Nuance VIAVOICE 10-PRO USB EDITION User Manual

IBM®ViaVoice®for Windows
Pro USB Edition

User’s Guide

Release 10

®

IBM

Note

Before using this information and the product it supports, be sure to read the information in Appendix B,
“Notices” on page 139.

FirstEdition(2003)

This edition applies to version 1, release 10, modification 0 of IBM ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition US/UK
English (program number 5724-C96) and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in
new editions.

SSFT PART NUMBER: 50-G91A-10095

When you send information to IBM, you grant IBM a nonexclusive right to use or distribute the information in any
way it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you.

©CopyrightInternationalBusinessMachinesCorporation1998,2003.Allrightsreserved.

US Government Users Restricted Rights – Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract
with IBM Corp.

Contents

Welcome to ViaVoice ........vii

US English and UK English are both

described in this book .........ix

Conventions in this book ........x

Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system . 1

Installing the ViaVoice software ......2

Setting up your microphone and audio system 6

Creating a voice model.........8

Analyzing your voice .........10

Analyzing your documents .......12

Troubleshooting setup problems .....13

Unable to install ViaVoice ......13

Problems with audio setup ......13

Poor recognition .........14

Chapter 2. The magic of dictating with

ViaVoice .............17

Practice dictating ..........18

Finding recognition errors .......20

Correcting errors ..........21

Try re-dictating your text before correction 21

Correcting misrecognized words ....21

Removing inserted words ......22

Correcting capitalization errors.....22

Next steps after correction .......23

Analyzing My Documents .......24

Troubleshooting dictation problems ....24

Chapter 3. Introducing VoiceCenter . . . 27

VoiceCenter components ........28

ViaVoice menu ...........30

Chapter 4. Dictating into SpeakPad . . . 33

SpeakPad menus and buttons ......34

General hints and tips.........36

Dictating numbers in the US English version

of ViaVoice ............37

Currency ............37

Dates .............37

Decimals ............37

Ordinals ............37

Long numbers ..........37

Timeofday...........37

Dictating numbers in the UK English version

of ViaVoice ............37

Currency ............37

Dates .............37

Decimals ............38

Ordinals ............38

Long numbers ..........38

Timeofday...........38

Dictating numbers in number mode ....38

Spelling words in spell mode ......38

Saying commands while dictating.....39

Inline dictation commands ......39

"Scratch that" command .......39

Text-editing commands .......40

Bullet lists............40

Just say their names ........40

Commands recognized as text .....40

Dictating e-mail user IDs and URLs ....42

Transferring your dictation to another

application ............43

Saving your dictation in SpeakPad ....44

Saving a speech session .......44

Saving your dictation as text .....44

Finding new words in your document . . . 45

Chapter 5. Dictating into Microsoft Word 47

Installing Word Program Support .....47

Try your first dictation into Word .....48

ViaVoice menus and buttons in Word . . . 50

General hints and tips.........52

Dictating numbers in the US English version

of ViaVoice ............53

Currency ............53

Dates .............53

Decimals ............53

Ordinals ............53

Long numbers ..........54

Timeofday...........54

Dictating numbers in the UK English version

of ViaVoice ............54

Currency ............54

Dates .............54

Decimals ............54

Ordinals ............54

Long numbers ..........54

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 iii

Timeofday...........55

Dictating numbers in number mode ....55

Spelling words in spell mode ......55

Saying commands while dictating.....56

Inline dictation commands ......56

"Scratch that" command .......56

Text-editing commands .......56

Bullet lists............57

Just say their names ........57

Commands recognized as text .....57

Dictating e-mail user IDs and URLs ....59

Saving your dictation .........60

Saving a speech session .......60

Saving your dictation as text .....60

Finding new words in your document . . . 61

Creating ViaVoice Documents ......62

Creating ViaVoice Templates ......63

Using ViaVoice Bookmarks .......64

Chapter 6. Correcting your dictation . . . 65

Using the Correction window ......66

Correcting by voice .........68

Correcting words by typing .......69

Delayed correction ..........70

Delegated correction .........71

Chapter 10. Using the Internet and E-mail 91

Internet Explorer ..........91

Working with e-mail .........92

Composing e-mail .........92

Checking for e-mail ........93

America Online (AOL) ........94

Navigating ...........94

Dictating e-mail ..........94

Dictating in a chat room .......95

Sending messages with Instant Messenger

(sm)..............95

Chapter 11. Navigating with your voice . . 97

Desktop commands .........98

Navigate the active program ......98

Just say their name.........98

Say what you can’t see .......98

Say letters and numbers .......99

When you see 'Pardon me' ......99

Text editing ...........100

Selecting keys with your voice ....100

Voice Mouse ...........100

Positioning the pointer .......101

Stopping and fine-tuning the pointer . . 101

Clicking the mouse buttons .....101

Chapter 7. Dictating to your applications 73

Dictating directly ..........73

Using Auto-start dictation .......74

Dictating directly into a spreadsheet ....74

Chapter 8. What Can I Say ......75

Views..............76

Interacting with What Can I Say .....78

Expanding or collapsing a view ....78

Commands with words in angle brackets 78

Changing views..........79

Creating notes for What Can I Say . . . 79

Printing the commands in a view ....79

Using an Attention word with commands . . 79

Training a command .........81

Chapter 9. Using natural commands . . . 83

General guidelines ..........83

Using commands that have variables. . . 85

Correcting errors .........85

Word..............86

Excel ..............87

Entering data into a spreadsheet ....87

Outlook .............89

iv ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Chapter 12. Customizing ViaVoice . . . 103

Changing VoiceCenter’s appearance....103

Appearance tab .........103

General tab ...........104

Taskbar tab ...........104

Docked tab ...........104

Agent tab ...........104

Floating tab ...........104

Changing the microphone’s startup state . . 105

Creating additional voice models ....106

Selecting a vocabulary or topic .....106

Changing the active vocabulary to improve
performance (UK English version only) . . 108

Adding a user ...........109

Making a user name the current user . . . 109

Backing up and restoring user data ....110

Deleting a user name or voice model . . . 111

Setting dictation options .......111

Changing the appearance of the Correction

window .............113

Enabling command sets ........114

Setting Text-To-Speech options .....115

Adjusting recognition sensitivity .....116

Chapter 13. Creating macros .....117

Creating a dictation macro .......117

Creating a macro template .......119

Before you start .........119

Creating the template form......119

Creating navigation macros ......122

Always Active macro .......123

Application macro ........123

Cross Program macro .......125

Creating ViaVoice Marks ......126

Importing and exporting ......127

Chapter 14. Getting help .......129

Information Central .........129

Getting context-sensitive help ......130

Question Button Help .......130

What’s This Help .........130

Printing help ...........130

Using Teach Me commands ......130

How do I troubleshoot a problem? ....131

Appendix A. Frequently used commands

in dictation ...........133

Formatting and spacing ........133

Punctuation in dictation........133

Symbols and characters in dictation ....134

Symbols and characters in number mode 135
Symbols and characters in spell mode . . . 136

Appendix B. Notices ........139

Trademarks ............140

Other attributions ..........141

Glossary ............143

Index .............145

Contents v

vi ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Welcome to ViaVoice

IBM ViaVoice will change the way you use your computer. You can now
dictate text and control your computer by voice.

Imagine yourself sitting at your computer, composing a letter to a friend. Say
"Dictate to SpeakPad". ViaVoice’s word processor opens, and you dictate the
letter using normal speech. You can do this with ViaVoice—you talk, it types!
The computer translates your words and phrases into actions that carry out
commands or create text. Imagine the simplicity of working at your computer
just by speaking. With ViaVoice, say goodbye to the drudgery of typing.

ViaVoice is probably not like any software you have ever used! To get the
most from ViaVoice and become a great user—even if you have already used
a speech-recognition product—we recommend that you go through this book
following these sign posts.

Install the software and set up your speech system. Start by
following the instructions in Chapter 1 to install ViaVoice and prepare
your sound system so that ViaVoice can understand you. You must set

up your speech system as described in Chapter 1 before you can
work satisfactorily with ViaVoice.

Get comfortable by practicing dictation. Having installed ViaVoice

and set up your speech system, you will then probably want to
practice dictating. Chapter 2 shows you how to dictate into SpeakPad.
We recommend that you practice with the material in this chapter, and
become comfortable speaking to SpeakPad, before exploring other
parts of ViaVoice.

Learn how to use the VoiceCenter. Once you are comfortable with
speaking to your computer, familiarize yourself with VoiceCenter, the
heart of your speech system. VoiceCenter controls your spoken
interactions with your computer. Chapter 3 describes the functions
available through VoiceCenter.

Once you have mastered the material in the first three chapters, explore the
other ViaVoice functions to become even more productive:

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 vii

v Use SpeakPad, described in Chapter 4, to dictate your documents and

letters. A word of advice: make sure you’ve gone through Chapter 2,
mentioned above, before turning to this chapter.

®

v Do you prefer using Microsoft

Word? Chapter 5 gives you the complete

picture on dictating into Word 97, Word 2000, or Word 2002.

v Your dictation is not finished until you have corrected the recognition errors

in the text. Correcting these errors is one of the most important ways to
help ViaVoice learn what you say. Do not close your dictation sessions until
you have corrected them as described in Chapter 6.

v What do you want to do? You can see all the commands for controlling

your computer in the What Can I Say window, described in Chapter 8. If
you are primarily interested in dictating documents rather than speaking
commands, you can skip this chapter.

v If you are not comfortable with the mouse and keyboard, no problem! Issue

commands and control your computer by speaking. See Chapter 11 for
information on navigating by voice.

v Once you are comfortable with your system, personalize ViaVoice.

Chapter 12 describes the features for extending the usefulness of your
system and gives you suggestions for tailoring it for your needs.

v ViaVoice is loaded with information like online help and printable online

material. Chapter 14 describes all the information available at your
fingertips.

viii ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

US English and UK English are both described in this book

This book contains information on using ViaVoice in both UK English and US
English. You will select one of these languages to install on your computer.
Make sure you use the appropriate information in this book for the installed
language.

Keep in mind that these languages have many differences, and each language
version of ViaVoice is specifically tailored to understand what speakers of that
language will probably say. For example, if you are using US English and say
'analyze my voice' during a dictation, that is what you will see in your text.
However, the same words spoken for UK English will result in 'analyse my
voice'.

Other differences include the following:
v The words for some punctuation marks and symbols differ between the two

languages. In US English, the words "pound sign" result in "#"; in UK
English, the same words result in "£". The punctuation at the end of a
normal declarative sentence is "period" in US English and "full stop" in UK
English. See Appendix A, “Frequently used commands in dictation” on
page 133, where these differences are highlighted.

v Numbers and number formatting are handled differently between the two

languages. See “Dictating numbers in the US English version of ViaVoice”

on page 37 and “Dictating numbers in the UK English version of ViaVoice”
on page 37 for usage and examples.

v Folder names, window titles, program components and voice commands

are referred to using their US English names throughout this book. In the
UK English language version of ViaVoice some of these items appear in a
slightly different form, e.g.: VoiceCenter/VoiceCentre, Capitalize
this/Capitalise this, IBM ViaVoice/IBM ViaVoice UK English.

The text in this book uses the US English orthography. All pictures of
windows and panels are taken from the US English language version.

Welcome to ViaVoice ix

Conventions in this book

Please note the following textual and graphical conventions used in this book.

Commands and words that you say to
your computer are shown in bold within
double quotation marks.

Some multiple-word commands are shown
as joined words or hyphenated words.

Spelling a word is shown with a hyphen
separating each letter in the word.

The names of buttons, fields and check
boxes appear in bold.

A series of items that you click with the
mouse to start a function appear in bold
and are separated by angle brackets. In
this example, the first item to click is the
Start button, and the last is the function to
open VoiceCenter.

This symbol identifies information that is
particularly important.

In addition, navigation and some
commands are available only when
ViaVoice is installed on Windows 98
Second Edition, Windows Me, or Windows
XP Home and Professional Edition. This
symbol alerts you to information about
this limitation.

Say "Capitalize this".
Say "What Can I Say for Desktop".

NEWPARAGRAPH
NEWLINE
NO-SPACE

Dictate "r-e-c-o-g-n-i-t-i-o-n".

Click OK to accept the name in the User
Name field.

Select Start > Programs > IBM ViaVoice >
VoiceCenter.

Woodrow, the ViaVoice agent, points out a
helpful hint or tip.

x ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system

This chapter describes how to install ViaVoice on your computer and then set
up your sound system. You should allow 30–45 minutes to complete the
procedures in this chapter:

v Install ViaVoice from the CD-ROM that comes in your package.
v Set up your audio system. The User Wizard will assist you!
v Record a story and let ViaVoice create a model of your voice.
v Optionally, if you already have documents that reflect the style and words

(lexicon) that you plan to dictate, you can have ViaVoice analyze those
documents.

The computer on which you will set up your speech system should be in the location where
you plan to dictate. During setup, background noises should be like those you will hear
during future dictation sessions. If there is unusual background noise (for example, street
repairs being done outside an open window) or if you plan to dictate in a noisy location
which is now quiet, wait until the acoustics return to normal before setting up your speech
system.

First check the following points before installing this program.

1. Refer to the side of the box to ensure your computer meets the minimum

requirements for installing this program.

2. Ensure that the disk drive where you plan to install ViaVoice has not been

compressed with disk-compression utilities.

3. If you are installing on Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP, your

user ID must have administrator authority.

4. If you are installing ViaVoice over an existing IBM speech product or have

IBM speech products in more than one language, read the information in
the Readme file on the ViaVoice distribution CD before installing ViaVoice.

5. If you plan to use ViaVoice with a digital recorder, read the information in

the Readme file on the ViaVoice distribution CD before installing ViaVoice.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 1

Installing the ViaVoice software

1. Insert the ViaVoice CD in your CD-ROM drive to start the installation

program. If it does not start automatically, do the following:

a. Click Start > Run from the Windows taskbar.
b. Type d:\setup (where d is your CD-ROM drive).
c. Click OK.

2. Follow the instructions on the screen.

During installation you will see the following windows. (This section does not
show all windows you will see.)

Language selection—Choose the language version you want to install and
click Next.

