Nuance comm K609A-WN9-11.0, K609A-G00-11.0, K609AGC3110 User Manual
Dragon NaturallySpeaking
Version 11.5
User Guide
Dragon User Guide, Version 11.5
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CH A P T ER 1 Introduction 1
About this guide 2
What should I expect from Dragon? 3
CH A P T ER 2 Installation and User Profile Creation 5
Plugging in the microphone 5
What you shouldknow before installing 6
Before installing the software 7
Choosing type of installation 8
Installing software — Typical Installation 9
Installing software — Custom Installation 10
Modifying application settings for all users 14
Modifying administrative settings 14
Modifying formatting options for all users 15
Creating your user profile 16
Training a new user profile 21
Adapting to your writing style, scheduling tuning 23
How Dragon automatically configures user profile 25
Upgrading User Profiles 26
Version 11.5 File Structure 28
Accessing log files, samples, and tools 29
Contents
CH A P T ER 3 Starting to Dictate 31
Starting Dragon 31
Turning on the microphone 32
Starting to dictate 33
Getting Help 36
Troubleshooting 40
The DragonBar 40
Using QuickStart 44
CH A P T ER 4 Working on Your Desktop 47
Programs, documents, and folders 47
Switching between openwindows 48
Opening and closing menus 50
Selecting buttons, tabs, and options 51
Using Windows Desktop commands 52
Selecting icons on the desktop 54
Resizing and closing windows 55
Scrolling in popular programs 56
Scrolling in windows and list boxes 57
Opening lists and making selections 57
iii
Contents
Pressing keyboard keys 58
Moving the mouse pointer and clicking the mouse 63
CH A P T ER 5 Correcting and Editing 69
Correcting mistakes 69
Selecting text by voice 74
Moving around in a document 78
Copying, cutting, andpasting text 80
Deleting text 80
Spelling as you dictate 83
Playing back your dictation 85
Using text-to-speech 91
CH A P T ER 6 Formatting 93
Capitalizing text 94
Formatting text 96
CH A P T ER 7 Dictating Numbers, Punctuation, and Special Characters 101
Dictating numbers 101
Punctuation 111
Dictating hyphenated words 113
Dictating compound words 115
Dictating names 116
Dictating abbreviations and acronyms 116
Dictating e-mail and Web addresses 117
Dictating special characters 118
Switching recognition modes 119
Information, Sales, Services and Technical Support 127
iv
Introduction
ragon NaturallySpeaking let you talk to your computer
instead of typing. As you talk, your words are transcribed
onto your screen and into your documents or e-mail messages.
Talking to a computer while it types what you say is called
dictating. You can dictate, rather than type, into any program
that accepts text.
You can use Dragon to:
n Compose letters, memos, and send e-mail messages—Cut and
paste inside your documents as well as revise and format text.
Just thinkabout what you want to say, and then say it into the
microphone.
n Enter data into forms or spreadsheets. (Available in
Professional and higher editions)—Most people can dictate
numbers faster than they can type. Using Dragon
Professional or higher editions, you can create custom voice
commands to let you move from field to field on your form by
voice.
CH AP TE R
1
n Work on the Web—Search the Web, access information, and
navigate Web pages by speaking URLs and links.
n Start programs and open menus.
n Use handheld recorders to dictate while you are away from
your computer. Dragon can then transcribe what you said.
1
Introduction
About this guide
This guide covers all editions of Dragon. Most information
presented applies to all the editions, and the manua notes any
differences between the editions.
Conventions used in this guide
1 This guide contains many examples of words and phrases
you can say when using Dragon. These examples appear in
italics with quotation marks, for example: “Format That
Bold.”
2 Some procedures also include sample text for you to dictate.
Sample text appears in a different typeface, with punctuation
in square brackets.
3 This guide applies to the all English dialects that ship with
Dragon:
n US English
n UK English
n Australian English
n Indian English
n Southeast Asian English
2
US English uses US spelling, punctuation, and time and
currency formats. We recommend US English for Canadian
users since this dialect formats numbers (including times,
telephone numbers, and currency) in North American
formats.
