Nuance DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING 8 User Manual

USER’S GUIDE

February 2005. Version 8 Professional, Medical, and Legal, Preferred, and Standard editions.

This material may not include some last-minute technical changes and/or revisions to the software. Changes are periodically made to the information provided here. Future versions of this material will incorporate these changes.

ScanSoft, Inc. has patents or pending patent applications covering the subject matter contained in this document. The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to such patents. This software is protected under the following patents, among others: 5,027,406; 5,168,548 5,202,952; 5,231,670; 5,388,183; 5,428,707; 5,465,318; 5,526,463; 5,680,511; 5,715,367; 5,754,972; 5,765,132; 5,794,189; 5,799,279; 5,818,423; 5,822,730; 5,850,627; 5,890,181; 5,909,666; 5,915,236; 5,920,836; 5,920,837; 5,949,886; 5,960,394; 5,970,448; 5,970,460; 5,983,179; 6,029,124; 6,058,366; 6,064,959; 6,073,097; 6,088,671; 6,092,043; 6,092,044; 6,101,468; 6,125,342; 6,125,347; 6,138,098; 6,151,575; 6,163,768; 6,167,377; 6,212,498; 6,260,013; 6,292,779; 6,349,282; 6,424,943; 6,456,972. 6,393,399, 6,360,237, 6,456,972, 6,490,555, and 6,601,027.

No part of this manual or software may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including, without limitation, electronic or mechanical, such as photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without the express written consent of ScanSoft, Inc. Specifications are subject to change without notice.

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Contents

CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1

About this guide 2 What’s new in Version 8? 3 What should I expect from Dragon NaturallySpeaking? 4

CHAPTER 2 Installation and Training 5

System requirements 5 Plugging in the microphone 6 Installing the software 6 Activating Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Creating a new user 10 Setting up your microphone 12 Training a new user 14 Adapting to your writing style 16

CHAPTER 3 Starting to Dictate 17

Starting Dragon NaturallySpeaking 17 Turning on the microphone 17 Starting to dictate 18 Getting Help 21 Troubleshooting 22 The DragonBar 23 Using QuickStart 24

CHAPTER 4 Working on your Desktop 27

Programs, documents and folders 27 Switching between open windows 28 Opening and closing menus 28 Selecting buttons, tabs, and options 29 Selecting icons on the desktop 30 Resizing and closing windows 31 Scrolling in windows and list boxes 31 Opening lists and making selections 32 Pressing keyboard keys 32 Moving the mouse pointer and clicking the mouse 36

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide iii

Contents

CHAPTER 5 Correcting and Editing 41

Correcting mistakes 41 Selecting text by voice 45 Moving around in a document 48 Copying, cutting, and pasting text 50 Deleting text 50 Spelling as you dictate 52 Playing back your dictation (Preferred and higher) 54 Using text-to-speech 58

CHAPTER 6 Formatting 61

Capitalizing text 61 Formatting text 64

CHAPTER 7 Working with Applications 67

Working with e-mail 67 Working with Microsoft Internet Explorer 70 Working with Microsoft Word 76 Working with Microsoft Excel (Preferred and higher) 80

CHAPTER 8 Dictating Names, Numbers, Punctuation & Special

Characters 83

Dictating numbers 83 Punctuation 91 Dictating hyphenated words 93 Dictating compound words 94 Dictating names 95 Dictating abbreviations and acronyms 96 Dictating e-mail and Web addresses 96 Dictating special characters 97 Switching Recognition Modes 101

CHAPTER 9 Using the Command Browser 103

Supported Applications 103 Starting the Command Browser 104 Finding specific commands 105 Training commands 109 Working with Custom Commands (Preferred and higher) 109

CHAPTER 10 Improving Accuracy 117

The Accuracy Center 117 Tools to improve your acoustics 118 Tools to Manage Commands 121

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Contents

Tools to improve your vocabulary 121 Training a word or command 130 Using the Performance Assistant 131

