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Dragon

Naturally Speaking 10

SPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWARE

End-User Workbook

www.nuance.com

Dragon NaturallySpeaking®

Version

End-User Workbook

End-User Workbook (revision 3.1, January 2010) for Dragon NaturallySpeaking® Version 10.1 as released in North America

Unless specified otherwise, the material herein applies to all editions of Dragon 10.1.

We welcome comments or questions about this workbook and all aspects of Dragon documentation (instructional videos, Tutorial, User Guide, Installation Guide, Tip of the Day, Help menu, Performance Assistant, "What Can I Say" windows, etc.)

Please use the Product Feedback or Feature Request form at

www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/contact

This workbook reflects the information available at the time of publishing. The Knowledge Base at nuance.com

contains the latest technical information for version 10 (and previous versions.) The Support area of the website also includes printable documentation (User Guides, cheatsheets…) and listings of microphones, recorders, and other hardware tested and approved by Nuance for use with Dragon.

for all feedback.

The website offers many other resources, including tips, videos, Frequently Asked Questions, Customer Service information, and a feature comparison between editions of Dragon.

It also lists, for each region, Value-Added Resellers

who provide training and customization services for Dragon, in person or remotely. These Nuance partners can address your environment, equipment, goals, and needs; this is particularly efficient for very busy people, people new to computers, children, and in case of issues with hearing, vision, mobility, and 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.

Part number: 67-A11A-10610

This Workbook’s Goals

Dragon NaturallySpeaking lets you speak naturally to perform tasks such as creating or editing documents, using e-mail, entering prices and other numeric data, searching your computer, and quickly finding on the Web maps, news, videos, images, and more. By reducing keyboard and mouse usage, you can gain productivity AND avoid strain on your wrists, shoulders, neck, and eyes!

This workbook aims to efficiently present what an end-user should know as quickly as possible — it does not cover every aspect of Dragon (the resources in Dragon’s Help menu and on nuance.com offer many details). It covers how to:

• “Type by voice” naturally and efficiently, which includes:

- Dictating anything (including prices, phone numbers, addresses, URLs, symbols, punctuation , part numbers, acronyms, Roman numerals, units of measure, etc.)

- Personalizing the software’s Vocabulary with custom words and phrases, spoken forms (pronunciations) and written forms, to ensure that Dragon is able to transcribe exactly what you want, even if what you said could be written in different ways.

- Formatting, editing, and revising text, as well as Correcting Dragon’s errors if needed.

- Creating custom commands to insert boilerplate content (commands of the type “Text-andGraphics”, available in editions Preferred, Professional, Legal and Medical).

• “Command and control” your computer by voice, which includes:

- Saying commands to use the Internet and e-mail, search your computer, open programs, click menus and buttons, close or minimize windows, switch between windows, etc.

- “Voice-pressing” keys or key combinations on your keyboard.

About Lesson Order, Prerequisites, and Hands-Free Usage

For best efficiency, we strongly recommend you go through this workbook in order; it contains progressive explanations and illustrations, as well as step-by-step instructions and practice exercises; in addition, notes and tips provide further details and alert you to potential pitfalls.

TIP When directed to “click” items (buttons, menus, checkboxes…), feel free to instead use your

voice, or keyboard shortcuts (underlined letters, Tab, spacebar…). If hands-free usage is important to you, read the lesson ‘Controlling the Operating System and Applications’ first, and see the Help about Dragon’s MouseGrid and commands for moving, clicking, and dragging the mouse.

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, maximize windows, close dialog boxes, copy or move items, browse to folders, cut and paste, etc.

