Nuance ScanSoft Dragon Legal Individual - 15.0 End-User Workbook

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Workbook

For v15 of:

GuideDragon speech recognition

iii

Version 15 End-User Workbook (August 2016, revision 1)

Unless indicated otherwise, the material in this workbook applies to all editions of Dragon, and the screenshots are from the Professional Individual edition.

Note: Closing all programs before installing is recommended. This workbook assumes that Dragon 15 is now installed on your PC. For details on how to

install, including installing over a previous version, please see the Installation Guide on the Nuance website.

The printable reference card includes important notes about installing as well as punctuation, numeric data, and commands.

The online Knowledge Base contains the latest information written by Technical Support, the latest printable documents, as well as details on recorders and other hardware tested with Dragon.

The Nuance website (www.nuance.com/dragon, australia.nuance.com/dragon, newzealand.nuance.com/dragon, and www.nuance.co.uk/dragon) offers many other resources including videos and Customer Service information.

It also lists Value-Added Resellers who provide support, training and customization services in person or remotely. These partners can address your situation, workflows and goals; this is particularly efficient for busy people, for people new to computers, for children, and in case of issues with hearing, vision, mobility or dyslexia.

No part of this document may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without the express written consent of Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance, the Nuance logos, the Dragon logos, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, NaturallySpeaking, DragonBar and Select-and-Say are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other company names and product names referenced herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Goals and Prerequisites

Dragon is software for Windows computers that lets you speak naturally to perform actions such as creating or editing documents, using e-mail, finding online maps, news, images, and more. By reducing keyboard and mouse usage, you can gain productivity AND avoid physical strain (on wrists, shoulders, neck, eyes…)

Speaking to your PC may feel strange at first. Be patient with yourself! This workbook aims to efficiently present what an end-user should know: most importantly, how to “type by voice” efficiently. This includes:

 Dictating anything: punctuation marks, prices, dates, URLs, phone or plate numbers, abbreviations,

acronyms, Roman numerals, etc.

 Personalizing the Vocabulary with custom words and phrases, pronunciations, capitalization properties

and more, so that Dragon can transcribe exactly what you want, even if what you said could be written in different ways.

 Correcting Dragon’s errors so that it can learn from them.  Formatting, editing, and revising text, whether or not it was created by voice.

 Creating custom commands to insert boilerplate text and/or graphics.

In addition, you can learn how to command your computer by voice, which includes:

 Saying commands to use the Web and e-mail, search your computer, open programs, click menus and

buttons, close or minimize windows, switch between windows, etc.

 “Voice-pressing” a key (or key combination) on your keyboard.

To perform the exercises in this workbook, you should have basic familiarity with:

 Using Microsoft® Windows® to start or exit applications, open or save files, copy or move items, browse

to folders, cut and paste, etc.

 Word-processing concepts such as bullets, font size and style, bolding, italicizing, and right-aligning.

Efficiency and hands-free usage

We strongly recommend going through this workbook in order. When a lesson directs you to click an item (button, menu…), feel free to instead use your voice, or keyboard shortcuts (underlined letters, Tab, spacebar…). If hands-free usage is important to you, start by reading the lesson Controlling the Operating System and

Applications and see the Help about MouseGrid and commands for moving, clicking, and dragging the mouse.

IMPORTANT: Starting the Microphone Check or the Interactive Tutorial automatically turns off Dragon’s

microphone, which means a manual action is then needed to resume using Dragon. If this is a concern for you,

we recommend having a helper with you when you create or upgrade a profile, use the Interactive Tutorial, or use the Microphone Check.

Table of Contents

Goals and Prerequisites ....................................................................................................................................... iv

Efficiency and hands-free usage ............................................................................................................................. iv

Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................................ v

Getting Started and Creating a Profile .................................................................................................................. 1

Positioning and connecting your microphone ......................................................................................................... 1

Upgrading one or more profiles ................................................................................................................................ 2

Adding and managing sources ................................................................................................................................. 3

About spoken recordings as source ......................................................................................................................... 3

Creating your profile—or adding an audio source ................................................................................................. 4

Important options ........................................................................................................................................................ 5

Learning More and Getting Help .......................................................................................................................... 7

The Accuracy Center.................................................................................................................................................. 7

The Help ....................................................................................................................................................................... 7

The What Can I Say command ................................................................................................................................. 7

The Interactive Tutorial .............................................................................................................................................. 8

The PDF guides .......................................................................................................................................................... 8

Why Personalizing the Vocabulary is Essential .................................................................................................... 9

Customizing the Vocabulary—Using the Vocabulary Editor ................................................................................ 10

Adding word and phrases ........................................................................................................................................ 10

The importance of spoken forms ............................................................................................................................ 11

Deleting “words” ........................................................................................................................................................ 13

Modifying Word Properties ...................................................................................................................................... 13

Importing Lists of Vocabulary Entries ................................................................................................................. 15

Customizing the Vocabulary from Existing Documents ....................................................................................... 17

Customizing the Vocabulary from Your E-Mail.................................................................................................... 20

Starting to Dictate: Controlling the Microphone ................................ ................................................................... 22

The DragonBar and the microphone button ......................................................................................................... 22

Microphone commands and sleep state................................................................................................................ 23

The importance of hot keys ..................................................................................................................................... 24

Starting to Dictate: Your First Dictation ............................................................................................................... 25

Dictating text and punctuation marks ..................................................................................................................... 25