2 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

User Information—Type your name and company name, if appropriate. Click
Next when you have finished.

Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system 3

Installation Options—Select the Installation Options. To clear an option, click
on the check mark in the box.

Select to install ViaVoice support for Microsoft Office. This option is only
available if you have Microsoft Office 97, Office 2000, or Office XP programs
installed on your computer. This option includes support for dictation into
Word and natural commands

1

for Word, Excel and Outlook®. If you choose

not to install this support now, you can install it later.

Adobe Acrobat Reader—If Adobe Acrobat Reader is not already installed on
your computer, you can select this option to have ViaVoice automatically start
the Adobe Acrobat Reader installation program. Adobe Acrobat Reader
enables you to view the ViaVoice Command Reference and this book.

Click Next when you have finished.

1. Natural commands are commands that use a flexible, natural speaking style like "Make the next paragraph bold"
and "Select from here to the top". More information can be found in Chapter 9, “Using natural commands” on
page 83.

4 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Setup Complete—This window indicates that you have successfully installed

the software.

Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system 5

Setting up your microphone and audio system

Woodrow appears if you placed VoiceCenter in your StartUp folder. If
Woodrow does not appear, start VoiceCenter by clicking Start > Programs >
IBM ViaVoice VoiceCenter.

Woodrow gives you a short presentation. (To skip this presentation, right-click
on Woodrow and then select Hide.) Then, the Audio Setup Wizard starts to
help you set up the microphone and audio system so you can get started with
ViaVoice.

The name in the User Name field is probably the one you typed earlier. Leave
it as it is, or type a name by which you want ViaVoice to know you. As you
use ViaVoice, words you add and other enhancements you make go into your
personal speech files. These files are associated with your user name.

You can use any name that contains the letters a to z in both uppercase and
lowercase as well as numbers, but it must not contain typographic symbols
(like " or /).

If other people will use your speech system, add their user names later but
before they start ViaVoice for themselves. (“Adding a user” on page 109
describes how to do this.) People using your speech system must have their
own user names. 'Sharing' your user name with others will corrupt your
personal speech files and cause recognition problems.

For now, ignore the other three fields and click Next.

6 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Audio Setup Wizard—This wizard presents several windows to help you set

up your microphone. We recommend that you use the microphone that comes
with ViaVoice until you are thoroughly comfortable with your speech system.

1. If you have not already done so, remove the microphone and its

equipment from the package:

v The microphone itself
v One or more plugs and USB adapters

2

v Warranty and other material from the manufacturer.
The Audio Setup Wizard will prompt you to identify the type of

microphone and components you have.

2. With the microphone on, complete all audio tests that the Audio Setup

Wizard presents to you.

At the window shown below, for example, click Start and then read aloud the
text inside the box. Speak the text clearly in your normal voice, pausing
naturally between phrases or after punctuation marks. (Imagine you are
speaking to someone for whom English is not the native language.) After you
have read the sentences, ViaVoice will display the quality of your audio.
Should ViaVoice find that the audio quality is poor, click Fixing Poor Audio
Quality to learn how to take corrective action.

2. If you are using a USB microphone and do not have the USB port installed, the Windows program for adding this

new hardware begins. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the USB device driver. After installing the new
hardware and restarting your computer, run VoiceCenter and complete the Audio Setup Wizard.

Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system

7

During these tests, the Audio Setup Wizard might display information
windows or even start your Web browser to display a ViaVoice-related Web
page. Use the information proposed by the wizard to solve any difficulty you
might encounter during Audio Setup. ViaVoice needs these tests to be
completed successfully to set up your system properly.

If you have difficulty completing any test successfully in the Audio Setup
Wizard, see “Troubleshooting setup problems” on page 13.

Creating a voice model

You must give ViaVoice a sample of your voice so that it can understand you.
The User Wizard makes it easy for you to do this.

When you see this window, click Start, then read aloud the text in the box,
speaking in a normal style. As ViaVoice recognizes you, some text will become
gray. In the window below, the first sentence and all but the last word of the
next sentence have been recognized. If ViaVoice does not recognize what you
say, simply say the text again until it is grayed.

8 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

When you have finished reading this text aloud, ViaVoice displays the
Analyzing My Voice window. Here you can choose what to do next.

Record my voice

This is the recommended choice. Recording your voice requires about
10 to 30 minutes and significantly increases the recognition accuracy
of ViaVoice.

I prefer to do this later

If you select this option, the User Wizard presents the Analyze My
Documents panel. (See “Analyzing your documents” on page 12 for
details.) However, your speech recognition accuracy might not be
optimal. To improve your recognition accuracy you can relaunch the
User Wizard at any time by selecting Tools > Analyze My Voice from
the ViaVoice menu.

Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system 9

Analyzing your voice

After selecting Record my voice and clicking Next, ViaVoice displays the
Choosing a Story window. Select the story that you want to read aloud for
analyzing your voice. If the story you want has two Parts, select Part 1 first.
Read the story aloud using your normal speaking voice.

When ViaVoice has enough recorded data, you will see the Story Finished
window. Click Analyze to have ViaVoice create your voice model. However, if
you have a strong regional accent, we recommend that you click Continue
Reading so that you can record more sentences, giving ViaVoice more data for
analysis. Doing everything you can to give ViaVoice as much information
about your voice as possible is one of the best ways to ensure excellent
recognition accuracy.

10 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

You see this window after clicking Analyze.

Wait until ViaVoice has fully processed your recording before turning off your
computer or working with other processing-intensive programs.

Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system 11

Analyzing your documents

You can get a head start on dictation by having ViaVoice analyze your
existing document files.

ViaVoice can analyze Word document files (DOC), Rich Text Format files
(RTF), text files (TXT) and HTML document files (HTM, HTML).

The User Wizard displays this window so that you can make these files
available for analysis:

When ViaVoice analyzes your files, it identifies words that are not in its base
vocabulary. You can then select which words you want added to your personal
vocabulary. (Your personal vocabulary contains new words that ViaVoice finds
in your dictated documents.) ViaVoice also updates its information with your
personal writing style so that, when you dictate in that style, it will
understand you better.

For now, select the middle or bottom option, then click Next.

Once a voice model has been created, you can go on to the next chapter,
where you will begin dictating with SpeakPad, the speech-enabled word
processor in ViaVoice. We recommend that you start with SpeakPad, which is
easy to use.

12 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Troubleshooting setup problems

Before you can obtain satisfactory results with ViaVoice, you must install the
ViaVoice software, set up your microphone and audio system properly and
create a model of your voice. The procedures for doing these successfully
were described above. If you are unable to solve a setup problem, look for it
in this section and carry out the suggested corrective action.

Unable to install ViaVoice

U Your computer must meet the hardware and software requirements

listed on the side panel of your ViaVoice package. Refer to your
computer’s documentation to ensure that the type and speed of your
processor are sufficient for ViaVoice. Also ensure that the drive on
which you want to install ViaVoice has sufficient free disk space.

U During software installation, you should completely and accurately

provide data at every window and click Next when prompted to do
so. In windows where the Next button was inactive, did you type
data or select with the mouse until the button became active and
clickable? Dismissing windows instead of continuing with Next,or
clicking a button to cancel or exit, prevents the installation program
from completing successfully.

U If you are installing on Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP,

your user ID must have administrator authority.

Problems with audio setup

UTheAudioSetupWizardconfiguresyoursoundsystem.Youmust

complete Audio Setup successfully. To do so, the microphone must be
plugged into your sound card or USB adapter and port correctly. The
Audio Setup Wizard shows you how to do these properly.

U Your sound card must be fully compliant with the specification on the

ViaVoicepackage,andthelatestdevicedriverforyoursoundcard
should be installed on your computer. Check the sound-card
informationatourWebsiteathttp://www.scansoft.com.com/viavoice,
andcontactyoursound-cardmanufacturertoobtainthelatestdevice
driver. If you have more than one sound card, there should be no
addressconflictbetweenthesoundcards.ViaVoicemustusethe
sound card to which you attach the microphone. You can see whether
a conflict exists by looking at Start > Settings > Control Panel >

System > Device Manager. (Windows XP: Click on Start > Control
Panel > Performance and Maintenance > System > Hardware >
Device Manager.) A sound card showing a yellow exclamation mark

has an address in conflict with another device on your computer.
Look in Windows help for instructions on resolving this conflict.

U Use the microphone supplied with ViaVoice. If you want to use a

Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system 13

different microphone, it must be one listed at
http://www.scansoft.com.com/viavoice ontheInternet.Youcanalso
see a list of supported microphones during Audio Setup. When setting
up your microphone, select Other microphone as the type of
microphone you are using, then click the Other microphones button
to see the list of supported microphones.

U Ensure that no special effects are set in Windows. These settings,

which can prevent the sound card from working with ViaVoice, are
found in Advanced Settings in the Device Manager for your sound
card. Effects like full-duplex, 3-D sound and reverb should be turned
off when using ViaVoice.

U Is your computer set up to record sound? If you are unsure, test your

system by doing this:

1. Click Start > Programs > Accessories > Entertainment > Sound

Recorder.

2. Try to record your voice and play it back with the Sound Recorder.

If you cannot hear your recording, contact your computer or
sound card manufacturer. If the Sound Recorder is working but
Audio Setup still fails, you might need to update the device driver
for your sound card.

The sound you hear should be free of hiss or other noise.

U Make sure that settings like volume control are set. Check boxes for

muting audio components in Windows should not be ticked. Search
for Windows Audio Settings in Windows help to see how to adjust
sound settings. Multiple mixers can cause problems.

Poor recognition

U Speak at a normal pace, not too fast, not too slowly. Don’t clip or slur

words, or elongate or exaggerate their pronunciation. Do not run
words together, but avoid overemphasizing them. At first you might
tend to speak quickly. Be patient and slow down a bit.

U Make sure you wear your microphone headset correctly and in the

same way each time you speak. The white dot next to the microphone
under the foam pad must face your mouth. Do not remove the foam
pad from the microphone when speaking; this pad acts as a
windshield. Do not position the microphone directly in front of your
mouth where it will capture breathing noises; instead, position it to
either side of your mouth, about 2 cm away from your mouth. When
speaking, do not change the position of the microphone boom or
touch the foam pad or boom. Do not allow the microphone to touch
your face or hair.

U Say only the words shown to you for the tests. Should you talk to

14 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

someone while the microphone is on, ViaVoice will capture your
conversation and not recognize your words as part of the story.
Hesitation noises like 'um' or 'uh', coughing and 'slips of the tongue'
are picked up as words.

U If a word can be pronounced more than one way—like 'thuh' and

'thee' for the word the—try both pronunciations.

U Are you actually saying all words correctly? For example, do not

misread this as the. Do not skip any words.

U If you are speaking in a room with a lot of unusual background noise,

wait until the noise subsides before reading the story.

U Are you using the appropriate language version of ViaVoice? You can

verify this by selecting Start > Settings > Control Panel > ViaVoice
Options. At the User tab in the Voice model field you will see either
'US English' or 'UK English'. If you find that you are using the wrong
language version, uninstall the program and install the correct
language version.

Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system 15

16 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Chapter 2. The magic of dictating with ViaVoice

Congratulations! You have successfully set up your speech system and are
now ready to practice dictation with SpeakPad, the speech-enabled word
processor in ViaVoice.

We should first establish a few guidelines to help you get started.

v If you have not used speech recognition before, relax! Talking to

your computer is fun and easy. Get a glass of water and follow
along with us in this chapter.

v ViaVoice understands when you speak clearly and in a normal,

natural manner. For some people, getting comfortable with speech
recognition takes time and practice. So, please be patient and try
not to be self-conscious! Talking to your computer is almost as
easy as talking on the telephone, and the more you use your
speech system, the more comfortable you’ll become.

v As you work through this chapter, consider everything you do as

practice—we sincerely want you to become a great ViaVoice user!
This is your chance to play with the technology and learn how to
make ViaVoice serve you.

v Work through the material in this chapter until you obtain

satisfactory results and feel comfortable speaking to your
computer.

Take your time and just follow the instructions.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 17

Practice dictating

1. If VoiceCenter is not on your screen, start it by clicking Start > Programs >

2. Click the ViaVoice menu button on the far left side of the VoiceCenter,

3. If you are using the US English version of ViaVoice, begin dictating the

The new ViaVoice has arrived EXCLAMATION POINT NEWPARAGRAPH

It contains many new features PERIOD NEWPARAGRAPH

Our new User Wizard makes it easy to get started PERIOD NEWPARAGRAPH

We hope you enjoy using the new ViaVoice PERIOD MICROPHONE-OFF

4. If you are using the UK English version of ViaVoice, begin dictating the

The new ViaVoice has arrived EXCLAMATION MARK NEWPARAGRAPH

IBM ViaVoice VoiceCenter.

then select Dictate To and click SpeakPad.
SpeakPad opens. The microphone button changes and turns green. Your

microphone is on, and SpeakPad is ready to recognize your speech.

following text. If you are using the UK English version, go to step 4.
Dictate this text by speaking clearly in your normal speaking voice:

Continue with step 5 on page 19.

following text. Dictate this text by speaking clearly in your normal
speaking voice:

It contains many new features FULLSTOP NEWPARAGRAPH

Our new User Wizard makes it easy to get started FULLSTOP NEWPARAGRAPH

We hope you enjoy using the new ViaVoice FULLSTOP MICROPHONE-OFF

18 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

5. The text appears in the SpeakPad window. It should look like this:

Congratulations, you have successfully dictated for the first time!

This being your first dictation, your text probably contains some recognition
errors. Your next step is to learn how to identify these errors, so please go to
the next section.

Chapter 2. The magic of dictating with ViaVoice 19

Finding recognition errors

After dictating a paragraph or so of text, you should correct any recognition
errors you find in it. Recognition errors are words that ViaVoice understood in

error for the words you said. Several types of recognition errors can occur:

Type of error Examples Causes

A single word is
recognized as some
other word

A single word is
recognized as two or
more words

A word that you did not
say is inserted in the text

Two or more adjacent
words are recognized as
one word

A word is not capitalized
correctly

A command is
recognized as text

You said a, but ViaVoice
displayed the.

You said their, but ViaVoice
displayed there.

You said oversubscribed but got
over subside.