• Simple word-processing concepts such as bullet points, font size and font style, bolding and

italicizing, right-aligning and centering, etc.

iii

Table of Contents

This Workbook’s Goals ................................................................................................................................................................................. iii

About Lesson Order, Prerequisites, and Hands-Free Usage ................................................................................................... iii

Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................................................................................... iv

Creating a User Profile .................................................................................................................................................................................. 1

“Adapt to writing style” – and a caution for multilingual users ............................................................................................. 4

The Speed vs. Accuracy slider and Natural Language Commands.......................................................................................... 4

Learning More and Getting Help .................................................................................................................................................................. 5

The Dragon User's Guide ............................................................................................................................................................... 5

The Accuracy Center and Accuracy Assistant ............................................................................................................................ 5

The Online Help and Performance Assistant ............................................................................................................................. 6

The Sample Commands window: “What Can I Say” ................................................................................................................. 6

Why Customizing the Vocabulary is Important ......................................................................................................................................... 8

Customizing the Vocabulary—Using the Vocabulary Editor ..................................................................................................................... 9

Adding Vocabulary Entries: Words, Phrases, Acronyms… ........................................................................................................ 9

The importance of Spoken Forms .............................................................................................................................................. 10

Deleting “Words” and Modifying “Word” Properties .............................................................................................................. 12

Importing Lists of Vocabulary Entries ....................................................................................................................................................... 14

Customizing the Vocabulary from Existing Documents .......................................................................................................................... 16

Customizing the Vocabulary from Your E-Mail ........................................................................................................................................ 19

Starting to Dictate: Controlling the Microphone .................................................................................................................................... 21

The DragonBar and the Microphone Icon ................................................................................................................................. 21

Voice Commands for the Microphone and Sleep State .......................................................................................................... 21

The Importance of Hot Keys, including Microphone On/Off ................................................................................................. 22

Starting to Dictate: Your First Dictation .................................................................................................................................................. 23

Dictating Text and Punctuation Marks ...................................................................................................................................... 23

New Line and New Paragraph .................................................................................................................................................... 23

The Results Box ............................................................................................................................................................................ 24

Dictating Special Text: Numbers, Dates, Addresses, Units… ................................................................................................................ 26

Special Text in Normal Dictation ............................................................................................................................................... 26

Numbers Mode -- Dictating Numbers Exclusively .................................................................................................................... 27

Spell Mode -- Dictating Letters, Digits, and Other Characters ............................................................................................. 28

The Spell Command -- Dictating a sequence of characters .................................................................................................. 28

Correcting Transcription Errors in Your Dictated Text .......................................................................................................................... 30

Correcting in the Spell dialog box ............................................................................................................................................. 30

Using Playback to Aid Correction .............................................................................................................................................. 32

Deferring Correction ................................................................................................................................................................................... 34

Saving Recorded Dictation .......................................................................................................................................................... 34

Making Corrections to Someone Else's Dictation ..................................................................................................................... 34

Editing Text by Voice .................................................................................................................................................................................. 36

Navigation and Selection Commands ........................................................................................................................................ 36

Select-and-Say™, non-standard windows, and the Dictation Box ........................................................................................ 38

Replacing and Inserting Words ................................................................................................................................................... 39

Formatting Text by Voice ........................................................................................................................................................................... 42

The "X that" Convention .............................................................................................................................................................. 42

The "Format That" Commands.................................................................................................................................................... 43

Controlling the Operating System and Applications ............................................................................................................................... 44

Keyword-searching the Computer ............................................................................................................................................. 44

Opening and Closing Programs and Windows .......................................................................................................................... 45

Resizing Windows and Switching Between Them .................................................................................................................... 45

“Clicking” Menus, Submenus, and Dialog Box Controls ......................................................................................................... 45

“Natural Language Commands” and the Command Browser ................................................................................................ 46

“Voice-Pressing” Keys ................................................................................................................................................................. 47

Using Dragon NaturallySpeaking with the Internet ................................................................................................................................ 49

Using Dragon NaturallySpeaking for E-mail ............................................................................................................................................. 50

Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Microsoft Word ....................................................................................................................................... 51

Special note for Windows XP: turning off CTFMON ................................................................................................................ 51

“Voice Notations” in Word documents (editions “Professional” and up) ........................................................................... 51

Commands for Word 2003 and 2007 .......................................................................................................................................... 51

Just for Word 2007 ....................................................................................................................................................................... 53

Dictating and editing in Microsoft Excel .................................................................................................................................................. 54

Boosting Productivity with Custom Commands ....................................................................................................................................... 57

Creating Boilerplate Commands (“Text-and-Graphics” Type) .............................................................................................. 57