CHAPTER 11 Managing Users 133

Creating a new user 133 Opening a user 134 Closing a user 135 Renaming a user 135 Deleting a user 135 Backing up and restoring a user 136 Importing and exporting users 138 Upgrading Users 138 Creating Multiple Dictation Sources 140

CHAPTER 12 Setting Up Roaming Users 143

Roaming User Concepts 143 Setting up the Roaming User feature 144 Creating a roaming user 147

CHAPTER 13 Using Portable Recorders (Preferred and Professional) 151

Installing recorder software 152 Creating a user adapted to your recorded speech 153 Dictating into your recorder 157 Transcribing recorded dictation 159 Correcting mistakes 164 Using the Dragon NaturallyMobile recorder as a microphone 165

CHAPTER 14 Automate Your Work (Preferred and Professional) 167

Viewing and editing commands 168 Creating new commands 168 Deleting custom commands 174 Importing and exporting commands 174 Changing the command group and availability 175

CHAPTER 15 Customizing Dragon NaturallySpeaking 177

Correction options 177 Commands Options 179 View options 180 Hot keys options 182 Text-to-speech options (Preferred and higher editions) 183 Miscellaneous options 184 Formatting options 186

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

Data Options 189

APPENDIX A Version 8 File Structure 191

APPENDIX B MSI Installation Options 195

InstallShield (setup.exe) options 197 MSI options specific to NaturallySpeaking 199

INDEX 209

CHAPTER

Introduction

ragon NaturallySpeaking lets you talk to your computer instead of typing. As you talk, your words are transcribed onto your screen and into your documents

or e-mail messages.

Talking to a computer while it types what you say is called dictating. You can dictate into Microsoft organizers, and virtually any other program in which you normally type.

You can use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to:

■ Compose letters, memos, and send e-mail messages. You can cut and paste

inside your documents as well as revise and format text. Just think about what you want to say, and then say it into the microphone.

■ Enter data into forms or spreadsheets. Most people can dictate numbers faster

than they can type. Using Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional or higher editions, you can create custom voice commands to let you move from field to field on your form by voice.

■ Work on the Web. You can search the Web, access information, and navigate

Web pages by speaking URLs and links.

■ Start programs and open menus.

■ Use handheld recorders to dictate while you are away from your computer.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking can then transcribe what you said. (Available in Preferred and higher editions.)

Word, Corel® WordPerfect®, e-mail programs, personal information

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

Introduction

About this guide

This guide covers all editions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

Most of the information presented in this guide is applicable to all the editions. Differences between the editions is noted in the text.

Conventions used in this guide

1 This guide contains many examples of words and phrases you can say when

using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. These examples appear in italics with quotation marks, for example: “Format That Bold.”

2 Some procedures also include sample text for you to dictate. Sample text

appears in a different typeface, with punctuation in square brackets.

3 This guide applies to the five English dialects that ship with Dragon

NaturallySpeaking:

■ US English

■ UK English

■ Australian English

■ Indian English

■ Southeast Asian English

US English uses US spelling, punctuation, and time and currency formats. We recommend US English for Canadian users since this dialect formats numbers (including times, telephone numbers, and currency) in North American formats.

All other dialects use UK spelling, punctuation, and time and currency formats (some number settings depend on your Windows Regional Settings). Where multiple dialects are used in dictation examples, those dialects appear in a different font style. For example:

You can also correct a longer phrase by saying “Correct [text] Through [text]” (

Canada

) or “Correct [text] To [text]” (Other Dialects).

US/

4 This guide uses US spelling and punctuation for consistency.

5 This guide also includes tips and notes to help you use the software more

effectively. Tips and notes appear like this:

TIP

If you pause correctly, but Dragon NaturallySpeaking still types a command as dictation, you

can force it to recognize what you say as a command by holding down the CTRL key.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

Introduction

NOTE

a number. If you dictate words, the results will be unpredictable. However, you can still navigate menus and switch between programs by voice when Numbers Mode is on.