You said for branch staff but got
for a branch staff.

You said that this but got that’s.

You started a sentence with
Their but ViaVoice did not
capitalize it.

You said MICROPHONE OFF
but got the words microphone
off.

v You didn’t say the word clearly.
v The word you said is not in ViaVoice’s

base vocabulary or your personal
vocabulary.

v The context of the word caused ViaVoice

to guess incorrectly.

v You paused between syllables in a word.
v You didn’t say the word clearly.
v The word is not in ViaVoice’s base

vocabulary or your personal vocabulary.

v The microphone picked up background

noise or breathing noises.

v You ran the words together or spoke them

too quickly.

v You slurred the pronunciation of the

words.

v ViaVoice guessed the wrong form of the

word.

v You did not pause before and after saying

the command.

v ViaVoice did not interpret your words as a

command.

Recognition errors happen. Saying words that ViaVoice does not know,
making slips of the tongue, and the occasional bad guess by ViaVoice lead to
errors. By correcting recognition errors, you teach ViaVoice more about the
words you use. The more it knows, the fewer errors ViaVoice will make.

Next you will correct the recognition errors in your practice dictation.

20 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Correcting errors

Correcting recognition errors is easy! Just go through these instructions and
correct any errors you find in your practice dictation. See “Troubleshooting
dictation problems” on page 24 if you have recurring problems while
practicing.

Try re-dictating your text before correction

Before correcting the recognition errors, read your text to see if you’re happy
with it. Ignore the errors for the time being. If you want to change a word,
phrase or sentence, simply select the word by left-clicking with the mouse, or
select multiple words by swiping them with the mouse. Then re-dictate what
you want.

Correcting misrecognized words

1. Turn on your microphone if it is off.

2. Open the Correction window by saying "Show Correction window" or by

3. Using your mouse pointer as a visual guide, go through your dictation,

4. Select a misrecognized word by left-clicking with the mouse. This

5. If the correct word appears in the Correction window, say "Pick <n>",

6. If the correct word is not in the Correction window, re-dictate it. If this

pressing F2. Reposition the window with your mouse pointer if it is
obscuring your dictated text.

word by word and line by line, as a proofreader would, to find any errors.

highlights the entire word. To select a series of words, swipe them with
the mouse. The entire series of words should now be highlighted.

where <n> is the number of the correct word.

3

does not correct the error, say "Scratch that" and try re-dictating again. If
that works, then you are done with this error and can proceed to the next
one. If the error persists, say "Scratch that" again, click on the
word-display field in the Correction window, and type the correct word in
the field. Say "Correct" or press Enter to insert the typed word into your
text.

3. By default, the Correction window shows a list of up to five alternate words. These are words that sound like the

word you actually said. You can increase or decrease the number of alternate words in the list from ViaVoice
Options. Go there by clicking the ViaVoice menu button then selecting User Options > ViaVoice Options. ViaVoice
Options is displayed. Click the Correction tab if it is not on top. At that tab select the number you want from the
drop-down list in Maximum number of alternate words. See “Changing the appearance of the Correction
window” on page 113 for more information.

Chapter 2. The magic of dictating with ViaVoice

21

When correcting errors, you should correct words to what you actually said,
not to words you meant to say. If you find unwanted words because of a
'slip of the tongue' or because you did not speak clearly, delete them directly
from SpeakPad, then put the cursor at the right location and dictate what
you want.

Removing inserted words

1. Turn on your microphone if it is off.

2. Open the Correction window by saying "Show Correction window" or by

pressing F2. Reposition the window with your mouse pointer if it is
obscuring your dictated text.

3. Select the inserted word (or series of inserted words) with the mouse.

4. Say "Delete this", or press the Delete key.

Correcting capitalization errors

1. Turn on your microphone if it is off.

2. Open the Correction window by saying "Show Correction window" or by

pressing F2. Reposition the window with your mouse pointer if it is
obscuring your dictated text.

3. Select the word (or series of words) with the mouse.

4. Say "Capitalize this", or click the Format icon in the Correction window

and select Capitalize this from the drop-down menu.

22 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Next steps after correction

After correcting the recognition errors, remove the text from the SpeakPad
dictation window and dictate the same practice text again. You should find
that ViaVoice understands your words better.

Should you continue to get recognition errors in your text, correct them
following the guidelines above, then try dictating again.

Dictate and correct the text, then try dictating it again, until you are satisfied
with the results.

To maximize your recognition accuracy, you should try to correct all errors
in your dictated SpeakPad documents before transferring them to another
program or exiting the document. Then allow ViaVoice to find the new
words when exiting the document. By doing so ViaVoice will learn your
manner of speaking. Get a head start on dictating by having ViaVoice
analyze the words and style of your existing documents.

If you want to continue practicing, choose from your favorite newspaper an
article that reflects the kind of documents you plan to dictate. A letter from
the Letters page is ideal. Do keep these points in mind when practicing with
your own text.

v ViaVoice understands best when you use the words and style common to

general business documents. Do not practice with cooking recipes,
sacred/religious text, poetry, text containing unusual names or foreign
words, or highly technical text. You may, of course, dictate these kinds of
text if you already have similar documents that ViaVoice can analyze
beforehand, but while you’re practicing, we recommend that you use
standard business text.

v When dictating, say your words as if ViaVoice already knows every one. Do

not stop and correct every error you see. Instead, dictate and correct a
paragraph at a time. We recommend that you do not watch the screen
while dictating to avoid becoming distracted.

v An 'out-of-vocabulary' recognition error happens when you say a word that

is not in ViaVoice’s base vocabulary or your own personal vocabulary. Use
the Correction window to correct the word to the one you actually said.
The new word will be added to your personal vocabulary. The next time
you say the word, ViaVoice should get it right.

v Say punctuation marks and formatting commands in your text. These are

listed in the What Can I Say window, which is described in Chapter 8,
“What Can I Say” on page 75. They are also shown in Appendix A,
“Frequently used commands in dictation” on page 133.

When you are satisfied with your results, continue with Chapter 3,
“Introducing VoiceCenter” on page 27 to learn about the functions in ViaVoice.

Chapter 2. The magic of dictating with ViaVoice 23

To learn more about SpeakPad and dictating, see Chapter 4, “Dictating into
SpeakPad” on page 33, or see Chapter 5, “Dictating into Microsoft Word” on
page 47 if you want to dictate in Word 97, Word 2000, or Word 2002. To learn
more about Correction, see Chapter 6, “Correcting your dictation” on page 65.

Analyzing My Documents

If you already have documents that reflect the words and writing style that
you plan for your dictated documents, you can get a jump on your future
work by having ViaVoice analyze these documents.

Start by selecting from the ViaVoice menu > Tools > Analyze My Documents.

See “Analyzing your documents” on page 12 for more information.

Troubleshooting dictation problems

The practice dictation in this chapter was tested to obtain excellent recognition
for a majority of English speakers. If recognition errors persist in your practice
dictation, consider these strategies:

U If you created your voice model but did not let ViaVoice analyze your

voice, start Analyze My Voice and record a story. From the ViaVoice
menu click Tools > Analyze My Voice.

U If you recorded and processed only the first part of a story for your

voice model, return to Analyze My Voice and record the second part
of the story. From the ViaVoice menu click Tools > Analyze My Voice.

U Make sure you wear your microphone headset correctly and in the

same way each time you speak. The white dot next to the microphone
under the foam pad must face your mouth. Do not remove the foam
pad from the microphone when speaking; this pad acts as a
windshield. Do not position the microphone directly in front of your
mouth where it will capture breathing noises. Instead, position it to
either side of your mouth, about 2 cm away from your mouth. When
speaking, do not change the position of the microphone boom or
touch the foam pad or boom. Do not allow the microphone to touch
your face or hair.

U Is your user name displayed in VoiceCenter? Whenever VoiceCenter is

displayed, first ensure that your user name is displayed at the far
right side. You can verify this by clicking ViaVoice > User Options >
ViaVoice Options. At the User tab, make sure your name is shown in
the User Name field.

U Are you using the appropriate language version of ViaVoice? You can

verify this by clicking ViaVoice > User Options > ViaVoice Options.

24 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

At the User tab in the Voice model field you will see either 'US
English' or 'UK English'. If you find that you are using the wrong
language version, uninstall the program and install the correct
language version.

U When practicing, don’t say anything except the words in the text.

Hesitation noises or comments spoken aloud to neighbours will
appear in your text.

U Are you speaking normally? Say the sentences in your normal

speaking voice, not too fast, not too slowly. Say the words clearly
without slurring them, but do not overemphasize their pronunciation.
If you are having trouble speaking naturally and in a relaxed way, be
patient. The more you use your system, the more comfortable you’ll
become.

U Is the acoustic environment—the level and amount of background

noise—the same during dictation practice as when you recorded your
voice-model data? They should be identical or nearly so. For example,
if you recorded your voice-model data in a quiet office, do the
practice dictation in a similarly quiet location. If you plan to dictate in
locations that differ greatly in background noise, record your
voice-model data in all such locations, then use the particular voice
model for the location you’re at. (To create a new voice model, from
the ViaVoice menu click User Options > ViaVoice Options. At the
User tab, click the Add/Modify button.)

U Are you using the microphone you used to record your voice-model

data? If you have changed microphones since you created your voice
model, your voice model does not reflect the audio characteristics of
your new microphone. Create a voice model using your new
microphone, then use that voice model when practicing the dictation.
(Select the voice model you want to use from the ViaVoice menu by
clicking User Options > ViaVoice Options. At the User tab, make
sure the voice model you created with your new microphone is
shown in the Voice Model field.)

U If a word can be pronounced more than one way—like 'thuh' and

'thee' for the word the—try both pronunciations.

U Make sure you say multiple-word commands as if they were one long

word. Say New Line as a single word, not as New (short pause) Line.

U Are you actually saying all words correctly? For example, do not

misread this as the. Do not skip any words. You can always check
whether you are speaking clearly and correctly by selecting a word
and saying "Play this".

U If you are speaking in a location with a lot of unusual background

noise, wait until the noise subsides before dictating.

Chapter 2. The magic of dictating with ViaVoice 25

U Do not eat, drink or smoke while trying to dictate. If you have a bad

cold or sore throat, consider practicing after your voice has returned
to normal.

26 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Chapter 3. Introducing VoiceCenter

It’s worthwhile getting familiar with VoiceCenter, the control center of
ViaVoice. This chapter describes how you use VoiceCenter to control your
spoken interactions with your computer.

If you chose to place VoiceCenter in your StartUp folder during installation,
VoiceCenter starts when you start your computer. If you did not place it in
your StartUp folder, you can start it from Start > Programs > IBM ViaVoice
VoiceCenter. The microphone is off when VoiceCenter is started.

VoiceCenter appears as a taskbar at the top of your Windows desktop.

You can change the appearance (view) of VoiceCenter. See “Changing
VoiceCenter’s appearance” on page 103 for more information.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 27

VoiceCenter components

The ViaVoice button gives you access to the ViaVoice menu, which is
described in “ViaVoice menu” on page 30. To see the menu, click the
button, or say "ViaVoice Menu" when the microphone is on.

The microphone is on. When it is on, speech is enabled, and you can
use your voice to dictate and navigate. Click the microphone button

On

Asleep

or say "Microphone off" to turn the microphone off. To put the
microphone in sleep mode, say "Go to sleep" to disable the
microphone for all dictation and commands except the "Wake up"
command.

The microphone is 'sleeping'. Say "Wake up" to turn the microphone
on.

Off

The microphone is off. When the microphone is off, speech is
disabled. To turn the microphone on, click the button.

Turn off the microphone when another program needs to access the sound
card. ViaVoice suspends the microphone automatically when another
ViaVoice function (like Begin Reading) needs the sound card.

Watch the volume meter to monitor the loudness of your voice. The
volume meter should stop in the light green range whenever you
speak. If the volume meter stops in the dark green (too soft) or red
(too loud) range, or if it shows no movement, run Audio Setup from
the ViaVoice menu.

Watch the status area to see the last command that ViaVoice
recognized or to see messages that help you decide your next step.

Click the Analyze My Voice button to launch the User Wizard and
let ViaVoice analyze your voice to improve recognition accuracy. The
button will disappear as soon as enough data has been recorded and
analyzed.
Place your mouse pointer over the Analyze My Voice button to
display information on the amount of data that has been collected for
analyzing your voice.

28 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Click the Help button to access VoiceCenter help. Or, say
"VoiceCenter help".

Check the user-information area to make sure your own user name is
selected before you start using ViaVoice. Each user has personal
speech files—voice models, personal vocabulary, language and
ViaVoice Options—which ViaVoice uses and updates while the user is
dictating and correcting. To change the currently selected user name,
see “Making a user name the current user” on page 109.

Place your mouse pointer over the user-information area to display
the Who Am I pop-up. Or, say ″WhoamI"to view the pop-up. This
pop-up shows the user name, vocabulary and voice model that are
currently selected at the User tab of ViaVoice Options. If a Topic has
been selected, its name is shown in the pop-up. (Topics are specialised
mini-vocabularies that come with some versions of ViaVoice. Look at
the User tab to see if any Topics are available in your version.)

Your voice model reflects how you speak with a given microphone within a
particular acoustic environment. If you dictate at more than one location or
use different microphones, create a separate voice model at each location and
with each microphone. Then, make sure the appropriate voice model is
selected whenever you use ViaVoice. See “Creating additional voice models”

on page 106 for more information.

Chapter 3. Introducing VoiceCenter 29

ViaVoice menu

Say "ViaVoice menu", or click the ViaVoice button, to display the ViaVoice
menu. From there, you can access all features and tools available from the
menu or from sub-menus (shown below).

30 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

To create a document with your voice, select a dictation
application from the Dictate To menu.

Say "Dictate to SpeakPad" or "Dictate to Word" (if Word is
on your computer and Microsoft Office support has been
installed).

Say "Dictate Directly" to dictate to the application that has
focus on your desktop. The application must be able to
accept text.

For more information, see:

v Chapter 4, “Dictating into SpeakPad” on page 33
v Chapter 5, “Dictating into Microsoft Word” on page 47
v Chapter 6, “Correcting your dictation” on page 65
v Chapter 7, “Dictating to your applications” on page 73

To correct your dictated text with your voice, say "Show
Correction window", or select Show Correction Window

from the ViaVoice menu. See Chapter 6, “Correcting your
dictation” on page 65.