New line and new paragraph .................................................................................................................................. 25

The Results Display and its options ....................................................................................................................... 25

Dictating Prices, Units, Dates, Times, Addresses… ............................................................................................ 28

Automatic text formatting during normal dictation ................................................................................................ 28

Numbers Mode .......................................................................................................................................................... 30

Spell Mode ................................................................................................................................................................. 30

The Spell Command: characters within Normal Mode ........................................................................................ 30

Correcting Dragon’s Errors in Your Dictated Text ............................................................................................... 32

Handling multiple matches in your text .................................................................................................................. 32

The Correction Menu: the default interface .......................................................................................................... 33

Correcting in the Spelling Window ......................................................................................................................... 33

Using playback to aid correction ............................................................................................................................. 36

Smart Format Rules ................................................................................................................................................. 37

Editing Text by Voice ......................................................................................................................................... 38

Navigation and selection .......................................................................................................................................... 38

Handling multiple matches in text ........................................................................................................................... 40

Full Text Control, “unknown” text fields and the Dictation Box .......................................................................... 40

Replacing and inserting ........................................................................................................................................... 42

Formatting Text by Voice ................................................................................................................................... 44

The "X that" convention ........................................................................................................................................... 44

The "Format That" commands ................................................................................................................................ 45

Controlling the Operating System and Applications ............................................................................................ 47

Searching the computer ........................................................................................................................................... 47

Controlling programs and windows ........................................................................................................................ 47

Resizing and switching ............................................................................................................................................ 48

“Clicking” menus, buttons and other controls ....................................................................................................... 49

Natural Language Commands and the Command Browser .............................................................................. 49

“Voice-pressing” keys ............................................................................................................................................... 50

Using Dragon with the Internet ........................................................................................................................... 52

The Web shortcuts.................................................................................................................................................... 52

Social Media .............................................................................................................................................................. 53

The browser extensions ........................................................................................................................................... 53

Navigating to and within a Web page (Internet Explorer) ................................................................................... 54

Accessing a specific item on a Web page ............................................................................................................ 54

vii

Using Dragon for E-mail ..................................................................................................................................... 56

Shortcut commands.................................................................................................................................................. 56

Commands for your installed email program ........................................................................................................ 56

Web-based email and the Dragon extension ....................................................................................................... 57

The Office Ribbon and Microsoft Word ............................................................................................................... 59

The Ribbon interface ................................................................................................................................................ 59

The File tab ................................................................................................................................................................ 59

Read Mode ................................................................................................................................................................ 59

Discovering commands ............................................................................................................................................ 59

“Voice Notations” in Word documents ................................................................................................................... 60

Dictating and editing in Microsoft Excel .............................................................................................................. 61

Boosting Productivity with Custom Commands ................................................................................................... 64

Creating boilerplate commands .............................................................................................................................. 64

“Cloning” commands and adding variables .......................................................................................................... 66

Boilerplate commands with fields ........................................................................................................................... 66

Managing custom commands ................................................................................................................................. 66

Finding commands with the Keyword Filter ................................ ................................................................ .......... 68

Performing Audio Checks and Training .............................................................................................................. 70

The Microphone Check ............................................................................................................................................ 70

Acoustic training in isolation .................................................................................................................................... 70

Using Multiple Vocabularies ............................................................................................................................... 72

Opening a Vocabulary.............................................................................................................................................. 73

Automatic Optimization and Backup ................................................................................................................... 75

Launching the Acoustic and/or Language Model Optimization .......................................................................... 75

Profile Optimization, User Experience Collection, and Backup ......................................................................... 76

Renaming, Deleting, Copying or Transferring a Profile ....................................................................................... 78

Practice Exercise: Creating a Memo by Voice .................................................................................................... 80

Index ................................................................................................................................................................. 81

Positioning and connecting your microphone

If using a headset, adjust it so that it feels stable and comfortable; it shouldn’t press your temple or glasses. The microphone’s listening side must face the side of your mouth, not the front. It mustn’t touch hair or catch breathing sounds. (On standard headsets, bend the “boom” if needed.)

Most headsets can be rotated so you can place the microphone on either the left or the right side of your face.

Experiment to find what works best for you then aim for consistency in your microphone position whenever you use Dragon.

IMPORTANT:

 Noise-canceling microphones only listen on one side. The listening side is often

marked by a dot or the word TALK, which may not be visible unless you lift the foam cover slightly. Check that this side is parallel to your face, not tilted.

 If you want to bypass your computer’s sound system, you can use a USB

microphone, or plug your regular microphone into a USB adapter.

 If your computer has only one audio jack (socket) and you want to use a regular two-

plug microphone, you must use a USB adapter or a Y-shaped adapter.

Getting Started and Creating a Profile

Dragon is speaker-dependent. It relies on information specific to you, including what words and phrases you use often, how you sound, what audio device you use, and what settings you have; it stores this in a set of files referred to collectively as your “user profile” or just “profile.”

Each person who uses Dragon must have his or her own profile. Your profile is important; the more personalized it is, the better your experience will be. To have the best start, it’s worth creating your profile carefully or upgrading it from a previous version of Dragon.

This lesson covers creating or upgrading a profile, but first let’s address what Dragon needs in order to get good audio input from you.

 When you plug a microphone or adapter into your PC, be sure to push all the way into the audio socket or USB port.

 If you want to test your microphone independently of Dragon, you can use Sound Recorder, a Windows accessory

(accessible from the Windows Start menu or Start screen).