All other dialects use UK spelling, punctuation, and time and
currency formats (some number settings depend on your
Windows Regional Settings). Where multiple dialects are
used in dictation examples, those dialects appear ina different
font style. For example:
You can also correct a longer phrase by saying “Correct
[text] Through [text]” (US/Canada) or “Correct [text] To
[text]” (Other Dialects).
4 This guide uses US spelling and punctuation for consistency.
5 This guide also includes tips and notes to help you use the
software more effectively. Tips and notes appear like this:
NOTE:
If you pause correctly, but Dragon still types a command as
dictation, you can force it to recognize what you say as a command by
holding down the CTRL key.
With Numbers Mode on, Dragon tries to interpret everything you say
as a number. If you dictate words, the results will be unpredictable.
However, you can still navigate menus and switch between programs
by voice when Numbers Mode is on.
What should I expect from Dragon?
One reason to useDragon is to boost yourproductivity. Another
is to reduce the strain using a computer puts on hands, eyes,
shoulders, etc. Maybe you like the idea of being able to lean
back in your chair, put your feet up on the desk, and still get
work done.
Dragon works by using sophisticated acoustic and statistical
models; it can quickly adapt to you in various ways, becoming
familiar with the sound of your voice as well as the particular
words you use in your dictations. For best results, you should
develop simple habits such as positioning your microphone
consistently, dictating punctuation, speaking clearly and evenly,
pausing briefly before and after voice commands, and taking
advantage of the easy tools Dragon offers to optimize accuracy:
for instance, adding to Dragon's vocabulary your own jargon,
acronyms, phrases or words for which you want a special
pronunciation or spelling. Dragon lets you import lists of
vocabulary entries all at once; you can even point Dragon to
texts that are similar to what you plan to dictate and it will
quickly "study" them.
User Guide
Personalizing Dragon's vocabulary is easy, and very important
for productivity, since it preempts recognition errors. (If a word
you dictate is not in Dragon's vocabulary, the software cannot
transcribe it.) Properly correcting Dragon's errors will also help
it learn. The more you use Dragon, the more opportunities the
software will have to adapt to you, both in terms of acoustics
and in terms of language.
3
Introduction
Do I still need my keyboard and mouse?
Although you can use Dragon to do almost everything on your
computer by voice, some things are still easier to do using the
mouse or keyboard.
If using a mouse and keyboard is an option for you, try
experimenting with using your voice and using your hands for
different tasks, to see what works best.
What if I can’t use a keyboard and mouse?
If using a mouse and keyboard is not an option, Chapter 4,
Working on Your Desktop on page 47.
4
CH AP TE R
T
Installation and User Profile
Creation
his chapter presents how to install and set up Dragon, and
then how to train Dragon to understand your voice.
The installation process checks to make sure your system meets
the minimum system requirements needed for Dragon. These
system requirements arelisted in the information that came with
your copy of Dragon.
If your system does not meet these requirements, Dragon will
not be installed.
Multiple users on one computer
2
Dragon is licensed on a “per individual” basis. You are
permitted to install the software on more than one computer
(such as on a desktop and alaptop computer, or on a workand a
home computer), but you cannot use the software concurrently
on more than one computer. You are permitted to create
multiple voice profiles, so long as each voice profile is for you. If
someone else wants to create a voice profile, that person must
purchase a separate Dragon license.
Volume license agreements are available.
Plugging in the microphone
To use Dragon, you will need to plug in your microphone.
If you are not sure how to plug in your microphone, consult the
documentation that came with your microphone.
NOTE:
If you already have speakers for your computer, you can also
use these to playback recorded speech instead of your headphones.
5
Installation and User Profile Creation
What you should know before installing
Installing Dragon to a custom location
The default installation directory for Dragon is:
C:\Program Files\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking11
During the installation procedure, you can choose to install
Dragon to a different directory or drive on your machine.
Choosing a different directory during installation only installs
the Dragon program files to that location.
Regardless of where you install the Dragon program files,
Dragon always installs the languages and vocabularies that you
selected during the installation to the C: drive, as well as
creating the location where your users profiles will be created.
These profiles can consume a large amount of disk space on
your C: drive. For more information on the Dragon installation
directories, see Version 11.5 File Structure on page 28.