To proofread your text when correcting errors, say "Begin
Reading", or select Begin Reading from the ViaVoice menu.
Woodrow reads aloud your document.

You can have Woodrow read only a selection of text by
highlighting that selection. Woodrow can also read aloud
text, like e-mail, that you did not create through dictation.

You cannot use voice commands when Woodrow is reading.
To start, stop or pause reading, use the buttons on the
toolbar.

Chapter 3. Introducing VoiceCenter 31

To set up your microphone or audio input device to work
with ViaVoice, or to adjust settings, select Audio Setup from
the ViaVoice menu. Run Audio Setup whenever:

v The acoustics of your work area have changed.
v You have changed your microphone.
v You have installed a new sound card or changed your

computer.

To customize ViaVoice, select ViaVoice Options from the
User Options menu.

Select VoiceCenter Options to change the appearance of
VoiceCenter.

See Chapter 12, “Customizing ViaVoice” on page 103 for more
information.

To create dictation macros, start (or resume) recording for a
voice model, create navigation macros, manage your
vocabulary or have ViaVoice analyze your documents, select
the appropriate tool from the Tools menu.

To view the commands you can use, say "What Can I Say",
or select What Can I Say from the ViaVoice menu.

Commands are displayed by view, such as Text Editing or
Keyboard.

You can enable/disable separate sets of command. When a
command set is disabled, ViaVoice does not recognize any
command from it. See “Enabling command sets” on page 114
for more information.

To get more information on using VoiceCenter, say
"VoiceCenter Help", or select VoiceCenter Contents from the
Help menu.

To get information on using all ViaVoice features, say
"Information Central", or select Information Central from
the Help menu.

To get information on how to use Topics, if available, select
the appropriate topic from the Topics menu.

32 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Chapter 4. Dictating into SpeakPad

ViaVoice provides a speech-enabled word processor called SpeakPad into
which you can dictate your correspondence, e-mail and documents. This
chapter describes how to use SpeakPad to create documents by voice.

If you have not already done so, please practice dictating into SpeakPad as
described in Chapter 2, “The magic of dictating with ViaVoice” on page 17.

Most of the voice commands in this chapter work only if you have installed
ViaVoice on Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Me, or Windows XP
Home and Professional Edition. When a command is not recognized, select
the desired button or menu item with your mouse.

Select Dictate To > SpeakPad from the ViaVoice menu, or say "Dictate to
SpeakPad". You can begin dictating when SpeakPad’s document window
opens.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 33

SpeakPad menus and buttons

ViaVoice provides menu items and icons to support dictation into SpeakPad.

v Stop Transcription — Stops transcription on the screen in SpeakPad,

although the device may continue to run.

v Show Correction window — Opens the Correction window for correcting

recognition errors in your dictation.

v Hide Correction window — Hides the Correction window.
v Playback — Allows you to hear your dictation. You can highlight up to

1,000 words for playback. This option is grayed if you have not highlighted
text.

v Cancel Playback — Stops playback.
v Begin Reading — Reads your text aloud using the ViaVoice agent,

Woodrow. The text starting at the cursor location is read unless you have
highlighted text. You can choose to hide the ViaVoice agent when using
Text-To-Speech from the At Startup tab in ViaVoice Options.

v Create Macro — Creates a dictation macro for the text you have selected.
v Dictation Macro Editor — Display the editor for creating and managing

dictation macros.

v Dictation Options — Opens ViaVoice Options to the Dictation tab.
v Correction Options — Opens ViaVoice Options to the Correction tab.
v Select Target Window — Specifies the window to which you will transfer

your dictated text.

Click Dictation,orsay"Dictation", to access the
Dictation menu. The following options are available:

v Transcribe from Audio file — Select this to have

ViaVoice transcribe an audio file to SpeakPad.
Should you install software that comes with a

transcription device, you will see additional menu
entries. Depending on the number of voice models
you have, other cascading menus will appear to
help you identify the correct device and voice
models.

34 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

To transfer text to another application, open the
application and make sure you can see its window on
your desktop. Then click the Select Target Window
button on the SpeakPad toolbar to display the Select
Target Application window.

Click and drag the selection pointer—the little arrow
in the middle of the window—to your target window,
then click OK. Your target window will receive the
dictated text from SpeakPad when you click the
SpeakPad Transfer button.

Say "Transfer", or click the Transfer button, to
transfer SpeakPad text to the window you have
already identified as the target window on your
desktop.

Transfer enables you to use SpeakPad as your main
dictation word processor and easily transfer text to
another word processor or other program that accepts
text.

Say "Show Correction window", or click the Correct
button to display it.

You can drag the Correction Window to any place on
your desktop. The next time you want to use the
Correction Window, it remembers where you put it
and goes to that location.

To resume dictating (and leave the Correction
window), say "Return to text", or click in your
dictation. You can say "Hide Correction window" to
close the window.

See Chapter 6, “Correcting your dictation” on page 65.

Chapter 4. Dictating into SpeakPad 35

General hints and tips

Keep these things in mind whenever you dictate:
v Nearly everything you say into the microphone gets recognized as text or

an action to carry out—a text format, a cursor movement or a file-save,
file-close command. When your words are not recognized, you’ll see a
message to this effect in the VoiceCenter status area.

v Speak clearly in a natural way. ViaVoice translates your speech into text.

There is no need to pause between words, but make natural pauses after a
phrase or sentence. You may pause at any time to take a breath or collect
your thoughts.

v Say punctuation marks as part of your dictation. ViaVoice adjusts spacing

and capitalization accordingly. For example, when you say "Period" at the
end of a sentence, ViaVoice types a period, moves one space and starts the
next word with a capital letter.

When you say "New paragraph", ViaVoice inserts a line and starts the next
word with a capital letter. Look in the What Can I Say window for a list of
the punctuation and characters that you can insert into your dictation.
(Characters and punctuation are also listed in Appendix A, “Frequently
used commands in dictation” on page 133.)

v When saying a command, pause before the command, speak the command

without pausing between command words and then pause after the
command. This way, ViaVoice can interpret your speech as a command.

Incidentally, if you pause just to collect your thoughts, ViaVoice will expect
to hear a command. If the next words you say are not a command that
ViaVoice recognizes, it types your words as text.

v If you find that ViaVoice does not recognize your commands, you can begin

every command with an Attention word, which signals that you are about to
say a command. The default Attention word is 'Computer', but you can add
multiple Attention words from the Command Sets tab in ViaVoice Options.

To require the Attention word to be spoken before commands select this
option on the Dictation tab in ViaVoice Options. When it is specified, you
must use it before every command, even commands like "Microphone off".

When using the Attention word, do not pause between the Attention word
and the rest of the command.

If you are using the UK English version of ViaVoice, substitute "Full stop"
whenever you see the US English command "Period" in this User’s Guide.

36 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Dictating numbers in the US English version of ViaVoice

When dictating, say numbers as you naturally say them. ViaVoice formats
numbers such as dates, money, time, and ordinal and cardinal numbers. For
example, to dictate $589, simply say "five hundred eighty-nine dollars".

Currency

To get $350.10, say "three hundred and fifty dollars and ten cents".

Dates

To get July 9, 1997, say "July ninth nineteen ninety-seven", without
punctuation.

To get July 9th say "ninth July".

Decimals

To get 3.7, say "three point seven".

Ordinals

To get 53rd, say "fifty-third".

Long numbers

To get 1200, say "twelve hundred".

To get 13,111, say "thirteen thousand one hundred and eleven".

To get 1147356, say "eleven forty-seven thirty-five six" (in pairs or single
digits).

Time of day

To get 10:30 am, say "ten thirty A M", without punctuation.

Dictating numbers in the UK English version of ViaVoice

When dictating, say numbers as you naturally say them. ViaVoice formats
numbers such as dates, money, time, and ordinal and cardinal numbers. For
example, to dictate £589, simply say "five hundred eighty-nine pounds".

Currency

To get £350.10, say "three hundred and fifty pounds and ten pence".

To get €50, say "fifty euro"

Dates

To get 9th July 1997, say "ninth of July nineteen ninety-seven".

To get July 9th, 1997, say "July the ninth nineteen ninety-seven", without
punctuation.

Chapter 4. Dictating into SpeakPad 37

To get 25/12/2000, say "Twenty-five SLASH twelve SLASH two-thousand".

Decimals

To get 3.7, say "three point seven".

Ordinals

To get 53rd, say "fifty-third".

Long numbers

To get 1200, say "twelve hundred".

To get 13,111, say "thirteen thousand one hundred and eleven".

To get 1147356, say "one one four seven three five six". If you want commas,
say "one million one hundred and forty seven thousand three hundred and
fifty six".

Time of day

To get 10:30am, say "ten thirty A M", without punctuation.

To get 14:30, say "fourteen COLON NOSPACE thirty".

To get 9 o’clock, say "nine o’clock".

Dictating numbers in number mode

To improve the recognition of digits and numbers in your text, particularly
when you want to dictate long sequences of numbers like credit-card
numbers, enter number mode during dictation.

Say "Begin numbers" at the place in your text where you want to dictate the
number. Then say each digit of the number you want. If you want a special
character or symbol inserted in the sequence, say the name for it. You can see
the list of symbols and characters available in number mode by saying "What
Can I Say for Dictation" before saying "Begin numbers".

To exit number mode and continue with normal dictation, say "Return" or
"Cancel". If you switch focus to another window, you will automatically exit
number mode.

Spelling words in spell mode

To spell words or dictate a sequence of digits and letters, enter spell mode
during dictation.

Say "Begin spell" at the place in your text where you want to spell the word.
Then say each letter of the word you want. You may also use the phonetic

38 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

alphabet, shown on your Command Reference card, to spell words. The digits 0
to 9 and the special characters shown on the card may also be spoken in spell
mode.

To exit spell mode and continue with normal dictation, say "Return" or
"Cancel". If you switch focus to another window, you will automatically exit
spell mode.

When the Correction window has focus, you do not need to say "Begin spell"
to enter a word by spelling.

Saying commands while dictating

You can say commands to navigate through the text of your dictation and to
control SpeakPad. Pause briefly before and after you say a voice command.
However, do not pause while you are saying the words of the command itself.

If ViaVoice misrecognizes your command as text and types it on the screen,
say "Scratch that", then say the command again.

Inline dictation commands

You can edit and format text using the inline dictation commands and
text-editing commands. View these commands in the Dictation and Text
Editing views in the What Can I Say window and on the Command Reference
card.

v Say commands such as "Capital letter", "Uppercase", "Lowercase" and

"Spacebar" to format text.

v Say "<command> on" to keep the command active until you say

"<command> off". For example, say "Capitalize on" to capitalize all words
until you say "Capitalize off".

v Say "<command> this" to edit the next word or first letter of the next word.

For example, say "Underline this".

Say "What Can I Say for Dictation" to view other commands.

"Scratch that" command

Should your command be recognized as text, say "Scratch that", which
removes the unwanted text, then say the command again.

This command can also be used to restore text. For example, if you selected
text and then said a command that ViaVoice recognized as text, the
misrecognized text replaced what you had selected previously. Undo the
replacement by saying "Scratch that".

Chapter 4. Dictating into SpeakPad 39

Text-editing commands

You can select text and move the cursor using text-editing commands, such
as:

v Say "Next line" to move the cursor to the next line.
v Say "Select <text>", where <text> is the word or phrase to select.
v Say "Select this" to select text at the cursor location.
v Say "Scratch that" to delete the last dictated phrase.
v Say "Undo this" to undo the last action.
v Say "Copy this" and "Paste this" to copy selected text to or paste text from

the clipboard.

Say "What Can I Say for Text Editing" to view other commands.

Bullet lists

Create an unordered list with "bullet" symbols by dictating words, phrases or
sentences on their own lines, then highlight the text and say "Bullets".

Just say their names

Generally, you can operate menus, lists and buttons by saying the name you
see on them. For example, say "Edit" to open the Edit menu. To see a list of
other commands that are available, say "What Can I Say for Active Program".
See Chapter 11, “Navigating with your voice” on page 97 for more about
commands.

Commands recognized as text

ViaVoice processes your words as dictation until you pause, and then it starts
to listen for you to say a command. ViaVoice understands the commands that
you can see in the All Commands view at the What Can I Say window. If you
have selected a command set, ViaVoice will process the word as a
command—not dictation—whenever you pause before and after saying the
word. You can also use the word in regular dictation—but do not insert a
pause.

For example, suppose you wanted to dictate the sentence "It is important to
use the open quote file save close quote option regularly". If you paused
slightly before the word 'file', ViaVoice would interpret it as a command, and
the File menu would be pulled down! If you equally paused before the word
'save', the file would be saved.

To prevent dictated words from being recognized as commands, you have two
options:

v Go to the Command Sets tab in ViaVoice Options and deselect the

command set containing the specific command. Always select the command
sets that you use frequently so that you can see views of them in the What
Can I Say window. Deselect the command sets that you do not use. You can
select them again whenever you need them.

40 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

v Enforce the Attention word, such as 'Computer', before each command. To

do this, select the Attention word required check box on the Dictation tab
in ViaVoice Options. Once that is set, you must start every command with
the Attention word, such as "Computer select this". Do not pause between
the Attention word and the rest of the command. You can add multiple
Attention words from the Command Sets tab in ViaVoice Options.

When you deselect a command set, ViaVoice does not recognize the
commands in that command set. ViaVoice will process those words only as
dictation.

Chapter 4. Dictating into SpeakPad 41

Dictating e-mail user IDs and URLs

If the e-mail user ID is composed of commonly used words (for example,

[e-mail]), try dictating it like this: "Barbara UNDERSCORE
Jones AT-SIGN ibm DOT com". If it contains unusual words or characters,

like [e-mail], say a combination of words and spelled letters, like
this: "BEGIN SPELL Capital-M-y-Capital-M-8 AT-SIGN x-e-n-i-a DOT n-e-t".

If you are using the UK English version of ViaVoice, substitute "Full stop"
whenever you see the US English command "Period" in this User’s Guide.