With Numbers Mode on, Dragon NaturallySpeaking tries to interpret everything you say as

What’s new in Version 8?

Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 8 includes the following new features:

■ Accuracy: Version 8 speech engine is more accurate than Version 7. Expanded

language models and improved acoustic training techniques deliver a large accuracy increase over Version 7.

■ Roaming Users: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 8 makes your user files

available anywhere on the network through the Roaming User feature, and automatically synchronizes updates and adaptations centrally (Professional only).

■ Upgrade user files from previous versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking during

installation or after installation from the Open User dialog box.

■ Support for Palm OS®: Dictate into any device that supports the Palm OS®

and have your recording transcribed by Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 when you synchronize with your PC. This functionality is installed separately from Dragon NaturallySpeaking. See the online help for more information.(Preferred and Professional only).

■ Support for Additional Input Devices: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 8

now supports additional digital handheld recorders, array microphones and cordless microphones.

■ Multiple Dictation Sources: With Multiple Dictation Sources you can use a

single vocabulary for your microphone and handheld recorder profiles. (Professional only)

■ With new text formatting options you can specify how Dragon

NaturallySpeaking formats dates, measurements and acronyms to meet your requirements.

■ The Word Properties dialog box gives you the power to establish the specific

configuration of any word in specific contexts.

■ Use text and graphics commands with dynamic variables to instantly define the

variables in any boilerplate text.

■ The simplified Add Words from Documents wizard makes customizing your

vocabulary from documents or word lists faster and easier.

■ An improved Vocabulary Editor makes it easier to fine-tune custom

dictionaries.

■ An improved Acoustic Optimizer Scheduler makes it easier to schedule running

the Acoustic Optimizer

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide 3

Introduction

What should I expect from Dragon NaturallySpeaking?

One reason to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking is to do your writing more quickly; creating letters, reports, and other documents by voice. Another is to reduce the stress associated with keyboarding. Or maybe you just like the idea of being able to lean back in your chair, put your feet up on the desk, and still get work done.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is good for all these reasons, but making it work well requires some effort from you. Dragon NaturallySpeaking learns about your voice and pronunciation as you use it. When you use words the program doesn’t know, it will misrecognize them. By correcting your mistakes, you help Dragon NaturallySpeaking

Do I still need my keyboard and mouse?

Although you can use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to do almost everything on your computer by voice, some things are still easier to do by mouse or keyboard.

If using a mouse and keyboard is an option for you, try experimenting with using your voice and using your hands for different tasks, to see what works best. If using a mouse and keyboard is not an option, see “Working on your Desktop” on page 27.

improve its ability to recognize your way of speaking.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

CHAPTER

Installation and Training

his chapter describes how to install, set up, and train Dragon Naturally Speaking.

System requirements

To run Dragon NaturallySpeaking, your system must meet the following requirements:

■ Intel

■

■ 500MB of free hard disk space for a Custom Installation where you install only

■ Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 or higher, Windows XP Pro, Windows XP Home.

■ 16-bit Creative

■ Microsoft

■ CD-ROM drive (8x or faster) required for installation.

■ ScanSoft-approved noise-canceling headset microphone. A microphone is

■ Speakers - optional for playback of recorded speech and text-to-speech

■ An Internet connection for product activation and automatic updates.

Pentium® III 500MHz or greater (or equivalent AMDTM processor)

NOTE

500MHz.

512MB RAM (256 MB free minimum).

the program files and 1 set of speech files. Installations can range from 800 MB (Standard Edition) to 2.5 GB (US English Medical).

Windows ME is supported only for Standard and Preferred editions.

set to 16bit, 11KHz for Audio Recording.

www.microsoft.com).

included with the full product. A microphone is not included with upgrade versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

features. (Available only in Preferred and higher editions).