You can customize your installation to reduce the amount of
disk space used on your C: drive by not installing unwanted
languages and vocabularies. For more information, see
Installing software — Custom Installation on page 10.
Installing on Windows Vista/Windows 7
Dragon Version 11.5 is compatible with all editions of Windows
Vista.
If you upgrade a machine from a previous version of Windows
to Windows Vista/Windows 7 and that machinehas Version 9.x,
10.x or 11.0 of Dragon installed, that version of Dragon will not
work after upgrading to Windows Vista. All your user profiles
from these previous versions remain intact and can be upgraded
when you install Dragon Version 11.5 or higher.
6
Coexistence with other Dragon products
Coexistence with previous versions of Dragon
You can have only one version of Dragon installed on your
system.
NOTE:
Running Version 9.x, 10.x, or 11.0 concurrently with Version
11.5 is not supported.
Coexistence with the Dragon SDK Client Edition
You can install Dragon SDK Client Edition 11 on the same
machine where Dragon 11 is installed. In addition, Dragon 11
and Dragon SDK Client Edition 11 can share users and
vocabularies.
You can only run one product at a time. For example, if you are
running Dragon, you cannot run any of the SDK Client tools or
samples.
NOTE:
Coexistence of Version 11.5 with Dragon SDK Client Edition
Version 9.x or 10.x is not supported.
User Guide
Before installing the software
Before installing, modifying, or upgrading Dragon:
1 Close all open applications.
2 Turn off ordisable antivirus software; the installationprocess
can sometimes trigger a false virus report.
NOTE:
You must have Administrator rights to install or uninstall Dragon
on Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. Administrator rights
are not required to create a user profile or use the software after
installation.
On Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista, and Windows 7
systems, if as an administrator you want to create a Dragon user profile
for a Windows limited user (user with restricted privileges), you must log
on using that Windows limited user account before creating the Dragon
user profile.
7
Installation and User Profile Creation
If you create a Dragon user profile for a limited user while logged in as
a Windows administrator, the limited user will not be able toaccess that
user profile. These restrictions also apply to an upgrade installation.
3 Choose the type of installation to carry out.
Choose Installation Type
Choose whether to install the entire product or only
particular features of the product, as explained in the next
section.
You can also carry out an
online Dragon System Administrator Guide PDF or Help file
for details.
MSI
installation. Refer to the
Choosing type of installation
When you install Dragon, you can either do a complete (typical)
installation or a custom installation. Nuance recommends you
do a complete installation unless you are experienced with the
product. The table below tells more about each installation type.
TYPE DESCRIPTION
Typical/
Complete
Custom
NOTE:
selecting Custom installation, you can install them later by running the
Setup program again and choosing Modify.
Installs all options and speech profiles. Requires the
maximum disk space.
Lets you select particular options and vocabularies to
install. Can greatly reduce the disk space required.
During a custom installation, in the Professional edition, you can modify settings that are then applied to
all user profilescreated with this installation, including
Windows limited account users.
If you decide not to install some Dragon components by
8
If you are installing the product for multiple users, you should
choose a Custom installation rather than a Typical/Complete
installation. To carry out a custom installation, proceed to
Installing software — Custom Installation on page 10.
Otherwise, proceed with Installing software — Typical
Installation on page 9.
Installing software — Typical Installation
To install all features of Dragon:
1 Insert the Dragon DVD into your DVD drive.
If the installation does not start automatically, use Windows
Explorer to find and double-click setup.exe on the DVD.
NOTE:
Windows Vista: When you start the installation on Windows
Vista, you may see the message saying A program needs your
permission to continue. Click Continue to start the installation.
2 After the Windows Installer begins, it installs two software
packages if they are not already installed:
n Visual C++ Version 9.0 Runtime
3 After the Wizard begins, click Next to proceed to the License
Agreement page. Read the text and select I accept the terms...,
then click Next.
User Guide
4 Enter your User Name and Organization, and the Serial
Number supplied to your installation.
5 (Optional) When the Setup Type page appears, click the
Change button and choose where to install the product.