If a letter or character is misrecognized, say "Scratch that" to delete it, then
say the correct letter or character again.

To dictate a URL like http://www.AZplace.net, say "http COLON SLASH

SLASH www DOT BEGIN SPELL Capital-A-Capital-Z-p-l-a-c-e DOT n-e-t
RETURN".

ViaVoice knows popular e-mail and URL domain names (sites) like aol.com,
Lycos.com, Hotmail.com and Yahoo.com, and common top-level domain
names like .co.us, .co.uk, .com, .org, .gov, .ac.us, .ac.uk and .net.

If you repeatedly use the same e-mail users or URLs in your dictations, you
can save time by creating a dictation macro for each e-mail user and URL.
See “Creating a dictation macro” on page 117 for more information.

42 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Transferring your dictation to another application

The transfer function is the easiest and quickest way to copy your dictated
document from SpeakPad to another text-based application. To maximize your
recognition accuracy, you should transfer your dictated document only after
you have corrected the recognition errors in it, as described in Chapter 6,
“Correcting your dictation” on page 65.

To transfer text to another application:

1. Open the application to which you

want to transfer your dictation. Make
sure that the application window and
SpeakPad are both open on your
screen.

2. From SpeakPad, select Dictation >

Select Target Window, or click the
Target button for the Select Target

Application window to appear.

3. Drag the selection pointer—the little

arrow in the middle of the Select Target
Application Window—to your target
application and click OK. Your target
window will receive the text
transferred from SpeakPad.

Chapter 4. Dictating into SpeakPad 43

Saving your dictation in SpeakPad

Before saving your dictation, decide if you want it saved as a recorded speech
session, which is your dictated text along with recorded audio of the dictated
words, or saved simply as text. To maximize your recognition accuracy,
correct errors in your dictated document before saving it.

Although the speech-session data uses a large amount of storage on your
disk—approximately 750 KB for every minute of dictation—you should save
this data if you plan to continue dictating your document or, alternatively,
want to correct and edit the document later. You do not need to save your
speech-session data if you have already corrected the recognition errors in the
dictation.

Saving a speech session

To save a speech session in SpeakPad:

1. Select File > Save session.

2. Type a name for the file.

3. Click Save.

See “Delayed correction” on page 70 for information on opening the speech
session data for correction.

Saving your dictation as text

If you have corrected all recognition errors in your dictation, save it as a
document file:

1. Select File > Save As.

2. Type a name for the file and choose a file extension (RTF, DOC, or TXT

file).

3. Click Save. The file is now saved.

44 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Finding new words in your document

ViaVoice analyzes your text for new words when you save a document in
SpeakPad. When you close SpeakPad, ViaVoice displays a list of all new
words found in your document. You may then elect to add them to your
personal vocabulary so that they are recognized in future dictations.

When you close your document, ViaVoice displays this window:

1. Select each word that you want to add to your personal vocabulary. A

check mark appears next to each word you select.

2. Click Next.

3. If ViaVoice needs a pronunciation of a word, a window appears requesting

that you train the word. Click Record, then say the word.

4. Wait for a check mark to appear next to the word (which indicates that

you recorded it successfully). Then click Done.

If you click Cancel, choosing not to record the pronunciation of a word,
ViaVoice will not add the word to your personal vocabulary.

Chapter 4. Dictating into SpeakPad 45

46 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Chapter 5. Dictating into Microsoft Word

This chapter describes how to use Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, or Word
2002 to create documents by voice. If you do not already have Word on your
computer, install it before continuing with this chapter. Alternatively, go to
Chapter 2, “The magic of dictating with ViaVoice” on page 17 and practice
dictating using SpeakPad.

Most of the voice commands in this chapter work only if you have installed
ViaVoice on Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Me, or Windows XP
Home and Professional Edition. When a command is not recognized, select
the desired button or menu item with your mouse.

Installing Word Program Support

If you chose to install Microsoft Office support during installation, you can
immediately use natural commands and dictate when you open Word. Click
the ViaVoice menu button and then the option Dictate to. Do you see Word?
If you do, then Word support is already installed.

The Word Dictation Command Set allows you to dictate into Word. ViaVoice
loads the Dictation menu and icons on the Word menu. The Word Natural
Commands Command Set allows you to say voice commands in Word. The
What Can I Say window displays the available commands. You can select one
of these two options or both, depending on what you want to do.

If you did not install Microsoft Office support during installation, or you
installed Word after you installed ViaVoice, follow these instructions to enable
or disable the Word Dictation and Word Natural Commands Command Sets.

1. Click the ViaVoice menu and point to User Options.

2. Click ViaVoice Options and select the Commands Sets tab.

3. Select or clear the Word Dictation check box for Word dictation support.

Select or clear the Word Natural Commands check box for Word
voice-commands support. If these options are disabled (grayed), then you
do not have Word installed on your computer.

4. Click Apply to save your changes, or click OK to save the changes and

close ViaVoice Options. If VoiceCenter was open when you installed this
support, close VoiceCenter and restart it.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 47

To disable Word support temporarily, hold down the Shift key while Word
is starting. Otherwise, ViaVoice Word Support starts whenever you start
Wo rd .

Try your first dictation into Word

1. Say "Dictate to Word". The Word document window is displayed and the

microphone is turned on.

2. If you are using the US English version of ViaVoice, continue with step 3.

If you are using the UK English version, go to step 4.

3. Dictate the following text by speaking clearly in your normal speaking

voice:

The new ViaVoice has arrived EXCLAMATION POINT NEWPARAGRAPH

It contains many new features PERIOD NEWPARAGRAPH

Our new User Wizard makes it easy to get started PERIOD NEWPARAGRAPH

We hope you enjoy using the new ViaVoice PERIOD MICROPHONE-OFF

Continue with step 5 on page 49.

4. If you are using the UK English version of ViaVoice, begin dictating the

following text. Dictate this text by speaking clearly in your normal
speaking voice:

The new ViaVoice has arrived EXCLAMATION MARK NEWPARAGRAPH

It contains many new features FULLSTOP NEWPARAGRAPH

Our new User Wizard makes it easy to get started FULLSTOP NEWPARAGRAPH

We hope you enjoy using the new ViaVoice FULLSTOP MICROPHONE-OFF

48 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

5. The text appears in the Word document window. It should look like this:

6. Save this document and correct errors later, when you read Chapter 6,

“Correcting your dictation” on page 65.

When saving a document for correction later, always save the speech-session
data when you are prompted to do so.

Chapter 5. Dictating into Microsoft Word 49

ViaVoice menus and buttons in Word

Select Dictate to > Word from the ViaVoice menu, or say "Dictate to Word".
You can begin dictating when the Word document window opens.

ViaVoice provides additional menu items and icons as part of its dictation
support.

50 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Click Dictation,orsay"Dictation", to access the
Dictation menu. The following options are available:

v Show Correction window — Opens the Correction

window for correcting recognition errors in your
dictation.

v Playback — Allows you to hear your dictation.

You can highlight up to 1,000 words for playback.

v Create dictation macro — Creates a dictation

macro for the text you have selected.

v Transcribe — Opens the Select file to transcribe

dialog. Select a file and click Open to have
ViaVoice transcribe the file in Word.

Should you install software that comes with a
digital recorder, the ViaVoice Transcription dialog is
launched instead. Select your digital recorder from
the Device list and select the appropriate voice
model from the Voice Model list. Click OK and the
select the file you want to transcribe from the
Select file to transcribe dialog.

v Dictation Options — Opens ViaVoice Options to

the Dictation tab.

Say "Show Correction window" or click the Correct
button to display it.

See Chapter 6, “Correcting your dictation” on page 65
for details about using the Correction window.

Say "ViaVoice Help", or click the Help button, to
display the ViaVoice Help folder (Contents, Index and
Search).

Click Help,orsay"Help", to display the Microsoft
Word Help menu.

IBM ViaVoice Dictation Help displays help on Word
Dictation.

IBM ViaVoice Transcription Help displays general
help on transcription. If you have installed software
that came with your transcription device, you may
also be able to access specific information about your
device.

Chapter 5. Dictating into Microsoft Word 51

General hints and tips

Keep these things in mind whenever you dictate:
v Nearly everything you say into the microphone gets recognized as text or

an action to carry out—a text format, a cursor movement or a file-save,
file-close command. When your words are not recognized, you’ll see a
message to this effect in the VoiceCenter status area.

v Speak clearly in a natural way. ViaVoice translates your speech into text.

There is no need to pause between words, but make natural pauses after a
phrase or sentence. You may pause at any time to take a breath or collect
your thoughts.

v Say punctuation marks as part of your dictation. ViaVoice adjusts spacing

and capitalization accordingly. For example, when you say "Period" at the
end of a sentence, ViaVoice types a period, moves one space and starts the
next word with a capital letter.

Look in the What Can I Say window for a list of the punctuation and
characters that you can insert into your dictation. (Characters and
punctuation are also listed in Appendix A, “Frequently used commands in
dictation” on page 133.)

v Owing to the concept of paragraphs and paragraph styles in Microsoft

Word, saying "New paragraph" in Word has another visual result than it
has in SpeakPad. In SpeakPad, "New paragraph" inserts a line and starts
the next word with a capital letter. In Word, the same command inserts a
paragraph marker (¶), moves the cursor to the next line and starts the next
word with a capital letter. So, in order to get the same visual result as in
SpeakPad, in Word you will need to manually increase the default
paragraph spacing in Word. To do this, click the Format menu and select

Paragraph... Then, on the Indent and Spacing page, increase the Spacing
Before/After values and click OK. Now you should see extra spacing

between paragraphs in your document. Refer to Microsoft’s documentation
for more information about paragraph spacing features in Word.

When you say "New line" in Word, ViaVoice inserts a manual line break
(equivalent to pressing SHIFT+ENTER). To see the paragraph markers and

If you are using the UK English version of ViaVoice, substitute "Full stop"
whenever you see the US English command "Period" in this User’s Guide.

manual line breaks, select

v When saying a command, pause before the command, speak the command

without pausing between command words and then pause after the
command. This way, ViaVoice can translate your speech into a command.

52 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

on the Microsoft Word Standard toolbar.

Incidentally, if you pause just to collect your thoughts, ViaVoice will expect
to hear a command. If the next words you say are not a command that
ViaVoice recognizes, it types your words as text.

v If you find that ViaVoice does not recognize your commands, you can begin

every command with an Attention word, which signals that you are about
to say a command. Select this option on the Dictation tab in ViaVoice
Options. When it is specified, you must use it before every command, even
commands like Microphone off.

When using the Attention word, do not pause between the Attention word
and the rest of the command.

v You can use a key on your keyboard to signal that you are speaking a

command. Go to ViaVoice Options.FromtheDictation tab, select the Use

key for commands check box, then choose the key you want to use. Click
OK and return to Word’s document window. Then, while dictating, press

the key you specified in the Options, say your command, and then release
the key. (The key must remain pressed down for the entire duration of the
spoken command.) When the key has been enabled for commands,
whenever you press it while dictating in Word, ViaVoice will interpret your
next words as a command until you release the key.

You can dictate into existing Word documents that you created by typing.
Open the existing Word document of your choice, place the cursor where
you want your dictated text to appear, and then begin dictating.

Dictating numbers in the US English version of ViaVoice

When dictating, say numbers as you naturally say them. ViaVoice formats
numbers such as dates, money, time, and ordinal and cardinal numbers. For
example, to dictate $589, simply say "five hundred eighty-nine dollars".

Currency

To get $350.10, say "three hundred and fifty dollars and ten cents".

Dates

To get July 9, 1997, say "July ninth nineteen ninety-seven", without
punctuation.

To get July 9th say "ninth July".

Decimals

To get 3.7, say "three point seven".

Ordinals

To get 53rd, say "fifty-third".

Chapter 5. Dictating into Microsoft Word 53

Long numbers

To get 1200, say "twelve hundred".

To get 13,111, say "thirteen thousand one hundred and eleven".

To get 1147356, say "eleven forty-seven thirty-five six" (in pairs or single
digits).

Time of day

To get 10:30 am, say "ten thirty A M", without punctuation.

Dictating numbers in the UK English version of ViaVoice

When dictating, say numbers as you naturally say them. ViaVoice formats
numbers such as dates, money, time, and ordinal and cardinal numbers. For
example, to dictate £589, simply say "five hundred eighty-nine pounds".

Currency

To get £350.10, say "three hundred and fifty pounds and ten pence".

To get €50, say "fifty euro"

Dates

To get 9th July 1997, say "ninth of July nineteen ninety-seven".

To get July 9th, 1997, say "July the ninth nineteen ninety-seven", without
punctuation.

To get 25/12/2000, say "Twenty-five SLASH twelve SLASH two-thousand".

Decimals

To get 3.7, say "three point seven".

Ordinals

To get 53rd, say "fifty-third".

Long numbers

To get 1200, say "twelve hundred".

To get 13,111, say "thirteen thousand one hundred and eleven".

To get 1147356, say "one one four seven three five six". If you want commas,
say "one million one hundred and forty seven thousand three hundred and

fifty six".

54 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Time of day

To get 10:30am, say "ten thirty A M", without punctuation.

To get 14:30, say "fourteen COLON NOSPACE thirty".

To get 9 o’clock, say "nine o’clock".

Dictating numbers in number mode

To improve the recognition of digits and numbers in your text, particularly
when you want to dictate long sequences of numbers like credit-card
numbers, enter number mode during dictation.

Say "Begin numbers" at the place in your text where you want to dictate the
number. Then say each digit of the number you want. If you want a special
character or symbol inserted in the sequence, say the name for it. You can see
the list of symbols and characters available in number mode by saying "What
Can I Say for Dictation" before saying "Begin numbers".

To exit number mode and continue with normal dictation, say "Return" or
"Cancel". If you switch focus to another window, you will automatically exit
number mode.

Spelling words in spell mode

To spell words or dictate a sequence of digits and letters, enter spell mode
during dictation.

Say "Begin spell" at the place in your text where you want to spell the word.
Then say each letter of the word you want. You may also use the phonetic
alphabet, shown on your Command Reference card, to spell words. The digits 0
to 9 and the special characters shown on the card may also be spoken in spell
mode.