Dragon NaturallySpeaking will not install on machine with a processor of less than

Labs Sound Blaster®, or compatible sound card capable of and

Internet Explorer® 5 or higher (free download available at

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

Installation and Training

Multiple users on one computer

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is licensed on a “per individual” basis. You are permitted to install the software on more than one computer (for example, on a desktop and a laptop computer, or on a work computer and a home computer), although you may not use the software concurrently on more than one computer, and you are permitted to create multiple voice profiles, so long as each voice profile is for you. If someone else desires to create or use another voice profile, however, that person must purchase a separate license for Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Volume license agreements are available.

Plugging in the microphone

To use Dragon NaturallySpeaking, you will need to plug in your microphone.

1 Insert the microphone plug into the MIC input jack of your sound card.

Microphones and sound cards vary, but the microphone jack is usually red and has a picture of a microphone. If your sound card does not have a MIC jack, use the LINE IN jack.

If you are not sure how to plug in your microphone, consult the documentation that came with your computer.

Also, if you have a USB or array microphone (supported in Preferred and higher editions), follow the instructions that came with it instead of this description.

2 Insert the headphone plug into the LINE OUT jack on your sound card. If your

sound card does not have a LINE OUT jack, use the SPEAKER or HEADPHONE jack.

NOTE

recorded speech instead of your headphones.

If you already have speakers for your computer, you can also use these to playback

Installing the software

Before installing, modifying or upgrading Dragon NaturallySpeaking:

■ Close all open applications.

■ Turn off or disable any antivirus software; installation can sometimes trigger a

false virus report.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

Installation and Training

NOTE

Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

For Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional systems with limited user accounts (users with restricted privileges), if the administrator wants to create a Dragon NaturallySpeaking user for a limited user, the administrator must log on as the limited user. If an administrator creates a Dragon NaturallySpeaking user for a limited user account from an administrator account, the limited user account will not be able to access that user. Administrator rights are not required to create a user or use the software after installation. This also applies for an upgrade installation.

You must have Administrator rights to install or uninstall Dragon NaturallySpeaking on

Upgrading from a previous version

Upgrading from Version 6 or 7: You can upgrade from any edition of Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 6 or 7 to Version 8. When upgrading from Version 6 or 7, you can choose to migrate your user files and vocabularies to Version 8. Once V8 is installed, Version 6 or 7 will no longer be functional.

Directory Changes For information on changes to the directory structure when upgrading from Version 6 or 7, see “Version 8 File Structure” on page 191 .

To install Dragon NaturallySpeaking:

1 Insert the Dragon NaturallySpeaking CD into your CD-ROM drive.

If the installation does not start automatically, use the Windows Explorer to find and double-click setup.exe on your CD-ROM drive.

Follow the on-screen instructions during installation.

2 Provide your customer information, including the serial number supplied with

your Dragon NaturallySpeaking installation.

3 Choose your destination location. If there are no previous version of Dragon

NaturallySpeaking on your system, the default directory is:

C:\Program Files\ScanSoft\NaturallySpeaking8

If you have Version 6 or 7 on your system, Version 8 will install to the previous version’s directory.

For a list of directories created by installation, see Appendix A, “Version 8 File Structure” on page 191.

4 Choose your Setup Type (Preferred and higher editions)

"Typical/Complete" installs all options and speech files and requires the most

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide 7

Installation and Training

disk space. "Custom" lets you select which options and speech files to install and can greatly reduce the disk space required for installation.

Click Next to continue.

NOTE

Custom installation, you can install them later by running the Setup program again and choosing Modify.

If you decide not to install some Dragon NaturallySpeaking components by selecting

Installing other languages and dialects

To install user files for the other languages or dialects supplied with your edition, choose “Custom Installation” from the setup screen and click Next.

Select the user file for the dialect you want and click Next to continue installation.

The user files for each language or dialect contain both spellings and pronunciations specific to that region. For example, users who wish to dictate US English spellings—including users with accents— should install the US (American) English user files.