“Cloning” Commands and Adding Name Editor Variables ..................................................................................................... 59

“DragonTemplates”: Boilerplate Commands with [Fields] ................................................................................................... 59

Managing Custom Commands ..................................................................................................................................................... 60

Finding commands via the Command Browser’s “Filter” ...................................................................................................... 61

Performing Audio Checks and Acoustic Training..................................................................................................................................... 63

Training Words from the Vocabulary Editor ............................................................................................................................ 63

Training While Correcting ........................................................................................................................................................... 63

Checking Acoustic Settings ......................................................................................................................................................... 64

Performing Additional Training .................................................................................................................................................. 65

Creating and Using Multiple Vocabularies ............................................................................................................................................... 66

Acoustic and Language Model Optimization ............................................................................................................................................ 68

Launching the Acoustic and/or Language Model Optimization ............................................................................................ 68

Scheduling the Optimizations—and Data Collection ............................................................................................................... 69

If Your Windows Password Changes .......................................................................................................................................... 69

Copying User Profiles .................................................................................................................................................................................. 71

Practice Exercise: Creating a Memo by Voice ......................................................................................................................................... 72

Creating a User Profile

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is speaker-dependant software. To recognize your speech accurately, it must have a “profile” of you, which it stores in a set of files called user files (often referred to as “a User”).

The first time you launch Dragon, the program automatically brings up its New User Wizard, which takes you through the process of creating a profile; this includes choosing the right options for your “accent” and microphone type. After a verification of audio hardware and volume, this wizard can present you with text to read aloud for a few minutes—this step, called general training, allows Dragon to adapt its acoustic model to the unique way you sound.

In this lesson, as you discover the New User Wizard, you learn important tips that help optimize the accuracy of your new user profile right from the start.

• For best results, creating a User profile should be done in your “normal” environment, with the same background noise and equipment as when you will usually do your dictations.

• If you want to test your microphone independently of Dragon, you can use the Sound Recorder, a Windows accessory accessible from the Start menu.

Step 1: Make sure your microphone is connected and positioned correctly. If using a headset, adjust it so that it feels comfortable and stable. The

microphone must face the corner of your mouth (not the front) about a thumb's width away (you can experiment with the perfect distance for

your particular case.) It should not touch your skin or hair.

IMPORTANT: Noise-canceling microphones only listen on one side;

check that the listening side (often marked by a dot or the word TALK) is parallel to your face, not tilted up or down.

If your model has a mute switch, make sure it is in the ON position!

On some computers, connecting the microphone automatically brings up a small window asking what action you wish from this “audio system event”. Before closing this window, verify that its Microphone option is highlighted, as opposed to Line In.

Step 2: Launch Dragon (you can double-click its desktop icon). If Dragon has never been used before on this

computer, this automatically brings up the first screen of the New User Wizard (otherwise, choose Manage Users

in the Dragon toolbar’s NaturallySpeaking menu, then click New.)

Step 3: Enter a name for your User profile: your first and last names, for instance.

Step 4: Version 10 has special acoustic models for a number of broad “accents” heard in the US (this is

particularly important for natives of the UK or the Indian sub-continent). Open the drop-down list

Accent to see their names; if unsure which one is best for you, just pick “General”.

Step 5: Select the right Dictation source. If you are not using the default (microphone plugged into the Mic-In

jack), open the drop-down list and pick your device’s type: for instance, Bluetooth Microphone.

The Help provides details on using special dictation sources such as array microphones and portable devices.

Many digital recorders (such as Olympus, Panasonic, Philips and Sony models) come with special software to manage recordings, including transferring them from recorder to computer and converting their format if necessary. Make sure to check your recorder’s documentation and install its software if required.

IMPORTANT

: If you already have a Dragon

profile and want to use an additional source, use the Open User dialog’s Source button to add a source instead of creating a separate profile for the new device. (Click NaturallySpeaking > Open User > Source > New.)

This is often overlooked, but very important. Having multiple sources within one profile allows the same Vocabulary to be used — and refined — no matter whether you are using your USB microphone or digital recorder, for instance. (As you will learn, personalizing the Vocabulary early and often is one of the keys to efficient usage.)