To exit spell mode and continue with normal dictation, say "Return" or
"Cancel". If you switch focus to another window. you will automatically exit
spell mode.

When the Correction window has focus, you do not need to say "Begin spell"
to enter a word by spelling.

Chapter 5. Dictating into Microsoft Word 55

Saying commands while dictating

You can say commands to navigate through the text of your dictation and
work with your Word document. Pause briefly before and after you say a
voice command. However, do not pause while you are saying the words of
the command itself.

If ViaVoice misrecognizes your command as text and types it on the screen,
say "Scratch that", then say the command again.

Inline dictation commands

You can edit and format text using the inline dictation commands and
text-editing commands. View these commands in the Dictation and Text
Editing views in the What Can I Say window and on the Command Reference
card.

v Say commands such as "Capital letter", "Uppercase", "Lowercase" and

"Spacebar" to format text.

v Say "<command> on" to keep the command active until you say

"<command> off". For example, say "Capitalize on" to capitalize all words
until you say "Capitalize off".

v Say "<command> this" to edit the next word or first letter of the next word.

For example, say "Underline this".

Say "What Can I Say for Dictation" to view other commands.

"Scratch that" command

Should your command be recognized as text, say "Scratch that", which
removes the unwanted text, then say the command again.

This command can also be used to restore text. For example, if you selected
text and then said a command that ViaVoice recognized as text, the
misrecognized text replaced what you had selected previously. Undo the
replacement by saying "Scratch that".

Text-editing commands

You can select text and move the cursor using text-editing commands, such
as:

v Say "Next line" to move the cursor to the next line.
v Say "Select <text>", where <text> is the word or phrase to select.
v Say "Select this" to select text at the cursor location.
v Say "Scratch that" to delete the last dictated phrase.
v Say "Undo this" to undo the last action.
v Say "Copy this" and "Paste this" to copy selected text to or paste text from

the clipboard.

Say "What Can I Say for Text Editing" to view other commands.

56 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Bullet lists

Create an unordered list with "bullet" symbols by dictating words, phrases or
sentences on their own lines, then highlight the text and say "Bullets".

Just say their names

Generally, you can operate menus, lists and buttons by saying the name you
see on them. For example, say "Edit" to open the Edit menu. To see a list of
other commands that are available, say "What Can I Say for Active Program".
See Chapter 11, “Navigating with your voice” on page 97 for more about
commands.

Commands recognized as text

ViaVoice processes your words as dictation until you pause, and then it starts
to listen for you to say a command. ViaVoice understands the commands that
you can see in the All Commands view at the What Can I Say window. If you
have selected a command set, ViaVoice will process the word as a
command—not dictation—whenever you pause before and after saying the
word. You can also use the word in regular dictation—but do not insert a
pause.

For example, suppose you wanted to dictate the sentence "It is important to
use the open quote file save close quote option regularly full stop".Ifyou
paused slightly before the word 'file', ViaVoice would interpret it as a
command, and the File menu would be pulled down! If you equally paused
before the word 'save', the file would be saved.

To prevent dictated words from being recognized as commands, you have
three options:

v Set a key in ViaVoice Options to signal your command to ViaVoice. From

the Dictation tab, select the Use key for commands check box, then choose
the key you want to use. Click OK and return to Word’s document
window. Then, while dictating, press the key you specified in the Options,
say your command, and then release the key. (The key must remain pressed
down for the entire duration of the spoken command.) When the key has
been enabled for commands, whenever you press it while dictating in
Word, ViaVoice will interpret your next words as a command until you
release the key.

v Go to the Command Sets tab in ViaVoice Options and deselect the

command set containing the specific command. Always select the command
sets that you use frequently so that you can see views of them in What Can
I Say. Deselect the command sets that you do not use. You can select them
again whenever you need them.

v Enforce the Attention word, such as 'Computer', before each command. To

do this, select the Attention word required check box on the Dictation tab
in ViaVoice Options. Once that is set, you must start every command with

Chapter 5. Dictating into Microsoft Word 57

the Attention word, such as "Computer select this". Do not pause between
the Attention word and the rest of the command. You can add multiple
Attention words from the Command Sets tab in ViaVoice Options.

When you deselect a command set, ViaVoice does not recognize the
commands in that command set. ViaVoice will process those words only as
dictation.

58 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Dictating e-mail user IDs and URLs

If the e-mail user ID is composed of commonly used words (for example,

[e-mail]), try dictating it like this: "Barbara UNDERSCORE
Jones AT-SIGN ibm DOT com". If it contains unusual words or characters,

like [e-mail], say a combination of words and spelled letters, like
this: "BEGIN SPELL Capital-M-y-Capital-M-8 AT-SIGN x-e-n-i-a DOT n-e-t".

If you are using the UK English version of ViaVoice, substitute "Full stop"
whenever you see the US English command "Period" in this User’s Guide.

If a letter or character is misrecognized, say "Scratch that" to delete it, then
say the correct letter or character again.

To dictate a URL like http://www.AZplace.net, say "http COLON SLASH

SLASH www DOT BEGIN SPELL Capital-A-Capital-Z-p-l-a-c-e DOT n-e-t
RETURN".

ViaVoice knows popular e-mail and URL domain names (sites) like aol.com,
Lycos.com, Hotmail.com and Yahoo.com, and common top-level domain
names like .co.us, .co.uk, .com, .org, .gov, .ac.us, .ac.uk and .net.

If you repeatedly use the same e-mail users or URLs in your dictations, you
can save time by creating a dictation macro for each e-mail user and URL.
See “Creating a dictation macro” on page 117 for more information.

Chapter 5. Dictating into Microsoft Word 59

Saving your dictation

Before saving your dictation, decide if you want to save your dictation as a
recorded speech session, which is your dictated text along with recorded
audio of the dictated words, or simply as text.

Although the speech-session data uses a large amount of storage on your
disk—approximately 750 KB for every minute of dictation—you should save
this data if you plan to continue dictating your document or, alternatively,
want to correct and edit the document later. You should not save your
speech-session data if you have already corrected the recognition errors in the
dictation.

Saving a speech session

To save a speech session in Word:

1. Select File > Close.

2. Select the Save Dictation Session check box to save the speech session

data.

3. Click Ye s to save the changes you made to the file.

If you plan to open the document in another program, such as SpeakPad, save
the document as a Rich Text Format (RTF) document so that fonts and
paragraph formats can be used by the other program.

See “Delayed correction” on page 70 for information on opening the
speech-session data for correction.

Saving your dictation as text

If you have corrected all recognition errors in your dictation, save it as a
document file:

1. Select File > Save.

2. Select Rich Text Format (RTF) in the Save as Type field.

3. Click Save. The file is now saved.

60 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Finding new words in your document

ViaVoice analyzes your text for new words when you save a document in
Word. When you close the document, ViaVoice displays a list of all new
words in your document. You may then elect to add them to your personal
vocabulary so that they are recognized in future dictations.

When you close your document, ViaVoice displays this window:

1. Select each word that you want to add to your personal vocabulary. A

check mark appears next to each word you select.

2. Click Next.

3. If ViaVoice needs a pronunciation of a word, a window appears requesting

that you train the word. Click Record, then say the word.

4. Wait for a check mark to appear next to the word (which indicates that

you recorded it successfully). Then click Done.

If you click Cancel, choosing not to record the pronunciation of a word,
ViaVoice will not add the word to your personal vocabulary.

Chapter 5. Dictating into Microsoft Word 61

Creating ViaVoice Documents

The following describes how to create a ViaVoice Document from an existing
template with ViaVoice Bookmarks. ViaVoice Bookmarks help you navigate
through your documents with your voice.

Before creating a ViaVoice Document, enable the ViaVoice Documents
command set from the Command Sets tab in ViaVoice Options. Then follow
these instructions to create your own ViaVoice Document.

1. Open Word, or say "Dictate to Word".

2. From the Tools menu, click Options, then click the View tab.

3. Select the Bookmarks check box and click OK.

4. Say "What Can I Say for Templates" to see a list of templates. Determine

which template file you want to use.

5. Say "What Can I Say for ViaVoice Documents" to see a list of

commands you can say to use ViaVoice documents.

6. Say "Create a <document>", where <document> is the actual template

name. If Microsoft Outlook is installed and you have added Contacts
information, you can include the sender name with your voice command,
such as "Send a Business Fax to John Doe".

7. Say "What Can I Say for ViaVoice Bookmarks" to see a list of bookmark

fields for this document.

8. Say "Computer Go to <bookmark>" to move the cursor to the beginning

of the desired bookmark. It is recommended that you use an Attention
word when navigating to bookmarks.

9. At each bookmark field, dictate or type the information. Repeat steps 8

and 9 until you have entered information for all the bookmarks. Correct
any misrecognized dictated words by typing.

10. Save the document. When you close the document, select the Save

Dictation Session check box to save the speech-session data. Select Yes to

save all changes to the documents.

If ViaVoice continually misrecognizes your commands, you should select the
option to require an Attention word—to be used before all voice
commands—from the Dictation tab in ViaVoice Options. Or you can select
the Use key for commands check box and choose a key to press while
saying a command.

62 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Creating ViaVoice Templates

The following steps describe how to create a ViaVoice Document Template
(DOT) using ViaVoice Bookmarks. You can use your new template file to
create ViaVoice Documents, or you can use the templates that are included
with ViaVoice. Look in the Templates view in the What Can I Say window for
a list of templates.

Before you create a ViaVoice Document Template file, you need to enable the
ViaVoice Documents command set from the Command Sets tab in ViaVoice
Options. Then follow the instructions below to create a ViaVoice Document
Template file.

1. Open Word, or say "Dictate to Word".

2. From the Tools menu, click Options, then click the View tab.

3. Select the Bookmarks check box and click OK.

4. Place your cursor at the location in your document where you want to

enter the bookmark.

5. From the Insert menu, click ViaVoice Bookmarks.

6. In the Voice Command box, type the voice-command name for the

bookmark. If Microsoft Outlook is not installed, skip to step 8.

7. If Microsoft Outlook is installed and you have added Contacts

information, you can select an item from the Associated with Outlook
Contact Field list and insert your Contact information in this bookmark.

8. Select the Insert Prompt check box to display the voice command you

entered in step 6.

9. Click OK to create the ViaVoice Bookmark.

10. Say "What Can I Say for ViaVoice Bookmarks" to display a list of

available bookmarks.

11. Repeat step 4 through step 9 until you have entered all your bookmarks

for your document.

12. Save your document template (DOT) file. In the Save As window, change

the Save as type to Document Template (*.dot). Double-click the
ViaVoice folder, type the file name and click Save. Say "What Can I Say
for Templates" to display a list of available templates.

You can use this template to create new ViaVoice documents. The ViaVoice
Documents view in the What Can I Say window displays the voice commands
for creating and navigating to bookmarks in your document

Chapter 5. Dictating into Microsoft Word 63

Using ViaVoice Bookmarks

ViaVoice Bookmarks help you navigate through your documents with your
voice by adding a voice command to your bookmarks. If Microsoft Outlook is
installed and you have added Contacts information, you can insert your
Contact-list information and associate it with a ViaVoice Bookmark.

Before you create a ViaVoice Bookmark, you need to enable the ViaVoice
Documents command set from the Command Sets tab in ViaVoice Options.
Then follow the instructions below to create a ViaVoice Bookmark.

1. Open Word, or say "Dictate to Word".

2. From the Tools menu, click Options, then click the View tab.

3. Select the Bookmarks check box and click OK.

4. From the Insert menu, click ViaVoice Bookmarks to create a bookmark.

The following are descriptions of the options available from the ViaVoice
Bookmarks window.

v Voice Command — Enter a voice command for the new bookmark in

this field. This command appears in the ViaVoice Bookmarks view in
the What Can I Say window. You can enter up to 39 characters as well
as spaces. If this field is left blank, the bookmark is still created;
however, no voice command is associated with it, and it is not
displayed in the What Can I Say window.

v Associated with Outlook Contact Field — This option is enabled when

Microsoft Outlook is installed. A list of available Contact field names is
displayed so that you can insert information into a bookmark from your
Outlook Contact List. Each of the list items can be used only once in a
document. Selecting an item from this list is optional for creating a
bookmark. To deselect a list item, click the first word in the list, None.

v Insert Prompt — Selecting this option displays the voice command and

name entered for the bookmark field in your document. Say "Go to"
followed by the name shown in the field to navigate the cursor to the
beginning of the bookmark field in the document. If only an Outlook
Contact field item is selected for the bookmark, without a
voice-command name, then it is displayed in the bookmark field in the
document.

5. Click OK to create the ViaVoice Bookmark.

6. Say "What Can I Say for ViaVoice Bookmarks" to see the names of

available bookmarks.

64 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Chapter 6. Correcting your dictation

As you begin using ViaVoice, you might say words that are not in the
vocabulary, or ViaVoice might simply not understand words that you say.
These result in recognition errors—misrecognized words—in your dictated
text.

This chapter describes correction, the most important thing you can do to help
ViaVoice understand the words you say when dictating. When you correct
misrecognized words to the words you actually said, you provide ViaVoice
with two important benefits.

v When you correct a word that ViaVoice doesn’t know (because it is neither

in the base vocabulary nor in your personal vocabulary), that new word is
added to your personal vocabulary. The next time you use the word,
ViaVoice should get it right.

v By correcting words, you teach ViaVoice how you actually pronounce

words in the context of other words. Over time, correcting words greatly
increases recognition accuracy for subsequent dictation.

Correct each misrecognized word by using the Correction window. Display
this window whenever you have dictated text by saying "Show Correction

window". When you do not want it on the desktop, say "Hide Correction
window".

Get in the habit of correcting errors after each paragraph of dictated text. You should not
wait until you have dictated a long article to begin correction—by the time you have
finished your dictation, you might overlook some errors when proofreading.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 65

Using the Correction window

When the microphone is turned on, say "Show Correction window". You can
use the Correction window to correct the misrecognized words while you are
dictating text. Each time you use the Correction window, ViaVoice updates
your personal voice model, which improves future recognition.