5 You can enable the Dragon NaturallySpeaking QuickStart option. By enabling

QuickStart, Dragon NaturallySpeaking launches at system startup time and adds the Dragon NaturallySpeaking QuickStart icon to the Windows task bar. For more information on the QuickStart option, see “Using QuickStart” on page

24.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

Installation and Training

6 (Upgrade only) If you are upgrading from Version 6 or 7, the Version 8

installation prompts you to upgrade your users. You may be prompted later to re-train some of your existing users. You can upgrade your V6 or V7 users at a later time by running the User Upgrade Wizard from the Open User dialog box once the product is installed. For more information, see “Upgrading Users” on page 138.

7 Continue following the on-screen instructions. The setup program will copy

the files for Dragon NaturallySpeaking to your computer.

8 When prompted, make sure to register your copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

Once registered, ScanSoft can notify you of product updates and other offers.

9 Select "Check the Internet for program updates after setup completes." This

lets you automatically update Dragon NaturallySpeaking over the Internet when updates are available. Click Finish to complete the installation. The program may ask you to reboot your computer.

Activating Dragon NaturallySpeaking

The first time you start Dragon NaturallySpeaking, you will be prompted to activate your copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

If you do not activate the software, Dragon NaturallySpeaking will stop working after starting the product fives times.

NOTE

process sends only your product serial number and a number that uniquely identifies the machine where Dragon NaturallySpeaking is being installed. No personal information is transmitted to ScanSoft.

To activate the Dragon NaturallySpeaking:

1 Start Dragon NaturallySpeaking. This displays the Activation dialog box.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide 9

You must be connected to the Internet to activate Dragon NaturallySpeaking. The activation

If you choose “Activate Later”, you will be prompted to activate each time you start Dragon NaturallySpeaking. If you start the program five times without activating, Dragon NaturallySpeaking will be disabled.

Installation and Training

2 Click “Activate Now”. This displays the Activation Screen:

3 Click Activate Automatically. Clicking Activate Automatically automatically

activates the Dragon NaturallySpeaking and requires no further action from you.

NOTE

If you choose “Activate Manually”, the activation process will direct you to the ScanSoft product activation web site where you will be prompted to complete several steps to activate Dragon Naturally Speaking.

ScanSoft strongly recommends that activate automatically.

Creating a new user

When you launch the software for the first time, the New User Wizard starts and leads you through creating a new user. For example:

NOTE

user. If you upgraded multiple users, Dragon NaturallySpeaking displays the Open User dialog box.

If you upgraded a single user from a previous version, Dragon NaturallySpeaking loads that

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

Installation and Training

Creating a user

1 To create a user, you must type a name in the Your Name field. The software

automatically picks the best speech model and vocabulary settings for your system. For more information, see “About vocabularies and languages” below.

2 Select your dictation source. If you are using a USB microphone or another type

of input device, choose the appropriate option from the “Dictation source” drop-down list.

3 Click Next to continue.

About vocabularies and languages

Languages

Some editions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 8 let you to create and train users in multiple languages. If you have purchased an edition with support for more than one language, you can add additional languages by choosing "Custom Install" during Setup. For Preferred and Professional editions, if you didn't select additional languages during Setup, you can also select an additional language when you create a new user. In this instance, you will need the Dragon NaturallySpeaking CD to install the language files before you can create the user.

Vocabulary

Dragon NaturallySpeaking uses a vocabulary to recognize words correctly based not only on the sound of the words, but on their context.

Vocabulary size

When you create a set of user files, Dragon NaturallySpeaking recommends the vocabulary that best fits your computer's speed and memory. For most users, this recommendation should be followed.

Depending on your edition, you may see an Advanced button. Experienced users may want to click the Advanced button to specify a different vocabulary size:

■ Medium: for computers with 128 MB of RAM.

■ Large: for computers with more than 256 MB of RAM.

■ Empty Dictation: a vocabulary with a language model but without any words.