Users with a small vocal cavity (as is often the case for children under about 13, depending on their

TIP

height) may obtain best results by choosing “Teens” from the “Vocabulary” drop-down list.

Once you have completed the first screen of the New User Wizard, click Next.

Step 6: Next, Dragon will check audio settings.

Click the “S

tart Volume Check” button and read aloud the text in the gray box, exactly as presented, in a clear but natural voice. Feel free to say the punctuation if you wish.

Dragon will let you know when it has heard enough. Click N is similar: click “S read aloud, then click N

ext. The next screen

tart Quality Check”,

ext. Dragon will verify that your sound system is acceptable for speech recognition.

(The Knowledgebase at www.nuance.com contains details, including Technotes 6111 and 4720.)

Step 7: If you did not choose to skip “Initial Training”, Dragon then presents the first prompt to read: click Go,

then read the short sentence displayed. When the “Select Text” box appears, choose one of the texts to read (the one entitled “Talking to your Computer” is recommended) and click OK.

Step 8: Proceed through the training text by reading it exactly as it is displayed. The words will turn gray once

Dragon has “heard” them, but no need to wait for this to happen—just speak at your normal pace, clearly and naturally.

TIP Here Dragon is learning how you sound when you dictate; using the same tone, pace and volume you

are likely to use day-to-day will help it recognize your future dictations most accurately. Saying punctuation isn’t necessary during acoustic training, but it’s a good idea to say at least the periods, to get into the habit. (Later, you will learn to dictate all punctuation and symbols.)

IMPORTANT: Take your time. Try to read

naturally but precisely what is on the screen. If the software needs to hear you re-read

something, a yellow arrow will show you where to resume. If you mis-read something, just keep silent

for a moment, then resume at the yellow arrow.

edo button lets you move the arrow back

The R one “utterance”—useful if you realize you just

misread something.

If you need to take a break, cough or sneeze, click

ause button. That button will then be labeled

the P

o; click it when ready to resume.

Once it has heard enough, Dragon takes a moment to process the acoustic information you just provided and to create your User profile.

“Adapt to writing style” – and a caution for multilingual users

Dragon will then offer to start adapting its Vocabulary, presenting a screen entitled “Adapt to your writing style”. Feel free to skip this simplified customization, which analyzes the texts in your My Documents folder as well as your sent e-mails; as soon as your profile is created, you can use the powerful, targeted customization tools described in the following lessons.

IMPORTANT: If some of your documents and emails are in a foreign language or in a radically different

style (think Chaucer or Shakespeare), adapting to these “foreign” texts could actually lower the accuracy, so do skip this automatic step. The Accuracy Center will let you indicate the specific documents

you want Dragon

to adapt from.

The Speed vs. Accuracy slider and Natural Language Commands

When you start using Dragon 10, the program may present you with a special message if it determined th at your computer’s characteristics wouldn’t allow optimal performance. It will inform you that it has adjusted the defaults for two of its settings:

• the Speed versus Accuracy slider, and

• Natural Language Commands for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Corel WordPerfect. (The

lesson “Controlling your Desktop and Applications

” covers these large sets of flexible commands.)

If desired, you can easily reverse these changes through Dragon’s Options dialog: you can enable or disable the Natural Language Commands for any of these four applications individually, and you can experiment with various settings of the slider, depending on whether speed of response is more important in your situation. The Help provides more details, and its Performance Assi stant offers many suggestions for optimizing Dragon’s speed on your computer.

Having given the information needed to create your User profile, you could now start dictating. Before you do, though, we strongly recommend that you begin personalizing the Vocabulary, since this plays a crucial role in accuracy and efficiency—this workbook will walk you through easy steps to do just that.

Key points about creating a User profile

9 Each person who wants to dictate with Dragon first needs to create his or her own User profile; this is a

short process, guided through a series of screens called the New User Wizard.

9 Be sure to choose the appropriate dictation source in the first screen of the New User Wizard. The

online Help contains details on special sources like recorders and USB, wireless, or array microphones.