 You may also wish to check the audio settings at the level of

Windows: see the “Recording devices” section of the Control Panel. This is accessible by right-clicking the loudspeaker icon on the System Tray. (In the example illustrated here, both Bluetooth and USB are available.)

 Some PCs, after you connect a microphone, automatically

bring up a small window associated with this “audio system

event”. (Its window may be hidden behind other windows.) Before closing this window, verify that what is highlighted on it is the Microphone item (and not the Line In item).

 If your microphone model has a mute switch, make sure it is in the ON position!  If you use a Bluetooth microphone: whenever you use Dragon, make sure that it is not only powered up but also

active (that is, in “call mode”). Please see your microphone’s user guide for details, including how to charge the headset and how to pair it if necessary.

Upgrading one or more profiles

Dragon 15 can upgrade profiles from Version 13 or 14. If you have such a profile, you should upgrade it and use it in Dragon 15; this allows you to benefit from refinements you had previously made, including acoustics, optional settings, and vocabulary, plus custom commands if applicable.

The Upgrade Wizard, available from the Start screen under Dragon Tools, can automatically detect eligible profiles on your computer. Use its Remove button as needed so that only the desired profiles appear.

If a profile you want to upgrade isn’t in the list (for example because it is on an external disk), use the Browse button to designate it.

Once the list contains only the profile(s) you wish to upgrade now, click Next.

IMPORTANT: After the upgrade completes, launch Accuracy Tuning to ensure that your profile can benefit from all

your previous acoustic data. See the Audio menu and Help for details.

Adding and managing sources

If you already have a profile and want to use another type of audio input, add a source to your profile instead of creating a separate profile: open the Profile menu and pick Manage Dictation Sources, which opens the box where you can pick the desired source.

Remember: personalizing the Vocabulary is one of the keys to getting Dragon’s full benefits! Having multiple sources within a profile means that, no matter which input device you use, the same Vocabulary will be used—and refined—each time you use Dragon. For example, the phrases and capitalization properties you taught Dragon while using the built-in array microphone as a source will also be available when you use a USB microphone, and vice versa.

About spoken recordings as source

Dragon works with one voice at a time; it can’t transcribe interviews or meetings directly. Its transcription feature can be particularly useful to exploit what you dictate while observing something (such as during a field inspection) or after an event (such as after a meeting or a class). Once your profile is set up for transcription, you can use Dragon to transcribe recordings. Setting up a transcription source can be done using a sample of your own recorded voice, or someone else’s.

TIP: If your recording contained several voices or was so “rough” that it’s hard to transcribe, consider “re-speaking”

rather than (or in addition to) having Dragon transcribe it: while listening to it and pausing it as needed, you dictate to Dragon what you hear. Among other advantages, this gives you the opportunity to improve upon what was originally said, or add to it, including adding punctuation that hadn’t been spoken.

Before recording files for Dragon to transcribe, note:

 We recommend first using Dragon to dictate directly to your PC. This gives you a chance to practice speaking

clearly, in long phrases, and with punctuation. From what you see Dragon transcribe as you dictate, you get feedback on how you are dictating. You also get ideas as to how to personalize the vocabulary, for instance by noticing jargon or phrases to add so that Dragon can write them with the spelling and capitalization you want.

 Learn the essential operations of your recorder. Also, verify that the recorder is set to the correct time and date as

well as optimal settings for speech recognition (see details on models tested by Nuance at http://support.nuance.com/compatibility).

 Some devices come with software to manage recordings including converting their format. Check your device’s

documentation.

Creating your profile—or adding an audio source

This step-by-step process includes indicating your audio input type and verifying your sound system. Note:

 Consistency matters! For best results, create your profile in your “normal” environment, with the same background

noise and equipment as you will usually have when using Dragon.

 If you already have a profile and just want to use another type of audio input, add a source to your profile instead

of creating a separate profile.

 (Unless you use a built-in microphone) Before you start Dragon, connect your microphone and, if you wish, test it

by making a sample recording in Windows Sound Recorder.

 For Bluetooth wireless headsets, see the Help and the manufacturer’s documentation (learn to charge the

microphone, power it up, turn it on, and pair it).

Step 1: Launch Dragon (double-click its desktop icon or pick it from Start). If Dragon hasn’t been used on this PC, the

Profile Creation Wizard opens; otherwise, choose New User Profile in the DragonBar’s Profile menu, then click New.

Step 2: Answer the questions presented. The wizard will ask you to specify a “region” so Dragon can choose your

profile’s underlying Auto-Formatting options and Vocabulary. For instance, this will affect whether Dragon uses

the spelling “colour” instead of “color” and how it writes currencies or units such as lbs, $, USD and AUD (ISO codes).

TIP: Once your profile is created, you are free to customize it, including modifying Auto-Formatting Options and

Word Properties as described in this workbook and the Help.

Step 3: Indicate which type of audio source you are about to use. If you use a USB adapter on a standard headset, pick

the USB option here. If your PC has only one audio socket (like on mobile phones), use a USB adapter or a Yshaped “splitter” with your regular microphone, or use a USB microphone.

The Hardware Compatibility List on the Nuance website contains details such as the recommended settings for a particular model of microphone or recorder.

Step 4: Next is the microphone

check. Read the boxed text in a clear voice, the way you plan to speak when working with Dragon. Here punctuation is recommended but not required.

When Dragon lets you know it has heard enough, click Next.