Empty Dictation is designed for experienced users or re-sellers who want to create highly specialized vocabularies. (Professional and higher editions)

Speech Model

Dragon NaturallySpeaking uses the speech model to adapt to your voice during training. When you create a set of user files, Dragon NaturallySpeaking recommends the speech model that best fits your computer's speed and memory.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide 11

Installation and Training

Setting up your microphone

Click Next to have the New User Wizard lead you through setting up your microphone.

Positioning your microphone

The New User Wizard first explains how to position your microphone:

Once you have correctly positioned the microphone, click Next to continue.

Position the microphone

Positioning the microphone is important. If the microphone is out of place, Dragon NaturallySpeaking may not be able to hear you clearly and may make more mistakes.

Consistent position is also important. Make sure that you position the microphone the same way each time you use Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

Using a headset microphone

■ Position the microphone about a half-inch (approximately the width of your

thumb) from your mouth and a little off to the side. The microphone should not touch your mouth, but it can be almost touching your lips.

■ If you need to move the microphone out of the way, you can lift the "boom" up

and over your head, rather than bending it out of position or removing the headset.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

Installation and Training

Using a handheld microphone (Preferred and Professional)

■ Hold the microphone one to three inches from your mouth and a little off to

the side.

■ If the volume display on the DragonBar turns red, try holding the

microphone slightly farther from your mouth.

Using an array microphone (Professional and higher)

■ Position the array between 18 and 30 inches from and pointed at your

mouth.

■ Avoid blocking the path between your mouth and the array, for example by

holding a book or paper in front of your face.

■ Avoid having any source of noise or signal other than your voice directly

facing the array within at least 15 feet.

Check your volume

When the “Adjust Your Microphone: Volume Check” screen appears, click the “Start Volume Check” button and then read aloud the text displayed in the box.

When the program beeps to indicate it has finished checking the volume, click Next.

Sound quality check

When the “Adjust Your Microphone: Quality Check” screen appears, click “Start Quality Check” and then read aloud the text displayed in the box.

The program beeps when it has finished evaluating the sound quality of your system. If Dragon NaturallySpeaking displays “PASSED,” click the Next button to continue.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide 13

Installation and Training

Training a new user

You must now train Dragon NaturallySpeaking to recognize your voice.

NOTE

(Preferred and Professional)” on page 151.

A yellow arrow shows you where to start reading. To take breaks while you're training the program, click Pause.

To advance through the first two screens, you must say the sentences without pausing. For the rest of the screens, it's okay to pause in the middle of a sentence.

For more information on training a mobile user, see “Using Portable Recorders

When the words change color, it means the computer has heard and recognized them. If you keep reading the same words, and the computer still doesn't get it, just click Skip. Otherwise, click Next to continue.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

Installation and Training

Choose a text to read aloud and click OK.

You only need to read for about five minutes to train Dragon NaturallySpeaking to recognize your voice.

You can take breaks during this training by clicking Pause. Don't worry if you make mistakes or laugh. You should try to read exactly what you see on the screen, but it's okay if you read something incorrectly. The computer will either ignore the mistake or display the yellow arrow so you read the text again.

The progress bar shows how much text you have left to dictate.

NOTE

During training, dictating punctuation is not necessary.

When you’ve read enough, the New User Wizard displays a congratulations message. When you click OK, Dragon NaturallySpeaking starts adapting to your voice.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide 15

Installation and Training

Adapting to your writing style

After adapting to your voice, the New User Wizard prompts you to adapt Dragon NaturallySpeaking to your writing style.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking can analyze your writing style to increase your overall recognition accuracy during dictation. This tool scans documents in your My Documents directory. These documents include Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, text files, HTML files, and rich text files (.rtf).

Adapting to your writing style can add 5 to 30 minutes to user training. Make sure all other programs are closed when you run this step.

NOTE

this part of User creation, select "Skip this step" rather than Cancel.

Click Start to continue. While scanning your system, the New User Wizard displays its status. When Dragon NaturallySpeaking is done adapting to your writing style, click Next.

