file for Windows and Linux.)
14. Add version information to executable for Windows.(displayed in Properties >> Details for executable file)
15. Better icon for filtered/un-filtered finder list. (SOOS-135)
16. Search icon moved above finder list. Edit sign and New sign icons order reversed. (SOOS-304)
17. Dictionary project location (folder) added to startup window. (SOOS-267)
18. Enable selecting of texts (gloss, sentence, notes) for copy-to-clipboard while viewing sign. (SOOS-88)
19. Note fields only show if there are additional notes to display for a sign; '???' no longer used to mark empty text fields. (SOOS141)
20. ZooZL files can now be imported and opened through the "Open Dictionary" dialog. (SOOS-173)
21. Limit video/image filenames to 100 characters. (SOOS-310) Long filenames causing problems with upload to website.
22. Newer translation files will be downloaded from the SooSL website if available, including completely new language translations. (SOOS-299)
23. Country flags removed from translation language lists. (SOOS-321)
24. Text in translation language lists consists of language code and language display name. (SOOS-321)
25. Language display name included in translation file. (SOOS-321)
26. Above three points mean that gui translations can now be just one file instead of a directory of three files. (SOOS-321)
27. Lightbulb icon in main toolbar initially "on"; controls whether larger pictures of handshapes are available ("on") or not ("off"). (SOOS-305) User's selection remembered between sessions.
28. Add a project logo to dictionary. (SOOS-231)
29. Improve "About Dictionary" dialog: whole page scrolls if long description; logo at top. (SOOS-231)
30. Add dictionary creator's name to project information. (SOOS-231)
31. Improved progress dialogs when importing, exporting and opening large dictionaries.
32. Search dialog remains open during editing.
33. Updated copyrights to 2025.
34. Updated gui translations for Spanish, French and Romanian.
35. Added gui translations for Chinese (traditional and simplified).
36. Updated wording for error and crash reports.
37. Change from \u0000 format display of Unicode text in json files to utf-8 encoding to make non-ASCII characters human-readable (in most editors).
38. Dictionaries opened in SooSL 0.9.4 (this version) cannot be opened by older versions due to above change.
39. Updated importing and exporting to zoozl.
40. Dictionaries exported from SooSL 0.9.4 (this version) cannot be imported to older versions due to above change.
41. Finding a dictionary project to open using the full file dialog ("Other" option in SooSL file dialog) will now return the higher-level project folder if a sub-folder of a project is chosen.
42. [macOS] Now built under version 15 Sequoia.
43. Improved SooSL update method. For future versions, only requires upload of latest version and release notes to dedicated folder on website.
    
44. Fixed: freezes and crashes when editing with invalid search filter.
45. Fixed: file locks removed during normal program closure if editing.
46. Fixed: Web upload bug where project only has only one variant [public or private].
    Canceling upload would simply cancel and discard uploaded signs without the option to keep them and resume the upload later.
47. Fixed: Export of project included two inventories.
48. Fixed: When overwriting a project on import, checking the replace checkbox now hides overwrite warning.
49. Fixed: Sorting word list by dialects; incorrectly dealing with numbers in gloss.
50. Fixed: [macOS] Help files were not launching under MacOS Monterey.
51. Fixed: [macOS] Ok button in dialect filter dialog now appears enabled (blue) when dialect selection changes.