We suggest you begin personalizing your profile as soon as possible. And if you’ve used a previous version of Dragon, see the Help’s What’s New.

It’s best to read the text exactly as it is written. However, if you cannot read it, feel free to speak some sentences

of your choice for about 30 seconds, in the same tone of voice you would use when dictating to your PC. Dragon then verifies that your sound system is acceptable for speech recognition. Note: Some computers offer several places to plug in your microphone. If you get poor results with one, consider

the other (front or back, or for laptop users a docking station). Once you’ve identified which port works best, aim to always use that port for your microphone. (Considering marking it with tape.)

Step 5: The wizard asks whether to have your profile participate in User Experience Collection, which helps improve

Dragon by collecting usage data. This data will be analyzed by Research & Development to identify trends and

help prioritize features. You can start or stop participating at any time by simply going to the Options dialog.

After the last screen of profile creation, Dragon opens its Interactive Tutorial, short progressive simulations to help you discover and practice important aspects of Dragon usage. We recommend that all users take advantage of it.

The Tutorial introduces Dragon’s options dialog, including hot keys (particularly relevant for people who use their numeric keypad for data entry or don’t have a full keyboard). This workbook progressively introduces options that most users should consider. Below are two of them.

Important options

After you create your profile, Dragon presents a message if it determined that your PC wouldn’t allow optimal performance. This informs you that Dragon has adjusted the defaults for two of its options:

 The Speed versus Accuracy slider was moved toward speed.  The large sets of flexible commands for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Corel WordPerfect were disabled

Later, you can reverse these changes, depending on your particular needs: you can enable or disable the Natural Language Commands for individual applications and experiment with the slider.

(see the lesson “Controlling your Desktop and Applications”).

Note: Other options include having Dragon start in its sleep state (useful for persons who cannot use their hands), and disabling the “tracking” of menus, buttons and other interface elements or disabling the automatic Dictation Box where Dragon doesn’t have Full Text Control (for example in PowerPoint). Turning off some options can make Dragon work faster on your PC; consider the ability to open items from the Start menu or Desktop even at any time, and the shortcut commands to create new emails or tasks.

Key points about getting started with Dragon

 Each person who wants to use Dragon must have his or her own profile. Creating one is a short process guided

by a series of screens.

 Profiles from versions 13 and 14 can be upgraded to version 15. After upgrading, launch Accuracy Tuning from

the Audio menu.

 Make sure your microphone is properly connected and positioned, and the appropriate audio source is selected.

See our website for details on special sources like recorders and wireless microphones.

 You can add a source to an existing profile, for instance a USB microphone and your laptop’s built-in

microphone. Whatever source is used, you will benefit from the same vocabulary and optional settings as well as

custom commands, if applicable.

 When reading text for the microphone check, speak clearly but naturally using the same volume, pitch and pace

you are likely to use day-to-day.

 Dragon's scheduled tasks are designed to help automatically improve accuracy. Schedule them for a time when

your computer will be on but Dragon won’t be running.

Learning More and Getting Help

Dragon offers so much that it would be impossible to cover it all in this workbook. This lesson presents ways to find more information as you start using the software—take advantage of them!

Please see Dragon’s reference card, which includes important notes about installing Dragon as well as sample commands and how to dictate special characters, dates, and more. The latest printable documentation is available for download on the Nuance website.

The Accuracy Center

The most important features of Dragon are accessible directly from the DragonBar's menus. The Accuracy Center offers a central location to access all accuracy-related features.

Step 1: Say Open Accuracy Center. Step 2: Click the link that interests you or say its name immediately preceded by the word "click”.

TIP: You can activate links without saying their whole name: for instance, instead of click import a list of words or

phrases, you could say just click import a list.

The Help

The DragonBar’s Help menu gives you access to the on-screen Help topics (articles).Another way to open the Help is saying open help.

When entering keywords in the search field, you can indicate phrases by putting quotation marks around them. To launch a Help search at any time, no matter what is active on your screen, you can use the shortcut command “search

Help for…” with the word(s) to find. For instance, you could say “search Help for Firefox commands”. The search keywords you name in this command will be considered individually unless you put them in quotes: for instance, “search Help for open-quote dictation box close-quote.”

Dragon also provides contextual help: from its dialog boxes, a button or question-mark icon takes you directly to the relevant article in the Help.

The What Can I Say command

At any time, you can say what can I say, and Dragon will display a list of 5 commands applicable to the current application. You can then say any of those, omitting the word “show” if you wish.

Note: you could say the listed commands anytime, without first saying what can I say. Saying formatting commands, for instance, displays commands related to formatting text:

The Interactive Tutorial

Available from the Help menu, the Interactive Tutorial contains short progressive simulations and makes you practice important habits for efficient dictating, correcting, formatting and revising, using the Web, and customizing your profile’s options and vocabulary.

It includes important editing commands such as “go back,” Dictation Commands such as “cap,” “all caps,” and “numeral…” as well an example of the Spelling Window and Smart Format Rules. We recommend that all users take advantage of it.

Note:

 When the Interactive Tutorial opens, Dragon automatically turns off its microphone. Each simulation includes

turning the microphone on and off, an important habit to develop.

 In the simulations, you must speak just the current prompt and do so in one breath, not pausing within it.

The PDF guides

The latest Installation Guide is available as a PDF on the Nuance website alongside the reference card and other resources. The Help menu gives direct access to the site’s User Documentation page.