You are now ready to dictate.

Though we recommend that you run this part of the New User Wizard, if you plan to skip

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

CHAPTER

Starting to Dictate

ow that you’ve installed your software and completed training, you’re ready to dictate your first sentence.

Starting Dragon NaturallySpeaking

If Dragon NaturallySpeaking is not already running, you can start it by:

■ Double-clicking the Dragon NaturallySpeaking icon.

■ Selecting Programs>Dragon NaturallySpeaking from the Start menu.

■ Right-clicking the QuickStart taskbar tray icon and selecting Start

Dragon NaturallySpeaking, if the QuickStart option is enabled. For more information on using the QuickStart option, see “Using QuickStart” on page 24.

NOTE

Professional and Windows XP Home), but interactive dictation is not supported. Using a Remote Desktop connection, you can access the DragonBar and transcribe dictation but you cannot use a microphone attached to the remote machine to dictate.

You can start Dragon NaturallySpeaking over a Remote Desktop connection (Windows XP

Turning on the microphone

Before you can dictate, you need to turn on the microphone. You turn on the microphone by:

■ Clicking the microphone icon on the DragonBar. You can click this icon again

to turn it off.

Microphone

■ Pressing the plus (+) key on the numeric keypad to turn the microphone on,

and then press it again to turn the microphone off.

■ Clicking the microphone icon in the Windows task bar.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

Starting to Dictate

The button and the volume meter on the DragonBar change to show if the microphone is off or on.

Shows that the microphone is off

Shows that the microphone is on

NOTE

Once the microphone is off, you cannot turn it on again by voice.

Sleeping and waking up

To make Dragon NaturallySpeaking stop listening temporarily:

1 Say "Go to Sleep" or "Stop Listening."

Dragon NaturallySpeaking ignores everything except the "Wake Up" or "Listen To Me" commands.

2 To reactivate the microphone, say "Wake Up" or "Listen To Me."

You can also press the numeric (+) key to turn on the microphone.

Starting to dictate

To begin dictating, start a word processor (such as Microsoft® Word or Corel® WordPer fect the start of the new document.

DragonPad

You can use the DragonPad, a simple word processor included with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. To open the DragonPad, from the Tools menu on the DragonBar, click DragonPad.

) and begin a new document. Make sure your text insertion point is at

TIP

Remember to click in the window you want to talk to before you speak.

Start talking. As you talk, text displays in the Results box while Dragon NaturallySpeaking figures out what you said. The Results box is a small yellow window that appears on-screen as you dictate. For example:

The words in the Results box may change as the program considers different interpretations of what it heard.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

Starting to Dictate

The Results box displays a line that changes from yellow to green as you speak, indicating the volume of your dictation.

NOTE

displays a bold blue border.

When Dragon NaturallySpeaking recognizes what you said as a command, the Results box

You can also anchor the Results box permanently in one place. From the Tools menu of the DragonBar, click Options, then click the View tab and enable the Anchor option.

Don’t worry about mistakes at this point; Dragon NaturallySpeaking improves as you use it.

Using Natural Punctuation

Dragon NaturallySpeaking can automatically add periods and commas at the appropriate places in your dictation without you having to explicitly speak that punctuation. The Natural Punctuation feature can be useful in helping you get used to dictation by focusing on what you are saying rather than how your speech is punctuated.

Natural Punctuation inserts only periods and commas. You have to dictate other punctuation marks. Even with Natural Punctuation turned on, you can still dictate periods and commas. As you become more adept at dictation and want more control over where punctuation appears, you may want to explicitly dictate all your punctuation.

NOTE

"autopunctuation off" or by selecting Options from the Tools menu of the DragonBar and clicking "Automatically add commas and periods" on the Formatting tab.