The following are components found on the Correction window.
v Alternate list — This list displays the possible replacement words for the

selected text. Say "Pick <n>", where <n> is the number to the left of the
correct word. Or, click on the text in the list to insert it in your document.

v Word-display field — This field displays the word or phrase you have

selected for correction. Spell or type the correct word here if the correct
word does not appear in the alternative word list. Remember that you do
not need to capitalize the word if it is the first word of a sentence. ViaVoice
will format it automatically when the word is inserted into your document.

v Add words as phrase — This option allows you to add the words in the

word-display field to your vocabulary as a phrase, rather than as individual
words. Click this to add words that you will nearly always say as a phrase,
like 'New York' or 'Buckingham Palace'. The default setting is cleared.

v Auto-play selected text — This option automatically plays back the selected

dictated word when the Correction window is open. This will not occur
when the Correction window is closed. This option is available only when
correcting in SpeakPad or Word. The default setting is selected.

66 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

The following describes the buttons on the Correction window.

Pinned/Unpinned Thumbtack — When it is pinned,
the Thumbtack button keeps the Correction window
in the same place during correction. When the button
is unpinned, the Correction window "tracks" to the
words being corrected. This button is available only
when correcting in SpeakPad. The default setting is
pinned.

Play this — Click or say "Play this" to hear a
recording of your dictation of the highlighted word
or phrase.

Format Word — Click or say "Format" to display the
format menu. "Capitalize this" capitalizes the first
letter of each word. "Lowercase this" changes the
words to lowercase letters. "Uppercase this" changes
the words to uppercase (all capital) letters. "Numeric"
changes the words to a number. "Spell out" changes
a number or abbreviation to a spelled-out word.

To maximize your recognition accuracy, correct errors in all of your dictated
documents before transferring them to another program or exiting the
document. You can have the ViaVoice agent teach you how to make
corrections by saying "Teach me about Correction".

Chapter 6. Correcting your dictation 67

Correcting by voice

The following describes how to correct a misrecognized word in a dictated
document in the SpeakPad window.

1. Select the word or phrase to correct by saying "Correct <text>". In this

example, say "Correct learned". (If the wrong occurrence of the word or
phrase is selected, say "Try Again", and ViaVoice selects the next
occurrence.) If you want to hear what you actually said for the word or
phrase, say "Play this".

2. The selected word or phrase appears in the Correction window with a

numbered list of similar sounding words. These words are called alternate
words.

Pick 1

3. Say "Pick <n>" (where <n> is the number of the alternate word) to select

an alternate word. The selected word replaces the word on the screen.

4. Continue proofreading until you finish correcting all misrecognized text.

Say "Go to Top" to move to the beginning of your document or "Go to
Bottom" to move to the end of your document.

If a word does not appear in the list, we recommend you use this technique
to correct the word.

1. Say "Return to text" to return control to the dictation window.

2. Re-dictate the word or phrase you wanted. If this works, you can continue

proofreading.

68 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

3. If re-dictating the word or phrase did not work, say "Scratch that" to get

the original text back. Then, click the word-display field in the Correction
window, and type the word or phrase you actually said. If the word is the
first word of a sentence, you do not have to capitalize it—ViaVoice does
that for you automatically. Then say "Correct",orpressEnter, to accept it.

ViaVoice inserts the correction into your dictated text and returns focus to the
dictation window.

In some cases, you might want to correct two or more words that occur
together so that they are added to the vocabulary as a single phrase.

If the correct word is a proper name (like a family name or geographical
place name), type the word with the appropriate capitalization.

If the word you type has a pronunciation that ViaVoice cannot determine
from its spelling, the Record Word window will appear. At that window you
may have to provide a sounds-like spelling to help ViaVoice understand the
word. For example, if your dictation contains the word UU-Ranch, which
you pronounced as 'double-U ranch' but which ViaVoice did not understand,
you will have to provide 'double-U-ranch' as the sounds-like spelling.

Correcting words by typing

For the quickest correction results when correcting SpeakPad documents, use
the following combination of spoken commands, typing and mouse clicks.

1. After dictating a paragraph, search for misrecognized text.

2. Correct each misrecognized word by clicking on it in the document and

typing the correct word or spelling. To correct a phrase or a group of
words, select them with the mouse pointer until the entire phrase is
highlighted.

3. If you wish to see a list of alternate words, highlight an incorrect word or

phrase and say "Correct this" to show the Correction window.

If ViaVoice continually misrecognizes your commands, you should select the
option to require an Attention word—to be used before all voice
commands—from the Dictation tab in ViaVoice Options.

v If the correct word is in the list of alternate words, say "Pick <n>"

(where <n> is the correct number), or click on the text in the list to
insert it in your document. This corrects the selected words, and you
can continue proofreading.

Chapter 6. Correcting your dictation 69

v If the correct words are not in the list of alternate words, try dictating

v If dictating the word does not work, say "Scratch that" to get the

v Say "Go to Top" to move to the beginning of your document or "Go to

4. For proper names or other words that are not in the vocabulary, you will

have to type or spell out the words using the Correction window. If the
Record Word window appears, use it to train ViaVoice to recognize the
word in the future.

Delayed correction

You can correct misrecognized words at another time or delegate someone
else to correct your dictated text. To do this, save the speech-session data in
SpeakPad or Word dictation. The speech-session data includes all audio and
alternate words for your dictated text.

the word or phrase again. If this works, then you can continue
proofreading.

original text back. Click in the word-display field in the Correction
window and type the correct spelling. Say "Correct",orpressEnter,to
accept it. You do not need to capitalize the word if it is the first word of
a sentence—ViaVoice will format it automatically when the word is
inserted into your document.

Bottom" to move to the end of your document.

To save the speech session in Word, select the Save Dictation Session check
box on the dialog that appears when you close your file. To save your
SpeakPad speech file, select File > Save Session from the SpeakPad menu.

When you save the file, speech-session data is removed. Because
speech-session data occupies a lot of space on your hard disk, you should
periodically remove the data that you no longer require.

You can NOT save speech session data when using Direct Dictation.

To correct a previously saved speech session:

1. Open the file. If this is a SpeakPad document, look for files with the VPS

extension.

2. Select Ye s to restore the speech-session data. (If you did not save the

speech-session data, the file opens automatically without the
speech-session data.)

3. Perform corrections in any way you prefer—type the words you want, use

the Correction window, or re-dictate. You can use Playback to remind you
of the original dictation.

70 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Delegated correction

If someone has delegated correction of a previously saved, dictated speech
session to you, you can retype, re-dictate, add dictation or use the Correction
window and your voice to correct text. You can even save the speech session
and continue correction later. Just make sure that you do all of this under
your own user name so that the author’s personal speech files do not become
corrupted.

When you open someone else’s file to make corrections, first make sure that
you—not the author—are the current ViaVoice user. To update the author’s
personal speech files with the corrected text, switch to the author’s name,
then process the text through Analyze My Documents.

Chapter 6. Correcting your dictation 71

72 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Chapter 7. Dictating to your applications

This chapter describes how to dictate directly into virtually any Windows
application that accepts text.

You can dictate directly into text fields, text boxes in dialog windows and in
table cells—virtually anywhere where text can be entered from the keyboard.

Almost all dictation capabilities available in SpeakPad are also available in
Direct Dictation. To get the best results when you dictate directly:
v Dictate at a moderate pace. If you are speaking ahead of what you see

ViaVoice currently displaying, you may be speaking too quickly.

v Dictate a paragraph or more at a time and correct errors after you finish.
v Avoid skipping around the document with mouse clicks, cursor movement

keys, or cursor-positioning commands when dictating.

v Turn the microphone off whenever you do most of your correction with the

mouse and keyboard instead of your voice.

Dictating directly

To dictate directly to your application:

1. Turn on the microphone.

2. Say "Open program <program name>" to open your application, where

<program name> is the name of your application, such as Lotus

®

.

Pro

3. Click the cursor where you want to insert text.

4. Say "Dictate Directly" and wait for the message Dictating directly... to

appear in the status area.

5. Dictate into text fields, dialog text boxes or table cells—anywhere text is

accepted.

6. Correct the recognition errors using the standard procedures described in

Chapter 6, “Correcting your dictation” on page 65.

®

Wo rd

The commands Select <text> and Correct <text> are not available for
correcting directly dictated text. Look in the What Can I Say window for
alternate commands to use select and correct text in your document.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 73

If you pause dictation for some reason (to navigate to another field, for
example) you can resume dictation by navigating (shifting focus) back to your
original text window. You can have many text windows open at the same
time—all enabled for direct dictation.

ViaVoice suspends direct dictation automatically when focus is not on a valid
text field. You may find, however, that some applications continue to accept
voice input, which may result in unusual behavior. Should this happen, say
"Pause direct dictation" or "Stop direct dictation" until the unusual
application behavior stops, then say "Resume direct dictation" to continue.

Using Auto-start dictation

You can dictate directly into some applications without having to say "Dictate
directly" when the application is started.

1. From the ViaVoice menu, select User Options > ViaVoice Options >

Direct Dictation tab.

2. Select the Auto Start Dictation check box to dictate directly into the active

application without having to say "Dictate directly". For example, when
creating an e-mail message, you can start dictating the body of the
message when the cursor is in the message section without saying the
command.

3. Select the applications that apply. These selections will apply to all users.

By default, direct dictation is activated for all currently installed
applications and any new ones you might install in the future.

4. Click OK to save the changes and close ViaVoice Options.

Dictating directly into a spreadsheet

You can dictate directly into cells and use voice commands to navigate among
cells. However, the Correction window is not available for correcting dictated
data in spreadsheets. To correct entries in cells, navigate to the cell and
re-dictate the text.

Remember to say "What Can I Say for Dictation" to find out what commands
are available when dictating directly.

74 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Chapter 8. What Can I Say

This chapter describes the What Can I Say window. This window lists the
commands you can say to do routine computer tasks you once did with
keyboard and mouse.

Many of the voice commands described in this chapter work only if you
have installed ViaVoice on Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Me, or
Windows XP Home and Professional Edition. If you have installed ViaVoice
on Windows NT or Windows 2000, try saying the commands. If a command
is not recognized, then select the desired button or menu item with your
mouse.

The What Can I Say window shows commands that are available. There are
two reasons why you might want to see the What Can I Say window:

v To view the commands, including those that are not readily apparent on the

desktop, that you can say.

v To train a command so that ViaVoice can recognize it. Training a command

means recording how you say it. (See “Training a command” on page 81.)

The commands listed in What Can I Say
reflect the current state of your desktop.
When you click a program and then say (or
click) "What Can I Say", you will see the
commands that are available for the program
that you clicked. Should you then go to
another program or click on the desktop
with the What Can I Say window still open,
the commands in What Can I Say will
change to reflect your last action.

To access What Can I Say from the ViaVoice
menu, select What Can I Say, and the All
Commands view appears. (If you have
already looked at the What Can I Say
window, the last view you saw is displayed.)
To see other views, select View and then
select one of the views.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 75

Views

Commands are displayed in the What Can I Say window in groups called
views.

v All Commands — This view lists commands

that you can see and also those that are not
readily visible. For example, menu names are
not listed in the other views, but you find them
in the All Commands view. To see the All
Commands view, say "What Can I Say for All
Commands" from wherever you happen to be.
In the field above the list, you may enter a
word to search for a voice command.

v VoiceCenter — Say "What Can I Say for

VoiceCenter" to view the commands for

controlling VoiceCenter.

v Desktop — Say "What Can I Say for Desktop"

to view the commands for opening, closing,
sizing and moving programs on your desktop.

v Favorites — Say "What Can I Say for Favorites" to view the commands for

accessing the pages listed in your Favorites menu. These commands are, by
default, turned off. To make these commands available, select the Favorites
command set on the Command Sets tab in ViaVoice Options. (See
“Enabling command sets” on page 114.)

v Text Editing — Say "What Can I Say for Text Editing" to view the

commands for moving the cursor and selecting text.

v Keyboard — Say "What Can I Say for Keyboard" to view commands for

keyboard functions. These commands are, by default, turned off. To make
these commands available, select the Keyboard command set on the
Command Sets tab in ViaVoice Options. (See “Enabling command sets” on
page 114.)

v Active Program — Say ″What Can I Say for Active Program" to view

commands for controlling the program that has focus. For example, you can
say the names of toolbar items, such as Print or Copy. The Active Program
commands change when you change focus between windows or programs.
(These commands are limited on Windows NT and Windows 2000.) This
view also lists natural commands when they are enabled.

v Untrained — Say "What Can I Say for Untrained" to see the commands for

which ViaVoice does not have a pronunciation. To use a command in this
view, you must train it. See “Training a command” on page 81.

76 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

v Dictation — Say "What Can I Say for Dictation" to view the commands for

dictation. This view appears in the list only when the focus window is a
program into which you can dictate.

v E-mail — Say "What Can I Say for E-mail" to view commands for

composing and sending e-mail.

v People — Say "What Can I Say for People" to view commands for names

in your e-mail address list.

v Natural Commands — Say "What Can I Say for Natural Commands" to

view the natural commands available for Microsoft Word, Outlook and
Excel.

v ViaVoice Bookmarks — Say "What Can I Say for ViaVoice Bookmarks" to

view commands that are associated with bookmark fields in a Microsoft
Word document. To learn about bookmarks in a document, look in Word
help under 'bookmark'.

v Templates — Say "What Can I Say for Templates" to view commands for

the names of available document templates. Templates are document forms
that you can create in Microsoft Word. The form contains fields which can
be filled by speaking.

v ViaVoice Documents — Say "What Can I Say for ViaVoice Documents" to

view commands to create voice documents in Microsoft Word from an
existing ViaVoice template or a template created by you.

ViaVoice uses the Microsoft Active Accessibility®function with commands
for the Active Program command set. Because the function is not fully
supported on Windows NT and Windows 2000, the Active Program
command set is limited if your computer has this operating system installed.

Chapter 8. What Can I Say 77

Interacting with What Can I Say

You can navigate the What Can I Say window by saying commands or by
using the mouse or keyboard. The What Can I Say window must be active
when saying commands.

Voice Mouse Keyboard

Top of list
Home
Move down <1 to 20> items
Bottom of list
Expand all/collapse all
Move up <1 to 20> items
How Do I Say <reference>

Expanding or collapsing a view

To expand (see everything under) or
collapse (hide everything under) a
heading, click the toggle, or say the
toggle name.