9 You can “enroll” an additional dictation source for an existing profile (for instance, to be able to

dictate into a recorder or an array microphone sometimes). Your various dictation sources will benefit from the same Vocabulary customizations (special words and phrases, pronunciations, spellings, etc.).

9 When reading the acoustic training text, speak clearly but naturally, using the same volume, pitch and

pace you’ll use day-to-day. Try to read exactly what is prompted as if you were dictating it. Use the Pause button if you need to clear your throat or speak to someone… When its microphone is on, Dragon listens to every sound coming from the microphone’s listening side!

9 “Adapt to Writing Style” is an optional step: Dragon adapts its vocabulary to text it finds in your My

Documents folder as well as sent e-mails. (It is meant to introduce the importance of vocabulary customization.) For best efficiency, skip it; this workbook will present you Dragon’s more targeted and powerful tools.

Learning More and Getting Help

Dragon NaturallySpeaking offers so many tools, commands, and features that it would be impossible to provide all their details in this workbook. This lesson presents several ways to find more information as you start using the software—be sure to take advantage of the available resources!

Note: We welcome comments about this workbook and all aspects of Dragon documentation (Quick Start Card, User Guide, Tutorial, Tip of the Day, Help menu, Performance Assistant, "What Can I Say" windows...). Please use the Product Feedback/Feature Request form at www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/contact

The Dragon User's Guide

The User's Guide is available as a color PDF file on your product disk, and revisions are posted regularly on

www.nuance.com

you can print out sections as well as the entire file.)

. (When viewing the PDF file, you can click chapter headings to jump to specific topics, and

The Accuracy Center and Accuracy Assistant

The Accuracy Center offers a central location to access many tools, and get guidance on which tool to use.

Step 1: Say Open Accuracy Center or say Switch to DragonBar, then T

ools, then Accuracy Center.

Step 2: Click or say the name of the link that interests you.

TIP As in supported Web browsers, you can activate links without saying their whole name: for instance,

instead of add a list of words to your vocabulary, you could say just add a list.

The link “Which tool should I use?” opens the Accuracy Assistant, which presents a set of questions to help determine what you can do to improve accuracy in a given situation.

The Online Help and Performance Assistant

The DragonBar’s Help menu gives you access to the on-screen Help topics and the Performance Assistant (as well as the Accuracy Assistant, the Sample Commands window, and the Tutorial.) You can also access the Help by saying give me help at any time; try it soon!

You can browse the Help topics, or search for specific keywords—for in stance, entering the word “punctuation” brings up topics including “Dictating punctuation and symbols” and “Selecting characters and words.” You can also print topics of your choice.

IMPORTANT: Dragon also provides contextual help: the Help button on the program’s dialog boxes takes

you directly to the relevant topic in the Help.

The Sample Commands window: “What Can I Say”

At any time, you can ask Dragon to display a sample of the commands you might use. When a popular application such as Microsoft Word or Excel is active, this window will show commands

designed for that application. Otherwise, it will show a list of global commands — commands you can use no matter what application is currently active.

Step 1: Say open Sample Commands, or what can I say or, on the DragonBar, click H

elp > Sample Commands.

Step 2: A narrow window opens, displaying some of the commands available in the current context, as well as

instructions. You can access the links and tabs by clicking them or saying their name.

TIP To see additional commands, you can use the Help as well as the Command Browser, which is accessible

via the Tools menu or commands such as Open Command Browser.

Key points about learning more and getting help

9 This workbook is meant to get you started efficiently. You can learn more, get help, and find answers

to many questions, by using the User's Guide, the online Help, the Sample Commands window, the Accuracy Center, the Accuracy Assistant, the Performance Assistant, as well as the Nuance website (www.nuance.com

9 You can ask Dragon for help at any time by saying commands like: what can I say, give me help,

launch the help topics, open Accuracy Center, computer improve my accuracy…

An experienced Dragon trainer can offer specific gui dance and cu stomization; consulting one is particularly efficient for users who have special environments, workflows, equipment, or challenges (related, for instance, to motion, vision, reading or speech fluency)…

Now that you know how to access many resources, let’s learn Dragon’s most important aspects; we’ll start with an often-overlooked but crucial one, Vocabulary customization.

