Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
iii
Version 13
End-User Workbook
Note: Closing all programsbefore installing is
recommended.
For the latest documentation, please see www.nuance.com:
The Quick Card includes important notes about installing
Dragon and connecting your microphone, as well as
reference tables for punctuation and other special
characters, numeric data, and commands.
Another important resource is the User Guide, which
covers installation.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
iv
End-User Workbook (Revision 0 -- July 2014)
Unless indicated otherwise, the material in this workbook applies to all editions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and
the screenshots are from the Professional edition.
This workbook assumes that Dragon NaturallySpeaking 13 is now installed on your PC. For details on the
installation process, please see the User Guide on www.nuance.com/dragon.
The card that comes in the Dragon NaturallySpeaking box includes important notes about
installing Dragon as well as reference tables for punctuation, numeric data and
commands. (The latest electronic version is available on the Nuance website.)
We welcome comments or questions about this workbook and all aspects of the Help system
(including User Guide, Help menu, Interactive Tutorial, Learning Center, Accuracy Center and
Performance Assistant).
This workbook reflects the information available at the time of publishing. Nuance’s online Knowledge Base contains the latest information written by Technical Support. Also online are
the latest printable documentation and listings of microphones, recorders, and other
hardware tested for use with Dragon.
The Nuance website (www.nuance.com/dragon as well as australia.nuance.com/dragon,
newzealand.nuance.com/dragon, and www.nuance.co.uk/dragon) offers many other resources
including tips, videos, Customer Service information, and a feature matrix of editions.
The website also lists Value-Added Resellers who provide support, training and customization services in person or remotely. These Nuance partners can address your
environment, equipment, goals and needs. This is particularly efficient for very busy people, for
people new to computers, for 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.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
v
Goals and Prerequisites
Dragon NaturallySpeaking lets you speaknaturally 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 computer may feel strange at first. Be patient with yourself! This workbook aims to efficiently
present what an end-user should know. Most importantly, this entails how to “type by voice” efficiently, which
includes:
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 the text was created by voice).
And creating custom commands to insert boilerplate text and/or graphics.
In addition, you can learn how to “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” 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, maximize windows, close
dialog boxes, copy or move items, browse to folders, cut and paste, etc.
Simple word-processing concepts such as bullets, font size and font style, bolding and italicizing, right-
aligning and centering.
Efficiency and hands-free usage
We strongly recommend going through this workbook in order. (If you are familiar with Dragon, consider reading
the What’s New section first.)
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 Dragon’s 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 someone present when you create or upgrade a profile, or use the Interactive Tutorial or
the Microphone Check.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
vi
Table of Contents
Goals and Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................................. v
Efficiency and hands-free usage .............................................................................................................................. v
Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................................... vi
Getting Started and Creating a User Profile ...............................................................................................................1
Positioning and connecting your microphone ......................................................................................................... 1
Upgrading one or more profiles ................................................................................................................................ 2
Creating your profile (or adding an audio source) ................................................................................................. 3
About the Dragon Remote Microphone app as source ......................................................................................... 5
About spoken recordings as source ......................................................................................................................... 5
Adding and managing sources ................................................................................................................................. 6
Before your profile opens — caution with desktop icons ...................................................................................... 7
Important options ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
Learning More and Getting Help ............................................................................................................................. 11
The Accuracy Center................................................................................................................................................ 11
The Help and the Performance Assistant ............................................................................................................. 11
The Learning Center ................................................................................................................................................ 12
The Interactive Tutorial ............................................................................................................................................ 12
The User's Guides .................................................................................................................................................... 13
Why Personalizing the Vocabulary is Essential ...................................................................................................... 14
Customizing the Vocabulary—Using the Vocabulary Editor ................................................................................... 15
The importance of spoken forms ............................................................................................................................ 17
Deleting “words” and modifying word properties .................................................................................................. 18
Importing Lists of Vocabulary Entries ...................................................................................................................... 21
Customizing the Vocabulary from Existing Documents ........................................................................................... 23
Customizing the Vocabulary from Your E-Mail ........................................................................................................ 26
Starting to Dictate: Controlling the Microphone ....................................................................................................... 28
The DragonBar and the microphone icon ............................................................................................................. 28
The microphone commands and sleep state....................................................................................................... 30
The Importance of Hot Keys, including Microphone On/Off ............................................................................... 31
Starting to Dictate: Your First Dictation ................................................................................................................... 33
Dictating text and punctuation marks ..................................................................................................................... 33
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
vii
New line and new paragraph .................................................................................................................................. 33
The Results Display and its options ....................................................................................................................... 34
The Spell Command: characters within Normal Mode ................................................................ ........................ 38
Correcting Dragon’s Errors in Your Dictated Text ................................................................................................... 40
Handling multiple matches in your text .................................................................................................................. 40
The Correction Menu: the default interface .......................................................................................................... 41