For example, say "Desktop" to
expand the collapsed heading (as
shown at right).

Use the scroll bar and
arrows on the right
side of the window.

Use the Up and Down
arrow keys on your
keyboard.

Or, say "Desktop" to collapse an
expanded heading.

Say "Expand all" or "Collapse all" to
expand or collapse all headings in
the view.

Commands with words in angle brackets

Some commands in a view are shown with one or more words in angle
brackets. The words in angle brackets are a variable that you have to replace
with a word. For example, if you see the command Start program <program

name>, say the name of the program you want to start, such as "Start
program Lotus Notes".

To see a VoiceTip pop-up with instructions on how to say the words in angle
brackets, move your mouse cursor over the words.

Or, say "How Do I Say <direction>", where <direction> is the item shown in
angle brackets.

78 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Changing views

The command for changing the view depends on whether you are in What
Can I Say or in a program.

v In What Can I Say, say the name of the view you want to see.
v If you are in another program, say "What Can I Say for Text Editing",

"What Can I Say for Active Program" and so on.

To access the All Commands view, say "How Do I Say". Typically, you would
say this when What Can I Say is not the active program (the program you are
now using).

When you are in What Can I Say for VoiceCenter, you can say, for example,

"Text Editing", to see this view. If the focus is on another program, say "What
Can I Say for Text Editing" to switch to this view.

From What Can I Say, say "Return to program" to switch to the previous
program.

Creating notes for What Can I Say

You can create your own notes for
each view. The notes are saved when
you close What Can I Say.

When you write notes in a view, the
notes are associated only with the
active program—the program that had
focus when you wrote the notes.
Should you switch to another
program, you will see only the notes
that you wrote for that other view.

Printing the commands in a view

To print a list of commands, say "Print", or select Action > Print.

The print function prints only what is expanded. So, say "Expand all" before
you print.

Using an Attention word with commands

If you find that ViaVoice does not recognize your commands, you can begin
every command with an Attention word. The Attention word signals to
ViaVoice that you are about to say a command. The default Attention word is
'Computer', but you can specify other Attention words at the Command Sets
tab in ViaVoice Options.

Chapter 8. What Can I Say 79

To require the Attention word to be spoken before commands, go to the
Dictation tab in ViaVoice Options and make sure the Required check box is
ticked. (See “Setting dictation options” on page 111.) When the Attention word
is specified as "required", you must say it as the first word before every
command, even commands like "Microphone off".

When using the Attention word, do not pause between it and the rest of the
command.

80 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Training a command

Whenever ViaVoice has trouble recognizing your pronunciation of a
command, you can train the command in What Can I Say. Training means
recording a pronunciation of the command. This teaches ViaVoice how you
pronounce a command, thus improving recognition accuracy.

Some commands have pronunciations that ViaVoice does not know. You can
easily identify these by the red X next to them in a view. If you want to say
these commands, you must train them. You can see all such commands in the
Untrained view of the What Can I Say window.

To train a command, follow these instructions.

1. Say the name of the view containing the command you want to train, or

say "What Can I Say for Untrained".

2. Double-click the command you want to train. It can be an untrained

command or any command for which you want to improve recognition.

3. Say "Record", or click the record button.

4. Say the command and wait until recording stops.

5. Click the Done button when it becomes enabled.

Record

Stop Play

Chapter 8. What Can I Say 81

82 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition

Chapter 9. Using natural commands

Natural commands are voice commands that enable you to use a flexible style
and everyday language to perform common word-processing and spreadsheet
tasks. This chapter describes the natural commands that you use with the
following Microsoft programs:

v Word 97, Word 2000, or Word 2002
v Excel 97, Excel 2000, or Excel 2002
v Outlook 97, Outlook 98, Outlook 2000, or Outlook 2002

You can say natural commands only if the particular command set is enabled
for the application. The natural commands for Word, Excel and Outlook are
enabled when you select the command set. The Word Dictation Command Set
allows you to dictate into Word. To enable a particular command set for an
application’s natural commands:

1. From the ViaVoice menu, select User Options.

2. Click ViaVoice Options and select the Commands Sets tab.

3. Select each application whose natural commands you want enabled.

4. Click OK to save the changes and close ViaVoice Options.

General guidelines

You have the option to use an Attention word, such as 'Computer', as the first
word in natural commands. (You can add multiple Attention words from the
Command Sets tab in ViaVoice Options.) Try saying commands without the
Attention word.

If ViaVoice continually misrecognizes your commands, you should select the
option to require an Attention word—to be used before all voice
commands—from the Dictation tab in ViaVoice Options. Or you can select
the Use key for commands check box and choose a key to press while
saying a command.

In this chapter, some examples start with the Attention word.

Using continuous speech, say the command as one phrase without pauses or
hesitation.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 83

Say the Attention word

Pause slightly before you say the
command. Then, finish saying the
command with no pauses.

Say an Action

The first word after 'Computer' must be
an action verb to specify the task you
want the computer to perform.

To view the available actions, say "What

Can I Say for Natural Commands".
Say an Object

Specify the text or table object that you
want to change. Your command applies to
the currently selected text, to text objects
that you specify (words, sentences, lines,
paragraphs, pages, sections, or the entire
file), or to text in tables (cells, rows,
columns or the entire table).

You can use a pronoun, such as it, that and this, to refer to the object where the cursor
is located.

You can specify a range of objects, such as "Computer select from here to the end of
the document".

For tables, you can select a range of adjoining cells, columns, rows or tables, such as

"Computer select cells two to four in rows three through ten".
Say the Details

Certain actions require details. Use the
application’s terminology and choices to
provide the details.

Examples include:

v Targets, such as "to the end of the third

paragraph".

v Line Spacing, such as "double-space".
v Font style, such as "bold" or "italics".
v Location, such as "beginning" or "top".

When you change the font (using options
on the Format menu, Font page), you can
include up to three changes to apply to an
object in one command. For example, you
can say "Computer make the last

paragraph Arial eight point bold".

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Using commands that have variables

Remember to say "What Can I Say for Natural
Commands" to view examples of natural

commands.

Words or phrases in angle brackets in the What
Can I Say window, like <select text>, represent
a variable in the command.

When you say the command, substitute a word
or phrase for the variable. For example, you
can say "Computer select from here to the end
of the document".

To learn what you can say for a variable, put
the mouse cursor over it; and a VoiceTip
appears. Or, say "How Do I Say <variable>",
where <variable> is what you see in the angle
brackets. For example, say "How Do I Say
Select text".

Natural commands provide a lot of flexibility. To get familiar with this
flexibility, review the VoiceTips, and look in the What Can I Say window for
a list of available commands. Say "Teach me about Natural Commands" to
learn more about what you can say.

Correcting errors

Try the following suggestions if your command does not produce the change
you want:

v Check whether you have set the Attention word as "required" in ViaVoice

Options.

v If your command appears on the screen as dictated text (this happens when

you pause too long while saying a command), say "Scratch that" to delete
the text, and say the command again.

v Say "Computer undo the last <n> actions" until you are back where you

started. If you go too far, you can say "Computer redo that".

v State the command a little differently. For example, if "Computer bold this"

did not bold the right word, you could say "Computer make the next word
bold".

Chapter 9. Using natural commands 85

Word

v Look in the Natural Commands view of the What Can I Say window for

suggestions. Or, say "How Do I Say <action>". For example, to see
examples of commands that you can use to select text in your document,
say "How Do I Say Select text".

v Use a combination of the mouse, keyboard and voice commands to make

the change.

v Whenever ViaVoice does not recognize your commands, try using the

Attention word, 'Computer', as the first word of every command.

You can say natural commands only if the particular command set is enabled
for Microsoft Word. The natural commands for Word are enabled when you
select the command set. Follow these instructions to enable the command set.

1. From the ViaVoice menu, select User Options.

2. Click ViaVoice Options, and select the Commands Sets tab.

3. Select the Word Natural Commands check box. If you plan to dictate in

Word, also select the Word Dictation check box.

4. Click OK to save the changes and close ViaVoice Options.

Natural commands for Word can be used to do the following:

v Open, close and save documents
v Print and Print preview
v Check spelling and grammar
v Find and replace words
v Undo and redo
v Create tables
v Select text or tables
v Move text or the cursor
v Cut, copy, paste or delete text
v Format and highlight text
v Align text and set line spacing and indentation

Keep the following in mind as you use natural commands:
v A natural command consists of a single action. Do not combine two actions

into a single command; for example, do not say Computer move the cursor

to the beginning of the second paragraph and make the next three words
bold. Instead, say "Computer move the cursor to the beginning of the
second paragraph", then say "Computer make the next three words bold".

v Use Word terminology when composing your command. Do not use extra

words like Please or I want to—ViaVoice will not understand what to do.
Use only word-processing terms.

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v Every time you press Enter or say "New Paragraph" in your Word

document, Word inserts a paragraph marker and counts this as a

Excel

paragraph. To see your paragraph markers, select

on the Microsoft

Word Standard toolbar.
When you say "Computer select the first three paragraphs", and you have

a paragraph marker between paragraphs of text, ViaVoice will select the
first paragraph, the empty line and the second paragraph.

v Say "What Can I Say for Natural Commands" to view examples of natural

commands.

v Place the cursor where you want the change to occur. Use your mouse or

say a command, such as "Computer move the cursor to the top of the
page" or "Computer select the first word".

v Use continuous speech—do not pause or hesitate while saying the

command.

You can say natural commands only if the particular command set is enabled
for Microsoft Excel. The natural commands for Excel are enabled when you
select the command set. Follow these instructions to enable the command set.

1. From the ViaVoice menu, select User Options.

2. Click ViaVoice Options and select the Commands Sets tab.

3. Select the Excel Natural Commands check box.

4. Click OK to save the changes and close ViaVoice Options.

The natural commands for Excel enable you to perform common spreadsheet
operations. A natural command may be as simple as "Go to A1" or as
complex as "Calculate one hundred times alpha one".

Entering data into a spreadsheet

You can say numbers directly. After you say a number, the cursor will move
to the next cell. For example:

v You can say "Eight fifty" for 850, "thirty-five hundred" for 3500 and "five

and a third" for 5.333.

v You can say "Three thousand four hundred and twenty-three point seven

five" for 3423.75.

v To add the cells in a column, say "Sum this".
v To enter a new list of numbers, say "Next Entry point".

If your command is misrecognized, say "Scratch that" to delete the data in the
cell, then repeat the command.

Chapter 9. Using natural commands 87

The following table shows a list of common Excel actions and a sample
natural command for that action.

Task Sample Command

Copy "Copy from A3 to B5"
Paste "Paste here"
Move "Move right three cells"
Undo "Undo the last three actions"
Redo "Redo the last action"
Jump "Jump back five rows"
Go "Go to A1", "Jump to Bravo five"
Select "Select right three cells", "Select from G5 to K9"
Mark "Mark from G5 to K9"
Set Print Area "Print this workbook"
Open "Open a new file"
Save "Save the workbook", "Save in text format"
Insert "Insert a cell and shift right"
Change "Change the font to dark blue italic courier"
Italic "Italicize A5"
Format Text "Format using the professional format"
Format Numbers "Use the currency format on the next three cells"
Create "Create a thin dashed red border around the selection"
Calculate "Calculate 3 times Open Bracket Echo 5 minus Papa 20 Close

Bracket"

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Outlook

You can say natural commands only if the particular command set is enabled
for Microsoft Outlook. The natural commands for Outlook are enabled when
you select the command set. Follow these instructions to enable the command
set.

1. From the ViaVoice menu, select User Options.

2. Click ViaVoice Options and select the Commands Sets tab.

3. Select the Outlook Natural Commands check box.

4. Click OK to save the changes and close ViaVoice Options.

The natural commands for Outlook enable you to send and read e-mail
messages, schedule meetings, add a new contact to your address book, create
new journal entries and perform other common tasks. A natural command
may be as simple as "Show my mail" or as complex as "Create a meeting
tomorrow at two pm with Rebecca and Mark".

ViaVoice must have pronunciations of your recipients’ names so that it can
recognize the names when you say them. ViaVoice reads the names from your
contact list and displays them in the What Can I Say window. Any name
marked with a red X must be trained. See “Training a command” on page 81
for more information.

For information on creating an e-mail message, see “Working with e-mail” on
page 92.

The following table shows commands that help you manage your mail:

Say To Get
"Display the note from <name>" Displays an e-mail message from a

specific person. This command is active
only when the Outlook Inbox is active.

"Add <name>"

"Remove <name>"
"Carbon Copy <name>"

"Blind Carbon Copy <name>"
"Make the subject <subject>"> Changes the subject text to <subject>

Adds the named recipient to or deletes
the person from the recipient list.

To carbon copy or blind carbon copy the
person named.

Chapter 9. Using natural commands 89

Using the personal information manager, you can create a meeting, create a
new personal contact, create a task and create a Post-it note.

Sample commands Tasks
"Create a meeting tomorrow at two pm"

"Create a two hour meeting a week from
Monday at one pm with <name> and
<name> regarding first quarter results"

"Create a new contact" This displays the Contact box. You can

"Create a task" This displays the Task box. You can then

"Create a sticky note" Creates a Post-it note in Outlook. You can

"What’s <name’s> phone number" Displays the named person’s contact

"Show my tasks" Displays your task list. You can then

"Show my post-it notes" Displays your Post-it list. You can then

When you want to schedule an
appointment on your calendar, you can:
give the start time; the date; the duration
or the end time; and a list of attendees
taken from your Outlook address book.

You can then dictate additional
information such as: the subject of the
meeting, more attendees, or date and time
changes. For example, say "The subject is

weekly status", "Add <name> to the
attendee list", "Make the duration one
hour".

then dictate additional information such
as the employer, phone numbers and
addresses. For example, say "The

company is IBM", "he lives at 12 King
Street".

dictate additional information such as the
due date, the percentage completed or a
reminder. For example, say "The task is

due on the 17th of July", "it is 50 percent
completed", "set the priority to high".

then dictate a message to yourself.

information. Woodrow speaks the
requested information (in this example,
the person’s business phone number).

navigate your tasks by saying commands,
such as "Find the task about summer
holiday".

locate a specific note by saying "Find the

post-it note containing <words>".

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