), including the Knowledge Base of “Tech Notes”, updated regularly.

Why Customizing the Vocabulary is Important

Transcribing a person’s speech presents acoustic challenges, such as accents and ambient noise. There is also a lexical challenge; for the transcription to be precisely accurate, familiarity with the terms used is necessary. Even an experienced legal secretary would have trouble transcribing an insurance executive’s dictation, for instance! And a newly-hired transcriptionist would have to get used not only to the dictators’ voices, but also to learn the correct spelling and formatting of what they mention, including acronyms, abbreviations, special phrases, names of people, places, products, etc.

An unusual 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 recognize and spell it: that name is not yet a part of this person’s vocabulary. Similarly, if a word or phrase is not in Dragon’s active vocabulary, the software cannot transcribe it correctly without a little instruction.

When you created your User profile, you provided acoustic information which Dragon incorporated into its

acoustic model. To get optimal accuracy, you should also help the software adapt its language model and Vocabulary.

Lexical customization ensures that what you dictate is transcribed with the desired spelling, spacing, and even capitalization; Dragon provides many powerful tools for it, so this important investment need not take much time. The Help contains much information about personalizing the Vocabulary—including how you can even benefit from the customizations done by colleagues.

Key points about Vocabulary customization

9 As soon as you have created a User profile, you could start dictating. However, customizing the

Vocabulary right away is efficient since it helps Dragon “get it right the first time” (including spelling, capitalization, and spacing) and it needn’t take much of your time. Personalizing the Vocabulary (early and often) is strongly recommended. The following pages will show you how.

9 Dragon offers many simple and powerful Vocabulary tools to allow you to make your dictations 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, as well as edit existing entries—including their Spoken Forms and Properties.

Let’s take a look inside the Vocabulary and discover the Vocabulary Editor’s interface:

Step 1: Say Edit Vocabulary (you can also click V

Your Vocabulary from the Accuracy C

iew/Edit on the DragonBar’s Words menu or View or Edit

enter). The Vocabulary Editor opens; its scrollable window lists

the entries currently in the 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. Most entries only have a W some also have a S

poken form (right column)—this is an important feature, as you will see.

ritten Form (left column), but

Step 2: Open the Display drop-down list 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 Vocabulary Entries: Words, Phrases, Acronyms…

You can quickly search for a particular Vocabulary entry by entering it in the Written Form field. If it appears in the scrollable list, it is already in the active layer of the Vocabulary. If not, say or click A

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.

dd to bring it in.

Some of the "words" in the Vocabulary Editor aren't single words. Of course is listed. So is as well as. Some of the multi-words are 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, the dictation would probably appear as "mother Theresa"—because the word mother is usually not capitalized, and because Theresa is the more common spelling of the name. Having the phrase in its Vocabulary 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 multi-words; they will save you time—you will not have to adjust spelling and capitalization after transcription.

Exercise 1: In the Vocabulary Editor, look for a few familiar names such as your own, the names of y our town,

company, colleagues or relatives; if necessary, add them.

TIP Consider adding nicknames (alone or in combination) and diminutives as well as formal names,

particularly for names that can be spelled different ways: for instance, one might add Liz Hansen, Elizabeth McGee Hansen, Jennifer B. Addams, Jennifer Addams, Jenny Addams, Jenn Addams, Judge Addams, Scooter Addams…

This idea applies to more than just names; whenever you add an item to the Vocabulary, think of its possible variations: singular/plural for nouns, present/past/gerund for verbs… Remember, if something is not in the Vocabulary, the software cannot recognize it, so don’t hesitate to add!

Exercise 2: Open DragonPad and start a list of Vocabulary entries relevant to you; some suggestions are below.

(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 52, or County Adoption Center)

• names of products (such as MicroPore tape or Latex Exterior Semi-Gloss)

• acronyms, part numbers, codes (such as FICA, 501c(3) or RX-70y)

• names of people (coworkers, clients, friends, relatives…) including full combinations for names

that could be spelled differently (Kristin, Gene, Steven, McGregor, Wolfe…) or are very short (Kip, Kit, Dee…) since this helps Dragon resolve acoustic ambiguities.