If no earlier versions of Dragon are installed on your system,
the default directory is:
C:\Program Files\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking11
For a list of directories created by installation, see Version
11.5 File Structure on page 28.
6 While you are still on the Setup Type page, select Typical.
7 profileClick Install to start the installation.
9
Installation and User Profile Creation
8 When prompted, click Finish to complete the installation. (If
you are prompted to restart your computer, restart it now.)
9 Select Start > All Programs > Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 >
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5. The DragonBar appears on
your desktop.
10(optional) If you have users from Version 9.x or 10.x that
you would like to upgrade before proceeding, refer to
Upgrading User Profiles on page 26.
11If you have no previously existing users, the Profile Creation
wizard starts immediately after you run the product. Proceed
to Creating your user profile on page 16 to set up a user
profile, then continue as instructed, to train that user profile.
You are now ready to create a user profile, as explained under
Creating your user profile on page 16.
Installing software — Custom Installation
To install portions of Dragon or to install it for multiple
user profiles:
10
1 Insert the Dragon DVD into your DVD drive.
If the installation does not start automatically, use Windows
Explorer to find and double-click setup.exe on the DVD.
NOTE:
Windows Vista: When you start the installation on Windows
Vista, if you see a message saying A program needs your
permission to continue, click Continue to start the installation.
2 After the Windows Installer begins, it installs two software
packages if they are not already installed:
n Visual C++ Version 9.0 Runtime
3 After the Wizard begins click Next to proceed to the License
Agreement page. Read the text and select I accept the terms...,
then click Next.
4 Enter your User Name and Organization, and the Serial
Number supplied to your installation.
User Guide
5 (Optional) When the Setup Type page appears, click the
Change button and choose where to install the product.
If no earlier versions of Dragon are installed on your system,
the default directory is:
C:\Program Files\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking11
For a list of directories created by installation, see Version
11.5 File Structure on page 28.
6 While you are still on the Setup Type page, select Custom for
the type of installation.
NOTE:
If you decide not to install some Dragon components by
selecting Custom installation, you can install them later by running the
Setup program again and choosing Modify.
7 Click Next and you see a tree where you can select any
particular feature of the product and click the down arrow to
its left to choose where/when to install it:
n Install now, on local hard drive
n Install now, with all subfeatures on local hard drive
n Install when it is needed on a just-in-time basis
These options are particularly useful for installing multiple
languages and/or multiple vocabularies.
11
Installation and User Profile Creation
For example, see the selections for the Southeast Asian
English vocabulary shown in the illustration below.
Installing other languages, dialects, and
specialized vocabularies
To install user files for the other languages or dialects supplied
with your edition, choose Custom on the Setup Type page. The
user files for each language or dialect contain both spellings
and pronunciations specific to that region. For example, users
who wish to dictate US English spellings—including users with
accents—should install the US (American) English user files.
12
8 Click Next again and, if you do not have the Professional
edition, skip to the next step. Otherwise, choose any check
boxes under Additional optionsto have additional dialog boxes
pop up at the end of the installation, where you can make
changes that affect all users dictating on this computer.
OPTION DESCRIPTION
Modify the application’s settings for all users
Displays the Options dialog box at the end of the installation; hereyou set several options for all user profiles at
once (see online Help for details). Useful for an installation in a shared area; for example, in a conference
room where multiple professionals could dictate.
Modify the administrative settings
User Guide
OPTION DESCRIPTION
Displays the Administrative Settings dialog box at the
end of the installation, where you set up the Roaming
User feature, where to backup your files, and who can
modify commands/vocabularies.
Modify the formatting options
Displays Auto-Formatting dialog box at end of installation, where you apply uniform formatting to all
documents dictated at this installation; for example, formats for dates, times, and phone numbers. You also set
whether to expand contractions, apply abbreviations,
and insert commas automatically. See online Help for
more details.
9 Click Next.
10Click Install to start the installation.
11When the installation completes, proceed with any of the
following sections that apply to your custom installation:
n Modifying application settings for all users on page 14
n Modifying administrative settings on page 14
n Modifying formatting options for all users on page 15
12When you are prompted to register the product, select one of
the registration options.
13Click OK to register the product and click it again to proceed.