In the PDF, you can click headings to jump to specific topics and you can print out sections or the entire file. Note: If you use a Bluetooth microphone, be sure to read its documentation, charge the headset, pair it if necessary, and

ensure it is not only powered up but also active (that is, in “call mode”).

Key points about learning more and getting help

 This workbook is meant to get you started efficiently and cover essential concepts and tips. Other resources

include the Help, the Interactive Tutorial, the Accuracy Center, and the Nuance website.

 Explore the Help menu. At any time, you can say open help or “shortcut” commands such as search Help for

Roman numerals.

 At any time, you can bring up a short list of applicable commands by saying what can I say. This replaces the

Sidebar feature of previous versions.

Consulting an experienced Dragon trainer for specific guidance and customizations can be particularly efficient for users who have special environments, workflows, or challenges (related to motion, vision or fluency, for instance).

Now let’s learn the most important aspects of using Dragon, starting with an often-overlooked but crucial one: personalizing your profile’s Vocabulary

Why Personalizing the Vocabulary is Essential

Transcribing a person’s speech presents acoustic challenges, such as accent and ambient noise. There is also a lexical challenge: for the transcription to be precisely accurate, familiarity with the terms used is necessary.

For instance, even an experienced medical secretary would have trouble transcribing for an attorney’s office! And a newly-hired transcriptionist would have to not only get used to the accents of the various speakers, but also to learn what spellings and formatting they want, including acronyms, abbreviations, special phrases, names of people, places, products, etc.

A name may seem commonplace to you because you use it frequently, but a person who hears it for the first time may not be able to spell it: that name isn’t yet a part of their vocabulary. Similarly, if a word or phrase isn’t in Dragon’s active vocabulary, the software can’t transcribe it correctly yet.

When you created your user profile, you provided information which Dragon incorporated into its acoustic model. To get optimal accuracy, you should also help Dragon adapt its language model. This ensures that what you dictate is transcribed with your desired spelling, spacing, and capitalization; Dragon provides many powerful tools for it, so this important investment can be done quickly. You can even benefit from the customizations done by others.

The Help system contains details and demonstrations about personalizing the Vocabulary.

Key points about Vocabulary customization

 As soon as you have created a profile, you can start dictating, but note that taking a moment to start customizing

the Vocabulary is a good investment to make right away, since it helps Dragon “get it right the first time” (including

capitalization) and it can be quick. Personalizing the Vocabulary early and often is strongly recommended. The

following pages will show you how.

 Dragon offers simple and powerful tools to make your dictations and transcriptions faster and more convenient.

Customizing the Vocabulary—Using the Vocabulary Editor

Dragon’s Vocabulary Editor lets you view what can be transcribed from the computer’s active memory; it also allows you to add new entries and edit existing entries—including their Spoken forms and Properties.

In this lesson, you explore the Vocabulary Editor.:

Step 1: Say Edit Vocabulary (you can also use the Vocabulary menu or the Accuracy Center). The Vocabulary Editor

opens; its scrollable window lists the entries currently in Dragon’s active Vocabulary.

Take a moment to scroll through the list. You will see names of people, places, institutions and products, as well

as common words, phrases, and abbreviations.

Step 2: Open the Display drop-down list (located at the bottom) and choose Words Containing Spaces. Other Vocabulary

displays include Words Containing Digits, Words Containing Capitalization, and Words with Special Properties. By browsing these, you can learn more about what the software uses to transcribe your dictation. You also get ideas about what entries you might add or edit.

Adding word and phrases

You can quickly search for a particular entry by entering it in the Search field. If it appears in the scrollable list, it is already in the active layer of the Vocabulary. If not, click Add to bring it in.

CAUTION: When adding an entry to the Vocabulary, be sure to spell and capitalize it correctly! Otherwise, it will

appear misspelled in your documents every time you dictate it.

Some of the "words" in the Vocabulary Editor aren't single words. Of course is listed. So is as well as. There are also names of people, places, products, and institutions: Mother Teresa, Madison Square Garden, KitchenAid, Brigham and

Women's Hospital, Marine Corps, Library of Congress, Babe Ruth, Accounts Payable, George Washington, Johnson & Johnson, Division I, LAN Server…

These help the software resolve spelling and capitalization ambiguities: if the Vocabulary didn’t contain the phrase Mother Teresa, dictating it would probably produce the transcription "mother Theresa"—because the word mother is usually not capitalized and Theresa is the more common spelling of the name. Having the phrase in its Vocabulary helps Dragon

know that the words “Mother” and “Teresa” are likely to occur together, and hence helps Dragon choose the desired capitalization and spelling.

Also, recognizing long sounds is easier than very short sounds. A and the are acoustically very similar, as are in and an. Longer words, like chrysanthemum, contain more acoustic information.

We strongly recommend adding personal phrases; this will later save you time since you won’t have to adjust their spelling and capitalization after transcription.

Exercise 1: In the Vocabulary Editor, search for names such as your first and last names, your town, company,

colleagues or relatives, and if they are absent, add them.

TIP: When adding names of people, consider variants such as nicknames and diminutives as well as formal names,

particularly for names that are very short or that can be spelled different ways: for instance, one might add Liz Jansen, Lizzie Jansen, Elizabeth McGee Jansen, Jennifer B. Wolff, Jennifer Wolff, Jenny Wolff, Jenn Wolff, Judge Wolff, Scooter Wolff…

This applies to more than just names. Whenever you add an item to the Vocabulary, think of its possible variations: singular/plural for nouns, conjugated forms for verbs… Remember, if something is not in the Vocabulary, the software cannot recognize it, so don’t hesitate to add items even if you think you won’t dictate them often!