Correcting in the Spelling Window ......................................................................................................................... 41
Using playback to aid correction ................................................................................................ ............................. 44
Smart Format Rules ................................................................................................................................................. 45
Editing Text by Voice ............................................................................................................................................... 47
Navigation and selection .......................................................................................................................................... 47
Handling multiple matches in text ........................................................................................................................... 48
Direct editing: Bold|Underline|Italicize|Capitalize|Copy|Delete|Cut… ............................................................... 48
Full Text Control, “unknown” text fields and the Dictation Box .......................................................................... 49
Replacing and inserting ........................................................................................................................................... 51
Formatting Text by Voice ......................................................................................................................................... 54
The "X that" convention ........................................................................................................................................... 54
The "Format That" commands ................................................................................................................................ 55
Controlling the Operating System and Applications ................................................................................................ 58
Searching the computer ........................................................................................................................................... 58
Controlling programs and windows ........................................................................................................................ 59
Resizing and switching ............................................................................................................................................ 60
“Clicking” menus, buttons and other interface controls ....................................................................................... 61
“Natural Language Commands” and the Command Browser ............................................................................ 63
Using Dragon NaturallySpeaking with the Internet .................................................................................................. 67
The Web shortcuts.................................................................................................................................................... 67
Social Media .............................................................................................................................................................. 68
Navigating to and within a Web page (Internet Explorer) ................................................................................... 69
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
viii
Accessing a specific item on a Web page ............................................................................................................ 70
Using Dragon NaturallySpeaking for E-mail ............................................................................................................ 72
Commands for your installed email program ........................................................................................................ 73
Web-based email and the Dragon extension ....................................................................................................... 75
Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Microsoft Word ...................................................................................................... 77
“Voice Notations” in Microsoft Word documents .................................................................................................. 77
Commands specific to Microsoft Word .................................................................................................................. 77
The Ribbon ................................................................................................................................................................ 78
Microsoft Word 2010 and 2013................................................................................................ ............................... 78
Dictating and editing in Microsoft Excel ................................................................................................................... 80
Boosting Productivity with Custom Commands ....................................................................................................... 83
Finding commands: the Keyword Filter ................................................................................................................. 87
Performing Audio Checks and Acoustic Training .................................................................................................... 89
The Microphone Check ............................................................................................................................................ 89
Training in isolation ................................................................................................................................................... 89
Reading text to train Dragon ................................................................................................................................... 90
Using Multiple Vocabularies (editions Professional and up) ................................................................................... 92
Opening a Vocabulary.............................................................................................................................................. 94
Acoustic and Language Model Optimization ........................................................................................................... 96
Launching the Acoustic and/or Language Model Optimization .......................................................................... 96
Scheduling optimization and Data Collection ....................................................................................................... 97
Renaming, Deleting, Copying or Transferring a Profile ......................................................................................... 101
Practice Exercise: Creating a Memo by Voice ...................................................................................................... 103
What’s New in Version 13.0? ................................................................................................................................ 104
What’s New in Version 12.0? ................................................................................................................................ 106
What’s New in Version 11.5? ................................................................................................................................ 112
What’s New in Version 11.0? ................................................................................................................................ 113
Index ...................................................................................................................................................................... 117
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
1
Positioning and connecting your microphone
If using a headset, adjust it so that it feels stable and comfortable on your head (it
should not press your temple or glasses). The microphone’s listening side must
face the side of your mouth (not the front). It must not touch facial hair or catch
breathing sounds. (On standard headsets, bend the “boom” if needed.)
Most headset models can be rotated, so you can place the microphone on either
the left or the right side of your face.
You might experiment a bit to find what works best for you. Then, whenever you
use Dragon, aim for consistency in your microphone position.
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 NaturallySpeaking is speaker-dependent software. 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 software settings
you have. It stores this data 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 very important. The more
personalized it is, the better your experience will be. To have the best possible start, it’s worth creating your
profile carefully (or upgrading it from a previous version of Dragon). As you will see later, there are many ways for
your profile to be refined over time.