TIP Your employer may be able to give you some lists that could save you time, particularly if they are

already in electronic form: lists of staff or clients, departments, units or divisi ons, products, trademarks, building names, 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 tell their callers “let us know how to pronounce your name”; a reason is that some names could be pronounced in several ways, and some are not pronounced “the way they are written”, because of silent letters for instance. 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 Dragon feature: Spoken Forms.

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.

TIP Vocabulary entries may have more than one spoken form. You may add spoken forms to custom entries

and to existing entries, in order to be able to dictate them as comes naturally to you—for example, to obtain the symbol ©, you might like to say “circle see” instead of the existing spoken form “copyrig ht sign”.

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” t o say or remember. You will many examples in this workbook. This capability can be used to give consistency and clarity to your writings; groups can take advantage of it to help everyone easily comply with recommendations like avoiding abbreviations and potentially confusable items.

To add a Spoken Form via the Vocabulary Editor: Step 1: First, decide what you want to say, and what Dragon should transcribe when you say it.

For example, suppose your school Central Lexington United High School is often called CLUHS or "cluss". When you dictate "cluss", do you want Dragon to type CLUHS or Central Lexington United High School?

Step 2: In the Written Form field, type what you want Dragon to write. Be careful with its capitalization,

spacing, and spelling — including symbols or punctuation marks if needed, as in E*TRADE.

Step 3: In the Spoken Form field, type what you will actually say. In some cases (as in our “cluss” example),

you will enter one or more “made-up words” to represent the desired sound.

Step 4: Say A

dd or press Enter.

If you entered a “made-up word” in the Spoken Form field, Dragon brings up a dialog box to tell you that it doesn’t know that word and will therefore guess its pronunciation — this gives you a chance to catch any typo you may have made in the Spoken Form.

TIP Entries containing symbols, digits, or unusual spacing are particularly likely to warran t a Spoken Form.

If you add e-mail addresses to the Vocabulary, giving them a Spoken Form can make them quicker to dictate: for instance, for AmyT&JohnB@yahoo.com yahoo”.

, “Amy and John at yahoo dot com” or even just “Amy and John at

Deleting “Words” and Modifying “Word” Properties

If at some point you find that an item is not transcribed as you wished, remember that it might need a spoken form, or a longer entry in the Vocabulary. (Also, particularly if the pronunciation contains non-English

sounds, you may want to help the software with some acoustic “training”—see "Training Words"

You may also run into cases where a word you need is consistently transcribed as another word: if that other word is not important to you, deleting it from the Vocabulary Editor will solve the conflict by removing your desired word’s “competition”. The names Schafer, Shaffer, Schaefer and Shafer all sound alike, for instance.

Note: Dragon comes with literally thousands of Vocabulary entries; as you browse the Vocabulary Editor, you will see many you are very unlikely to ever dictate, but don’t spend time deleting them unless they actually cause a conflict!

TIP There’s more you can do in the

Vocabulary Editor! For instance, by clicking the Properties

button, you can view or change the

capitalization, spacing and numeral properties of an entry.

In the Word Properties dialog box, you can also choose one or even two alternate written forms: for instance, if you prefer the word “figure” to be written as “Fig.” when before numbers (Fig. 3).

IMPORTANT You would also use

the Word Properties dialog for the dictation command “new line”, if you want it to trigger capitalization of the following word (see the lesson “Starting

to Dictate”, page 21.)

Your documentation provides more details; in particular, take a look at the Help topics “The Vocabulary Editor Dialog Box”, “Deleting words”, and “The Word Properties dialog box.”

Key points about the Vocabulary Editor

9 You can access the Vocabulary Editor with a command like edit vocabulary, through the Accuracy

Center, or through the W

ords menu of the DragonBar.

9 In the Vocabulary Editor, custom-added entries are marked with a red star; choosing Custom Words

Only from the Display drop-down list allows you to see just the custom entries.

9 You can locate an item by entering it in the Written Form field. By using the Display drop-down list,

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

9 Spoken Forms are an efficient way to help Dragon transcribe “special” words. You can view many

examples of Spoken Forms in the Vocabulary Editor. In addition to clarifying pronunciation (particularly useful for items that contain digits, symbols, or silent letters), Spoken Forms can be used to allow the speaker to say something quite different, and much shorter and easier, than their associated written form: you say just “E O B stat”, for instance, and Dragon types “Explanation of Benefit (EOB) statement.”