14Check Yes, check for program updates after the setup completes
to download any updates after the setup completes and click
Finish to complete the installation.
15If you chose to upgrade user profiles earlier, when the
message about upgrading your user profiles pops up, click
OK. (The message might tell you that the installation will not
be complete until after your system is restarted.)
16If you were told you need to reboot in order to complete the
installation, reboot your computer now.
13
Installation and User Profile Creation
17Select Start> All Programs > DragonNaturallySpeaking 11.5>
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 orclick on the Dragon desktop
icon.
18If you have users from Version 9.x, 10.x or 11.0 that you
would like to upgrade before proceeding, refer to Upgrading
User Profiles on page 26. Otherwise, if you have no
previously existing users, the Profile Creation wizard starts
immediately and you can create a user profile as explained
under Creating your user profile on page 16.
Modifying application settings for all users
If you checked off Modify the application’s settings for all users
during a custom installation, the Options dialog box opens
immediately after the installation completes.
NOTE:
If you did a typical installation, open the Options dialog box
by running Dragon and selecting Tools > Options.
In the Options dialog box, you see several tabs you can use to
set up various aspects of dictating with the product:
n Correction
n Commands
n View
n Hot keys
n Playback/
Text-to-speech
For more information on each tab, see the online Help.
Modifying administrative settings
If you checked Modify theadministrative settings during a custom
installation, the Administrative Settings dialog box opens
immediately after the installation ends.
NOTE:
If you did a typical installation, open the Administrative
Settings dialog box by running Dragon without opening a user and
selecting Tools > Administrative Settings.
In the Administrative Settings dialog box, you see these tabs:
n Roaming—To set up roaming users.
n Miscellaneous—To create backup/distribution directories and
control who can modify custom commands.
14
n Miscellaneous
n Data
n Scheduled Tasks—To schedulevoice recognition optimization
and data collection for improved accuracy, and let users
modify the schedule.
For details, refer to the Help by clicking the Help button.
Modifying formatting options for all users
If you chose to modify formatting options on the Custom Setup
page during a custominstallation, theAuto-Formatting dialog box
opens after the installation completes.
NOTE:
If you did not do a custom installation, to set up formatting: Run
Dragon, open a user, and select Tools > Formatting.
The Auto-Formatting dialog box for all versions of Dragon
NaturallySpeaking appears as shown below.
Choose the
options to
apply to your
dictated
documents.
User Guide
15
Installation and User Profile Creation
Creating your user profile
Before you can begin using Dragon, you must let Dragon create
a user profile for each person who is dictating.
Your user profile stores acoustic information about your voice
that Dragon uses to recognize what you say. This profile also
stores any changes you make to the standard vocabulary—any
special words, names, acronyms, and abbreviations you add.
When you launch the software for the first time, the Profile
Creation wizard starts and leads you through creating your user
profile:
16
NOTE:
If you upgraded a single user from an earlier version, Dragon
opens that user’s profile. If you upgraded multiple users, it displays
profiles for all upgraded users in the Open User dialog box.
To create a user profile:
1 In the Creating a user profile page, click Next in the lower
right corner to proceed.
2 Proceed through the wizard, filling in the information it
requests and clicking Next to proceed.
User Guide
When the wizard asks for your name, you can enter your
first name only, a nickname, or your first and last name.
The wizard asks for your age to help Dragon work with
vocal differences it associates with different age ranges.
The wizard also asks for region of the world you live in to
help Dragon interpret your speech based on regional
differences.
3 When the Help Dragon understand how your pronounce words
page appears, select your accent.
The accents you can choose from are:
n Standard—Select if your accent is not covered by another
choice or your are not sure which accent to select.
n Australian accented English
n British accented English
n Indian accented English
n Inland Northern US (Great Lakes area)—Upstate New
York through the Chicago area
n SEAsian accented English—South East Asian
n Southern US—Most of Southern United States, including
Texas
n Spanish accented English
Determining your own accent can be difficult. For example,
say you grew up in one part of the United States but have
lived long enough in another part to lessen your original
regional accent. If you have any doubt about picking an
accent, select Standard and allow Dragon to learn your
accent.