This lesson will cover creating (or upgrading) a user profile. But first, let’s address what Dragon needs in order to
get good audio input from you. Here are important notes about placing your microphone and connecting it to your
computer.
When you plug a microphone or adapter into your PC, be sure to push all the way into the audio socket or
USB port.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
2
You may also wish to check the audio settings at the level of
Windows: see the “Recording devices” section of the Control
Panel. (In the example illustrated here, both Bluetooth and USB
are available.) This is accessible by right-clicking the
loudspeaker icon on the System Tray.
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 you want to test your microphone independently of Dragon, you can use Sound Recorder, a Windows
accessory (accessible from the Start menu in Windows 7, and the Start screen in Windows 8).
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 just powered up, but
also active (that is, in “call mode”). On the Plantronics Calisto microphone, this is achieved by pressing the
headset’s button. Please see your microphone’s user guide for details, including how to charge the headset
and how to pair it with the dongle if necessary.
Upgrading one or more profiles
Dragon 13 can upgrade profiles from Version 11 or 12. If you have such a profile, you should upgrade it and use
it in Dragon 13; this allows you to benefit from refinements you had previously made (in terms of acoustics and
language model, as well as options, plus custom commands if applicable).
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
3
Dragon’s Upgrade Wizard can automatically detect eligible profiles
present on your computer. (This wizard is available any time from
the Windows Start menu or Start screen, under Dragon
NaturallySpeaking Tools.)
Use its Remove button as needed so that only the desired one(s)
appear.
If a profile you want is not 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.)
Creating your profile (or adding an audio source)
Before you start Dragon, connect your microphone (see above). If you wish, test it by making a sample recording
in Windows Sound Recorder.
The profile creation process includes indicating your microphone’s type and verifying your sound system.
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 you use Dragon.
If you already have a Dragon 13 profile and just want to use another type of audio input device, add a
source to your profile instead of creating a separate profile. (Details below.)
For Bluetooth wireless headsets, see the Help and the manufacturer’s documentation. Familiarize
yourself with how to charge your microphone, power it up, turn it on (put it in “call mode”), and ensure it is
paired to its USB dongle.
Step 1:Launch Dragon (you can double-click its desktop icon or pick it from the Start menu). If Dragon has
never been used before on this PC, the Profile Creation Wizard will then open automatically. Otherwise,
choose New User Profile in the DragonBar’s Profile menu, then click New.
Step 2: Answer the questions presented by the wizard’s screens.
The wizard will ask you to specify a “region”. Dragon will use that information to choose your profile’s
underlying Auto-Formatting options and Vocabulary. For instance, this will affect whether Dragon uses
the spelling “colour” instead of “color” as well as how it writes currencies or units such as lbs, $, USD and
Note for Canadian users: Dragon 13 offers a Vocabulary specifically for Canada.
AUD (ISO currency codes).
TIP: Once your profile is created, you will be free to customize it, including modifying Auto-Formatting
Options and Word Properties (as described in this workbook and the Help).
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
4
The wizard gives you an opportunity to choose from a number of broad accents. If unsure which accent to
pick, see the Help. Note: Dragon will later adapt to the sound of your voice, as you dictate more and more
and run the Accuracy Tuning process.
Step 3: On the next screen, indicate which type of audio source you are about to use. Note: even in editions that
support transcribing recordings (Premium and higher), we suggest starting with a microphone source
type. By dictating directly to your PC, you get used to speaking in a way that gives best results and you
can personalize the vocabulary, which means that once you do begin to make recordings and have
Dragon transcribe them you will get better accuracy in those transcriptions.
The default type is a microphone plugged into the Mic-In jack (audio input socket). If you use a USB
adapter on a standard headset, be sure to pick the USB option here.
Note:
If your PC has only one audio socket (like on mobile phones), you must use a USB adapter (or
USB microphone) or a Y-shaped adapter (“splitter”).
In editions Home and higher, you can use as a microphone a supported iOS or Android
smartphone (or other supported device) on which you have downloaded the Dragon Remote
Microphone app (see our web page: www.nuance.com/dragon/remote-microphone).
The lower editions of Dragon do not support all the source types.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
5
The Help and the Nuance website contain details for special audio sources such as Bluetooth wireless or
the Dragon Remote Microphone app for iOS and Android devices (source available in editions Home and
higher in Dragon 13).
The Hardware Compatibility List on the Nuance website contains specifics such as the recommended
settings for a particular model of microphone or recorder.
About the Dragon Remote Microphone app as source
The smartphone (or other device on which you downloaded the app) must be connected to the same WiFi network as the PC on which you use it with Dragon.