9 A Vocabulary entry can have several spoken forms, and alternate written forms. 9 If a Vocabulary entry you don’t need “competes” for recognition with something you do need to

dictate, you can delete that entry from the Vocabulary Editor.

9 You can view or change the special Properties of Vocabulary entries, including spacing and

capitalization. In the Vocabulary Editor, entries whose properties were modified are marked with a blue star.

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. Dragon’s Word Import feature allows adding 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.

Steps to create and import one or more lists of “words” (i.e. Vocabulary entries): Step 1: Create a document (or edit an existing document) listing entries to add to the Vocabulary. You can do

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

o Have each entry on a separate line. o Make sure everything is spelled, capitalized and spaced correctly.

o To include a Spoken Form, follow the Written Form with a backslash (\), then the Spoken

Form: for example, Grb II\grab two.

Step 2: After saving this document as a plain text (.txt) file (F

processor was used, you will choose Text Document, Text Only, or Plain Text), close it. Repeat as necessary with other lists (many find it convenient to make several lists, by category: a list

of friends, a list of professional contacts, a list of product names, a list of local landmarks…).

Step 3: Say import custom words or, on the DragonBar, click W

ile > Save As -- then, depending on what word

ords, Import.

Step 4: On the Add Words from Word

Lists dialog, click the A

dd File

button.

The Add File window appears. Locate the file containing your list and click O

pen; 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 N

ext. The software will import the listed items into the Vocabulary.

The imported entries will be viewable in the Vocabulary Editor, where they will have a red star like other custom entries.

Key points about importing lists of Vocabulary entries:

9 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 Words menu).

9 Word lists must be saved as plain text, and closed, before they can be imported. 9 Each word list entry must be on its own line. 9 To specify a spoken form in a word list, use a backslash (\) to separate it from the written form.

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 Add Words From Documents tool 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 gets to analyze, the better it can adapt its Vocabulary to what you usually need to dictate. (This is similar to giving a just-hired transcriptionist many documents in which to observe the terms used, their spellings, the words that often appear before or after, etc.; doing so would help the transcriptionist get ready to transcribe your dictations most accurately, right from the start.)

Dragon can perform its text analysis on files of the following types: .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... (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.

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

Now that you have a sample of text similar to your intended dictations, let’s launch the tool and designate this sample for analysis. (If you obtain more documents later, you can run the tool again.)

Step 3: Say add words from documents or choose that link in the Accuracy Center.

Make sure that the box “Preview the list of unknown words” is checked, and click N

The checkbox “Adapt to writing style” is what makes Dragon learn frequency information, which increases accuracy since it helps differentiate between sound-alikes, 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.

ext.

Step 4: On the Add Documents box, click Add D

TIP You can select multiple files at once: by holding down the Ctrl key, by pressing Ctrl A (the

Windows keyboard shortcut to “select all”)...

Dragon will now analyze the text contained in the designated documents. This may take a moment—if there is a lot of text to analyze, you should run this tool when you do NOT need to use Dragon for something else.

ocument. Locate and select the document(s), then click Open.

Once Dragon indicates that analysis is complete, click Next. Dragon will then present you with a list of the “unknown” words it found, with a checkbox next to each

one, and the number of time encountered (the ones found most frequently are presented at the top, since they are most likely to be relevant, unlike those that only occurred a few times.)

Step 5: Uncheck items you do NOT wish to add (you can take advantage of the Uncheck All button.)

TIP This list may include capitalized forms of common words; these are usually better left out of the

Vocabulary since you can always say “Cap” before a word, but you may want to include them in a phrase entry, such as ‘Senior Technical Trainer’ (remember, it’s a good idea to add phrases to the Vocabulary).

If you wish to modify an item (to make it lowercase, or expand on it, for instance) or give it a spoken form, highlight it then click or say E a little context for the item.

dit. This button opens the Edit Word window, which also presents

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