Exercise 2: Open a word processor (such as DragonPad, available from the Tools menu or the command “open

DragonPad”) and start creating a list of Vocabulary entries relevant to you. Below are suggestions. (Soon you will

learn how to import these entries all at once.)

 jargon and phrases specific to your profession (such as distro, site visit and non-State)  names of places, facilities or organizations (such as Building 6A, or County Adoption Center)  names of products (such as Latex Exterior Semi-Gloss)  acronyms, part numbers, codes (such as FICA, 501c(3) or RX-70y)  names of people (coworkers, clients, relatives…) including phrases for names that can be spelled differently

(Kristin, Gene, Steven, McGregor, Wolfe…) or are very short (Kip, Kit, Dee…), to avoid acoustic ambiguity.

TIP: Consider obtaining lists such as personnel, departments, divisions, products, or trademarks, as well as glossaries

of terms and acronyms. Starting from such lists doesn’t just save time; it may also help add these items with their official, correct spelling!

The importance of spoken forms

Radio programs often tell their listeners “let us know how to pronounce your name” because some names could be pronounced in several ways and some are not pronounced “the way they are written” due to silent letters, for instance. This is true for more than just names. Acronyms are often pronounced letter by letter, but not always: ASAP is pronounced "ay sap" by many people. These facts are addressed by an important feature: the Spoken form.

From the Display drop-down list of the Vocabulary Editor, choose “Words with spoken forms only.” Take a moment to scroll through and look at existing spoken forms; you will get ideas for what kinds of entries warrant them and how they can be written.

You may add Spoken forms to custom entries and to existing entries, to dictate them as comes naturally to you: for

example, to enter the symbol ©, you like to say “circle see” instead of “copyright sign.”

Note that entries containing symbols, digits, or unusual spacing are particularly likely to warrant a Spoken form, so that there is no doubt as to how the item will be pronounced.

If you add e-mail addresses, giving them a Spoken form can make them quicker to dictate: for instance, “Alex and John at yahoo dot com” or even just “Alex and John at yahoo” for AlexT&JohnB@yahoo.com.

Spoken forms mustn’t include punctuation, abbreviations, or symbols. Below are a few examples.

Written form: The Man from U.N.C.L.E

Spoken form: the man from uncle

Written form: Trenton-Mercer Airport

Spoken form: Trenton Mercer Airport

Adding Spoken forms allows you to dictate in the way that is most natural, but also quickest for you. In addition to indicating pronunciation, Spoken forms can be used for “vocal shorthand” and automatic substitution: you say something short and easy, and Dragon types something longer or “trickier” to say (or to remember).

Spoken forms give consistency and clarity to your writing. Groups can take advantage of them to help everyone comply with guidelines such avoiding abbreviations and other confusable items.

Deleting “words”

If you encounter a word that Dragon doesn’t transcribe as you’d like, remember: that word might warrant a Spoken form or longer entry in the Vocabulary, and Dragon may need to “study” how and how frequently you use it so have Dragon analyze relevant text (see the Accuracy Center). Also, particularly if the pronunciation contains non-English sounds, consider “training” that word or phrase—see "Training Words".

You may run into cases where a word you need is consistently transcribed as another word. If that other word isn’t important to you, deleting it from your profile’s active Vocabulary is a quick solution, eliminating

“competition.” For instance: the names Schaeffer, Shaefer, Schaefer and Shafer all sound alike, so if you want Dragon to write “Schaefer” but it typically writes “Shafer,” delete “Shafer” from the Vocabulary.

You can do this by finding and deleting the word in the Vocabulary Editor, or you can do it by opening the Correction menu over the unwanted word after Dragon transcribes it.

Note: Dragon’s active Vocabulary comes with thousands of entries. Browsing the Vocabulary Editor, you’ll see many entries you won’t dictate, but don’t spend time deleting them unless they actually cause a conflict!

There’s more you can do in the Vocabulary Editor! An important example is adjusting Word Properties.

Modifying Word Properties

By clicking the Vocabulary Editor’s Properties button, you open the dialog where you can view or change the

capitalization, spacing and numeral properties of an entry.

IMPORTANT: Use the Word Properties dialog to modify the Dictation Command “new line” if you want it to trigger

capitalization of the following word. Similarly, you can set the ellipsis (…) to NOT trigger capitalization.

In the Word Properties dialog box, you can also choose one or even two alternate written forms. For example, you may want:

 the spelling “email” instead of the hyphenated “e-mail”,

 the abbreviation “fig.” instead of the word “figure” just before numbers, as in “fig. 3”,

 the title Professor instead of its abbreviation.

Note: in the Vocabulary Editor, entries whose properties were modified have a “P” icon.

Key points about the Vocabulary Editor and Properties

 You can open the Vocabulary Editor by saying the command edit vocabulary. Added entries are marked with a

+. Choosing Custom words only from the Display drop-down allows you to see just them.

 You can locate an entry by entering in the Search field its Written form or its Spoken form. By using the drop-

down, you can also browse subsets like “Custom words only” and “Words containing punctuation.”

 Spoken forms are an efficient way to help Dragon transcribe words, particularly those that contain digits, symbols

or silent letters. In addition to clarifying pronunciation, they allow you to say something different, shorter or easier

than the Written form, such as “E O B stat” for “Explanation of Benefit (EOB) statement.”