If you do not select a specific accent (in other words, you
select the Standard accent), you may want to perform
Acoustic Optimization after using the product for several
hours. Acoustic Optimization updates your user profile with
accumulated acoustic data from any corrections and
additional training you may have done. Running Acoustic
Optimization will increase your overall accuracy. In the
17
Installation and User Profile Creation
process of increasing your accuracy, Acoustic Optimization
may select a different accent for you.
If you select a specific accent, Acoustic Optimization will still
increase your overall accuracy, but will not change your
accent. Once you have selected a specific accent for a user,
you cannot change it later.
Dragon Version 11.5 lets you create and train users in
multiple languages. If you have purchased an edition with
support for more than one language, you can add languages
by later choosing Custom during the installation and having
the Dragon DVD available toinstall the language files during
the process of creating user profiles.
4 When the How do you talk to your computer? page appears,
select your type of microphone from the list of Microphones. If
you record your speech using a recording device, select a
recorder from the list of Recorders.
5 In the Review your choices page, be sure the information is
correct before you proceed.
18
6 Dragon automatically chooses a speech model to use as the
foundation for your individual user profile. It also selects the
vocabulary it uses to recognize words correctly based not
only on their sound, but also on their context. However, if
you want to select a particular speech model and vocabulary,
you can click the Advanced button and in the Choose models
page select a:
n Speech model from the drop-down list for Speech model.
Dragon uses the speech model to adapt to your voice
during training. Dragon automatically recommends the
type of speech model and vocabulary that is appropriate for
your computer’s speed/memory.Usually, youshould follow
Dragon’s recommendation
n Type of vocabulary from the Vocabulary type list:
n Medium—Requires at least 512 MB of RAM.
n Large—Requires at least 1 GB of RAM.
n Empty Dictation—(Professional edition only) Vocabulary
with a language model but without any words, designed
for experienced users or resellers who want to create
highly specialized vocabularies.
7 Click OK to save your selections in the Choose models page
and return to the Profile Creation wizard.
8 Click the Create button in the lower right corner of the page
to create your user profile.
When Dragon finishes creating your user profile, it takes you
through the next part of the process. Proceed to Setting up/
positioning your microphone on page 19.
Setting up/positioning your microphone
When Dragon finishes creating your user profile, it displays the
Position your microphone properly page, where it begins to lead
you through the process of setting up your microphone.
Following the wizard’s instructions, position your microphone .
User Guide
Positioning the microphone correctly is important. If the
microphone is out of place, Dragon might not be able to hear
you clearly and make mistakes.
Consistent positioning is also important. Make sure that you
position the microphone the same way each time you dictate.
Here are some tips on using particular types of microphones:
Using a headset microphone
n Position the microphone about a half-inch (approximately
the width of your thumb) from your mouth and a little off
to the side. The microphone should not touch your mouth,
but it can be almost touching your lips.
n If you need to move the microphone out of the way, lift the
“boom” up and over your head, rather than bending it out
of position or removing the headset.
Using a handheld microphone
n Hold the microphone one to three inches from your mouth
and a little off to the side.
19
Installation and User Profile Creation
n If the volume display on the DragonBar
TM
holding the microphone slightly farther from your mouth.
Using an array microphone
n Position the array 18 to 30 inches from/pointed at your
mouth.
n Avoid blocking the path between your mouth and the
array, for example by holding a book or paper in front of
your face.
n Avoid having any source of noise or signal other than your
voice directly facing the array within at least 15 feet.
9 After you have positioned the microphone, click Next to
continue with Checking microphone volume/sound quality
on page 20.
Checking microphone volume/sound quality
After you have positioned the microphone and clicked Next, you
see the Dragon will adjust your volume page.
1 Click the Start Volume Check button and then read aloud
the text displayed in the box.
2 When the program beeps to indicate it has finished checking
the volume, click Next.
turns red, try
20
3 When the Dragon will test the quality of your sound system
page appears, click Start Quality Check and then read aloud
the text displayed in the box.
4 The program beeps when it has finished evaluating the sound
quality of your system. If Dragon displays Passed, click Next
to continue.