You can turn Natural Punctuation on and off by voice by saying "autopunctuation on" and

For more information on Natural Punctuation see “Using Natural Punctuation” on page 91.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide 19

Starting to Dictate

Dictating punctuation

You can dictate punctuation at any time while you are using Dragon NaturallySpeaking, even when Natural Punctuation is enabled.

Use the following list as a guide to dictating the most common punctuation marks. (For a complete list of punctuation, see the online help.)

TO ENTER SAY (US/Canada) SAY (Other Dialects)

, comma comma . period full stop ! exclamation point or

exclamation mark

? question mark question mark

- hyphen hyphen : colon colon

Starting new lines and paragraph

While you are dictating, you can use the following commands to duplicate the action of pressing the Enter key once (to add a new line) or twice (to add a new paragraph).

exclamation mark

TO SAY

Add a new line "New Line" Add a new paragraph "New Paragraph"

Saying "New Paragraph" presses the Enter key twice and capitalizes the next word you dictate.

Tips for dictating text

■ To erase the last thing you said, say "Scratch That."

■ You can repeat "Scratch That" to undo a sequence of phrases.

■ To undo the effects of a command, say "Undo That." If “Undo That” fails to

undo an action, try repeating the command until you completely undo the operation.

■ To stop a recognition in progress (and turn the microphone off), click the small

red button inside the Results box.

■ You can change the very last phrase you spoke by saying "Bold That," "Cap

That," "Correct That," and so on; you do not have to select the text first.

■ To remove a trailing space after a word, you can say "Delete Previous

Character."

■ You can create a spoken form for words you prefer not to say aloud. For

example, you can create a command that types "Snookums" whenever you say "Mary's nickname."

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

Starting to Dictate

■ To clear (deselect) your last selection, say "Unselect That."

For information on correcting any mistakes, see Chapter 5, “Correcting and Editing.”

Printing and saving your dictated text

Printing

From the File menu of your word processor, use the mouse to choose Print. Or say “Click File,” pause, and say “Print.” You can also simply say, “Print Document” or “Print File” if the Natural Language Commands are enabled. See “Commands Options” on page 179. Also see “Using the Command Browser” on page 103.

Saving

From the File menu, choose Save. You can also say “Click File” and then say “Save.” Remember, you have to pause between the “Click File” and the “Save” commands to have Dragon NaturallySpeaking recognize them as two separate commands. If the Natural Language Commands have been enabled, you can say “Save Document.”

Getting Help

To access the online Help for Dragon NaturallySpeaking, click the Help menu on the DragonBar and choose Help Topics. Alternately, you can say “Give Me Help.” You can print individual Help topics with the Print button in the Help window. To open the online Help links, just say their names. The links will be displayed next to the application window and will give you examples of the most common commands that work in the application you are currently using.

“What Can I Say?”

Saying “What Can I Say?” will bring up the Sample Commands window. The Sample Command window displays a small selection of useful commands that Dragon NaturallySpeaking recognizes for the current context, whether it is a particular program you are using or the Windows desktop.

To open the Sample Command Window

Choose Sample Commands from the Help menu on the DragonBar or say “What can I say”. The Sample Commands window opens, displaying a selection of commands

next to the window you are working in.

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Starting to Dictate

The contents of the Sample Commands window change depending upon what application is currently active.

For example, when you switch between Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook, the contents of the Sample Commands window changes accordingly

If you want to see additional commands that are available to you, click Command Browser at the top of the Sample Commands window. The Command Browser is described in more detail on page 103.

Notes

■ A list of Global commands (available everywhere) appears if there are no sample

commands available for a specific program.

■ Commands marked with an asterisk (*) are available only if the Enable Natural

Language Commands check box is selected on the Startup/Shutdown tab of the Options dialog box.

Tut or ial

To start the Tutorial, choose Tutorial from the Help menu on the DragonBar. The Tutorial includes a number of lessons covering the basics of Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

Troubleshooting

If you are having problems using Dragon NaturallySpeaking, or if you are getting unexpected results, please refer to the “Resolving Problems” and “Tips” section of the online help.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide

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