 If an entry you don’t need to dictate “competes” with one you do need, you can delete that entry (for instance,

Cassidy vs. Cassity). To see what has been deleted, set Deleted words only as the Display.

 You can view or change the Properties of entries, including spacing and capitalization. For instance, you can

change whether Dragon writes “travelled” or “traveled” and whether the ellipsis (…) and the Dictation Command

new line are followed by capitalization.

Importing Lists of Vocabulary Entries

You now know how to add words and phrases one by one in the Vocabulary Editor. If you have many entries to add, this is not the most efficient method, particularly if you already have some relevant lists in electronic form. You can use the import feature to add many Vocabulary entries at once, even if they have Spoken forms.

Observe the sample import list in the illustration below, and identify the motivation behind each entry. You can then make and import one or more lists of your own, as described below.

To create and import lists of “words”: Step 1: Create a document (or edit an existing document) listing entries you want to add to the Vocabulary. You can do it

in any word processor as long as you can save this document as plain text.

 Have each entry on a separate line.  Make sure everything is spelled, capitalized and spaced correctly.  To include a Spoken form, follow the Written form with a backslash characterWritten form then the Spoken form:

for example, Grb II\grab two.

Step 2: Save this document as a .txt file (from the File menu, choose Save As and, depending on the word processor,

choose Text Document, Text Only, or Plain Text), then close the file.

Repeat as necessary with other lists. (You may find it convenient to make several lists, such as a list of friends

and relatives, a list of professional contacts, a list of product names, a list of local landmarks, etc.)

Step 3: Say import custom words, or use the DragonBar’s Vocabulary menu to pick “Import list of words or phrases.”

Step 4: On the resulting dialog box, click

the Add File button.

The Add File window appears. Locate the file containing your list and click Open; the name of the file you designated is now displayed in the File List.

If you have other lists to import, add their files in the same way.

Step 5: Click Next. The software will

import the listed items into the Vocabulary.

The imported entries will be viewable in the Vocabulary Editor, where a red plus-sign appears next to them (like for entries that were added by means other than an import list).

From the Vocabulary menu, you can also export all custom-added words into one file. This is useful for safe-keeping or for import in other user profiles.

Note:

 You can choose .xml as an export format instead of .txt, so that Word Properties will be captured.  For files resulting from this export in Dragon version 11 or later, there are two items of note: the header

@Version=Plato is added automatically, and spoken forms, if any, are separated by two backslashes instead of

one. If you want to import such a file (as opposed to importing a file you made yourself), do not remove the

header line and do not replace “\\” with “\”.

 Exported word lists do not include trained pronunciations.

Key points about importing Vocabulary lists:

 You can add whole lists of Vocabulary entries at once. Prepare the list(s), then open Dragon’s list import dialog

(you can say import words, or choose from the Accuracy Center or the Vocabulary menu).

 Lists must be saved as plain text, and closed, before they can be imported.  Each entry must be on its own line.  To specify a spoken form in a word list, use a backslash (\) to separate it from the written form.  You can also export all custom-added words into one file (in .txt or .xml format). This is useful for safe-keeping or

for import in another profile.

Checking the box “Adapt to writing style” will make Dragon learn

frequency information, which increases accuracy since it helps differentiate between homophones like “world” and “whirled”.

Leave this box checked unless you only want to “harvest” potential custom words—for instance, if the text is very different from your normal style, or contains a foreign language.

Customizing the Vocabulary from Existing Documents

You now know about importing lists of entries into the Vocabulary. Another efficient way to boost your accuracy is to let Dragon analyze text that is similar to what you are likely to dictate: the tool Learn from specific documents can use many documents at once to “harvest” potential words to add to the Vocabulary, as well as to “adapt to the writing style” (i.e., learn frequency information). The greater the amount of relevant text Dragon analyzes, the better Dragon can adapt its Vocabulary to what you usually dictate. (This is similar to giving a just-hired transcriptionist documents in which to observe the terms used, their spellings, their context, etc.; doing so would help the transcriptionist get ready to transcribe your dictations most accurately.)

The analysis tool supports Google Docs as well as the following: .txt (plain text), .rtf (Rich Text), .doc(x) (Microsoft Word), .wpd (Corel WordPerfect), and HTML formats.

TIP: If significant text exists only in an application that doesn’t normally produce files of these types (PowerPoint is an

example), see whether this application lets you copy text so you can paste it in the DragonPad and save it from there, or whether it offers a way to extract plain text (it could be called “export” or “save as outline” for instance.) Also, if essential text only exists as PDF or in paper form, consider using Optical Character Recognition software such as OmniPage to convert into one of the accepted formats.

Step 1: Locate some electronic documents you have written—think of reports, letters, memos, proposals, etc. (As long as

they are similar to what you intend to dictate, you can also use documents written by someone else.) The more

closely these documents match the dictation you will usually be doing, the better.

Step 2: Spell-check the documents if necessary (since Dragon would detect misspellings as unknown words.) In addition,

remove any foreign-language sections that might be present. Then, make sure the documents are closed. The

Help contains more details on this tool, including how to best prepare documents for analysis.

Now that you have texts similar to your intended dictations, let’s designate them for analysis. (If you obtain more

documents later, you can designate them to Dragon at that time.)

Step 3: Say "switch to DragonBar", "Vocabulary" then "learn from specific documents."

Note:

 You can select multiple files at

once by holding down the Ctrl key.