NOTE:
Windows Vista or XP: If you get a Sound level is too
low error while creating a Dragon user profile, to boost the
microphone’s volume:
1. Select Start > Control Panel > Sound and Audio Devices.
2. On the Voice tab, click the Volume... button under Voice
recording to open the Recording Control dialog box.
3. Set the volume level for the appropriate input device type.
5 Continue with Training a new user profile on page 21.
Training a new user profile
Immediately after you create your profile, before you begin
dictating, you train Dragon to understand your voice.
Performing training either during or after creating a user profile
enhances your recognition accuracy. In initial training you read
aloud for several minutes from one of the available texts.
NOTE:
For information on training a mobile user, see the online help.
If you skipped training earlier to open a user profile, from the
DragonBar menu,select Profile > Open User Profile and select
your name in the list; then click Open to proceed. Sinceyou have
not completed training, options for Training appear.
To train a new user:
1 When the Read text aloud to train Dragon page of the
wizard appears, choose from these training options:
User Guide
n Show text with prompting
n Show text without prompting
n Skip training (not recommended)
2 In the Read Training Text page of the wizard, click Go.
3 If you chose the first training option (Show text with
prompting):
n A yellow arrow showing you where to start reading
appears.
n Click Go and begin reading the text. To take breaks while
you’re training the program, click Pause.
NOTE:
To advance through the first two screens, you must say the
sentences without pausing. For the rest of the screens, it’s okay to pause
in the middle of a sentence.
n When the words change color, it means the computer has
heard and recognized them.
21
Installation and User Profile Creation
n If you need to re-read the same words, click Redo, then re-
read them. If the computer still doesn’t get it, just click
Skip. Otherwise, click Next to continue.
4 If you chose the second training option (Show text without
prompting):
n In the Read Training Text page, under Choosing text toread,
choose a text to read aloud and click Next.
n When the Text Display page appears, choose how you want
to read the text, from the screen or from a printed page. If
you choose to read from a printed page, click Print to print
the text.
n Click Next to continue.
n If you chose to read the text from the screen, the Speaking
to thecomputer page appears and advises you to position
your microphone.
n After you position your microphone, click Train to begin.
n In the Speaking to the Computer popup, click Begin Training
and read the text in the box.
n Click Next page to proceed from page to page.
22
5 When the list pops up, choose a text to read aloud and click
OK.
You need to read for only about 5 minutes to train Dragon to
recognize your voice.
You can take breaks during this training by clicking Pause.
Don’t worry ifyou make mistakes or laugh. You shouldtry to
read exactly what you see on the screen, but it’s okay if you
read something incorrectly. The computer either ignores the
mistake or positions the yellow arrow at the beginning of the
text for you to reread it.
The progress bar shows how much text is left to dictate.
NOTE:
During training, dictating punctuation is not necessary.
6 When you’ve read enough, the Training wizard displays a
congratulations message. Click OK and Dragon starts
adapting to your voice.
User Guide
7 Proceed to Adapting to your writing style, scheduling tuning
on page 23.
Adapting to your writing style, scheduling tuning
After it adapts to your voice, Dragon’s Accuracy wizard appears
and prompts you to first adapt Dragon to your writing style,
then schedule regular Acoustic and Language Model tuning,
and optionally schedule Data Collection.
Adapting to your writing style (Let Dragon search for
words and add them now)
Dragon can analyze your writing style to increase your overall
recognition accuracy. This tool scans documents in your My
Documents directory—Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, text
files, html files, and rich text files (.rtf).
Adapting to your writing style can add 5 to 30 minutes to user
training. Close all other programs when you run this step.
NOTE:
Though we recommend that you run this part of the New User
Wizard, if you plan to skip this step, select Skip this step rather than
Cancel.
1 In the Let Dragon search for words and add them now page
of the Accuracy wizard, to have Dragon search for words
and phrases you use in your email messages, select the Sent
E-mails check box. To have Dragon search your word
processing and text files,select the My Documents check box.
2 Click Start to initiate the search for words. While scanning
your files, the dialog box displays the process’s status. When
Dragon finishessearching, it displays a message telling you to
click Next to continue and proceed with Let Dragon
automatically improve your accuracy on page 24.