 You can also press Ctrl A, the

Windows hot key for “select all.”

Step 4: On the Add Documents box, click Add Document. On the resulting window, locate and select the relevant

document(s), then click Open.

Dragon now analyzes the text contained in the designated documents. This may take a moment. If you have a lot

of text to analyze, run this tool when you don’t need to use Dragon for something else.

Dragon then presents you with a list of the “unknown” words it found, with a check box next to each one, and the

number of times each word was encountered. The words found most frequently are at the top since they are most

likely to be relevant, unlike those that only occurred a few times.

Step 5: Adjust the list so that only the items you want to add are checked.

Note: this list may include capitalized forms of common words (such as ‘Trainer’); these are usually better left out

of the Vocabulary since you can always say “cap” before a word (or capitalize after the fact, thanks to “capitalize

<xyz>”). However, you may want to add to the vocabulary phrases that contain them, such as Senior Technical

Trainer. Remember, it’s a good idea to add to the Vocabulary the phrases you usually want capitalized.

Step 6: Edit items as warranted: if you wish to modify an item (to make it lowercase or expand on it, for instance) or to

give it a Spoken form, make sure it’s highlighted then click Edit.

This opens the Edit Word window, which also presents a little context for the item.

After you click Next, Dragon gives you the option to provide acoustic training for all the added words. Feel free to

take this opportunity to pronounce them, but know that you can skip this step and provide later train just the words

that seem to need it, as explained in this workbook and the Help.

Finally, Dragon adapts its word-frequency and context information based on the text analyzed (unless you

unchecked the box “Adapt to writing style” on the first screen); this will allow it to better choose between words

that sound alike.

Key points about customizing the Vocabulary from documents:

 You can launch the analysis of specific documents from the Vocabulary menu.  This tool can analyze existing documents to learn about the “writing style” you plan to use—meaning, which

words are used with what frequency, and which words appear near each other. It’s OK to use text written by

someone else, if it’s similar to what you plan to dictate.

 To be used in this tool, files must be text files.  The tool can process many files at a time. You can re-run it whenever you create or find suitable text. The more

(relevant) text is analyzed, the more refined your profile becomes.

 When presented with the unknown words the tool found, you can choose which ones to add. Thanks to the Edit

button, you can modify their spelling as well as give them a Spoken form if warranted.

 After adding terms to the Vocabulary, letting Dragon analyze text that contains them helps pre-empt recognition

errors.

 Analyzing documents is only one of the ways Dragon can adapt; learn other ways in this workbook and the Help.

Customizing the Vocabulary from Your E-Mail

As you learned, Dragon can adapt its Vocabulary based on designated documents. It also has the ability to quickly learn from your usage of e-mail.

By “studying” the e-mails you sent as well as the recipient names, Dragon can identify potentially useful contact names to add to the Vocabulary, as well as adapt its statistical information on word usage (frequency and context). This will help it transcribe your dictations more accurately.

Take advantage of this tool as soon as possible after creating your profile, then every few weeks so that Dragon can adapt your profile as your work evolves (for instance, learning the names of new colleagues, customers, or projects).

IMPORTANT: If you want Dragon to analyze Web-based email, make sure your computer is connected to the

Internet for the duration of the analysis.)

Step 1: Say open Accuracy Center, then say click Learn from sent e-mails.

Step 2: The tool displays the names of available e-mail programs (this may take a moment). Check the checkbox of the

program(s) you want Dragon to analyze.

Note: If you want to use a Web-based email program that is not listed here, select the box labeled IMAP. You will

then be asked to enter configuration information including server name and port number.

Step 3: Use the checkboxes to indicate whether you want Dragon to only look for names to potentially add to the

Vocabulary, or whether you also want Dragon to adapt its statistics based on your sent e-mails.

The option “Improve from my e-mail writing style” will adapt the statistical language model; it is recommended

except if what you sent contains a language other than the language of your profile.

Note: When you start this process, your e-mail program may bring up a message asking you to allow access. If

you have several windows open, this message may be hidden under another window.

The first time you run this analysis, it may keep Dragon busy for a while. Later on, it will go much faster if you

choose the option button “Consider e-mail written since my last scan” instead of “Consider all e-mail.”

Step 4: After its analysis, the tool displays what it identified as potentially useful additions to the vocabulary.

The rest of the process is similar to the analysis of specific documents: you can check or uncheck items

individually or all at once, edit items, and train items acoustically if you wish, then Dragon adds to the Vocabulary

the checked items -- plus it adapts its language model to the “writing style” (word frequencies and word

sequences observed), if you opted for that.

Key points about customizing the Vocabulary from e-mail:

 Dragon can quickly adapt its Vocabulary from your use of e-mail, including Outlook and Web-based email

programs. If you want Dragon to analyze Web-based email, make sure your computer is connected to the Internet

for the duration of the email analysis.

 Use this as soon as possible after creating a profile, then every few weeks so that Dragon can adapt your profile

as your work evolves. After the first time, the process will be very quick.

 This process has two functions: it finds contact names to potentially add, and it analyzes your sent e-mails to

refine the frequency information in the Vocabulary .

 When presented with the list of potential additions, you can check or uncheck them all at once. You can also edit

any item: click the item, click Edit, then modify as needed.

 Make sure Dragon knows the pronunciations and spelling of your contact names. This is important also for

shortcut commands for Outlook such as “email the selection to…” and “schedule meeting with…”

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