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Installation and User Profile Creation
Let Dragon automatically improve your accuracy
After it adapts to your writing style, the Accuracy wizard gives
you the option of setting up a schedule to automatically run
Acoustic and Language Model tuning processes:
NOTE:
Acoustic and Language Model tuning processes add commonly
used word sequences the user dictates as well as acoustic data from
any corrections and additional training the user executes. Scheduling
tuning processes helps Dragon learn from you and makes your dictation
more accurate.
1 In the Let Dragon automatically improve your accuracy
page, to have Dragon periodically tune your user profile to
improve your accuracy, be sure to check the Automatically
improve accuracy check box. If you do not change the
schedules, by default Dragon initiates Acoustic tuning every
Monday at 2 AM and Language Model tuning every day at 3
AM.
2 If you want to have Dragon tune your user profile at a
different time or more or less often, click the Change
Schedule button and, in the Select Time and Frequency
dialog box, set the schedules on both the Acoustics and
Language Model tabs. The schedules do not have to be the
same. As a rule, you should try to run these processes when
you are not dictating and run the Language Model tuning
more often.
3 Be sure that you check the Enable check box on both the
Acoustics and Language Model tabs or the tuning processes
occur on the default schedule, rather than the schedule you
set.
4 Click Next to continue.
Scheduling data collection (Help us improve Dragon)
After it lets you set the schedule for accuracy tuning, the
Accuracy wizard lets you set whether or not to collect data and
schedule when it should be collected:
NOTE:
When you set Data Collection to run, it collects up to 500 MB of
acoustic data and text from your dictation sessions. Once the data is
collected, you have the option of sending it to Nuance to help improve
24
User Guide
the accuracy of future versions of Dragon. No personal information is
ever sent to Nuance and participation in data collection is completely
voluntary.
1 In the Help us improve Dragon page, you can choose:
n Run Data Collection
n Don’t run Data Collection but remind about this later
n Don’t run Data Collection
2 If you choose Run Data Collection, click Change Schedule
and set what time and how often the data is sent to Nuance
in the Select Time and Frequency dialog box (Daily, Weekly
or Monthly). If you do collect data, by default Dragon
initiates the process every Wednesday at 12:30 AM.
3 Be sure that you check the Enable check box in the Select
Time and Frequency dialog box or the collected data is sent
to Nuance on the default schedule, rather than on the
schedule you set.
4 Click Next to continue.
5 When the Congratulations, your profile is ready to use page
appears, you can now:
n Choose to run the tutorial.
n Learn about the many improvements in Version 11.5 .
n Modify how Dragon presents itself to you.
n Begin dictating.
6 Click Finish to close the wizard.
To upgrade existing user profiles before dictating, proceed to
Upgrading User Profiles on page 26.
Or to begin dictating, proceed to the next chapter, Starting to
Dictate on page 31.
How Dragon automatically configures user profile
After you create a user, Dragon automatically analyzes your
hardware and changes the default settings of your users to
optimize performance.
25
Installation and User Profile Creation
Depending on your hardware, you might receive a message that
the amount of RAM (memory) on your computer is relatively
low for the operating system. When you use Dragon on such a
computer, try not to have more than one or two applications
open.
Upgrading User Profiles
If you chose to upgrade existing users during the installation, the
User Upgrade Wizard appears the first time you run Version
11.5.
NOTE:
If you do not want to upgrade users right now, you can exit from
the wizard and do it later.
Otherwise, you can start the User Upgrade Wizard from the
Windows Start menu at any time.
To upgrade existing
users:
1 To start the User
Upgrade Wizard,
select Start > All
Programs > Dragon
NaturallySpeaking
11.5 > Dragon
NaturallySpeaking
Tools > Upgrade
Users. The User
Upgrade Wizard
appears.
26
2 On the Select Users toUpgrade page,modify thelist ofusers to
include users that you want to upgrade. The wizard starts by
including all users in the current folder as candidates to
upgrade. You add users to the list by clicking the Add button
and browsing for additional users in other locations. You
remove users from the list by selecting them and clicking the
Remove button. After the list contains only the users you
want to upgrade, click Next.
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