When you set up the Remote Microphone app on a supported Android or iOS device, Dragon offers a
barcode (QR code), so you can just point your device’s camera at the computer screen to capture the
information needed. (Later on, you can use the DragonBar’s Tools menu to bring up this screen.)
Note: In public locations such as restaurant or coffeehouse chains which require that you logon or accept
the terms of service, the typical security configuration does not allow the mobile device to communicate
with the computer, therefore the Remote Microphone app feature is not supported.
For details about setting up and using the app, please see the KnowledgeBase article on the Support
section of the Nuance website: http://nuance.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6294 (this includes a
link to Technote 6825: "Information on testing the connection between Dragon NaturallySpeaking and the
Dragon Remote Microphone application".)
About spoken recordings as source
Please see our website (www.nuance.com/dragon/transcription-solutions) for illustrations and details,
including Nuance’s free Dragon Recorder app for smartphones and related devices.
Note: Dragon works with one voice at a time, so it cannot transcribe interviews or meetings directly.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
6
Note: If you are using a Bluetooth microphone, 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 with its dongle if necessary.
Dragon’s transcription feature (available in editions Premium and higher) can be particularly useful to
exploit what you dictate while observing something (such as during a field inspection) or after an event
(such as a meeting or a class). Once you have set up your profile for transcription use, you can use
Dragon to transcribe your spoken recordings.
TIP: If your recording was very “rough” or if it contained voices other than yours, consider the practice of
“echoing” or “re-speaking” rather than (or in addition to) transcribing the recording: while listening to the
recording and pausing it as needed, you dictate to Dragon what you hear. Among other advantages, this
gives you the opportunity to improve upon the original words, or add to them, including adding
punctuation that had not been spoken.
Before recording files for Dragon to transcribe, note:
We recommend first using Dragon for real-time transcription (dictating directly to your PC)
because 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
clearly you are dictating. You also get ideas as to how to personalize your profile’s vocabulary, for
instance by noticing jargon or phrases you should add to the vocabulary so that Dragon will be
able to write them with the spelling, capitalization, and spacing you desire. (In addition to adding
words and phrases, be sure to designate to Dragon representative text documents so it can learn
what words and phrases you often use.) As explained further in this workbook, vocabulary
personalization is very important; it prevents many recognition errors!
Learn the essential operations of your digital recorder or the recorder app on your smartphone
(starting and stopping recordings, for instance). Also, verify that the recorder is set to the correct
time and date as well as optimal settings for speech recognition (see details on individual models
tested by Nuance at http://support.nuance.com/compatibility).
Some digital recording devices come with special software to manage recordings (including
transferring them to a computer and converting their format if necessary). Check your device’s
documentation and take the steps required to set up your device, including installing the software
it may require.
Setting up a recorder source requires reading a training text into your recording device for a
minimum of four minutes. (Note: making your training recording longer than four minutes is a good
idea, since it will provide Dragon with a bigger acoustic sample from which to adapt to the sound
of your recorded voice.)
Adding and managing sources
If you already have a Dragon profile and want to use another type of audio input device, add a source to
your profile instead of creating a separate profile: open the DragonBar’s Profile menu and choose
“Manage Dictation Sources.” This opens the dialog box where you can pick the desired source.
Remember that 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 audio 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 a smartphone as a source will also be available
when you use a USB microphone.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
7
Step 4: The next step 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.
It’s best to read the boxed 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.
Dragon then verifies that your sound system is acceptable for speech recognition. (For details, see Help
and, if needed, the Knowledgebase at support.nuance.com.) Note:
If you chose as source the Dragon Remote Mic app, Dragon’s wizard will present a screen to help
ensure that your smartphone (or other Wi-Fi-enabled device) “finds” your profile on your computer.
Also, instead of the microphone check, it will present a short sentence to read aloud for calibration.
Some computers offer several places for you to plug in your microphone. If you get poor results with
one, consider the other(s) -- and if you use a docking station, you may get better results if you
connect the microphone to a port on your laptop itself, not on the station. Once you’ve identified
which port works best, aim to always use that port for your microphone. (You may wish to mark it with
a piece of tape.)
Step 5: The wizard will give you the opportunity to schedule periodic data collection, which helps improve
future update of Dragon by collecting usage data anonymously. See the Help for details.
Before your profile opens — caution with desktop icons
After you exit the profile creation wizard, Dragon will automatically bring up its Interactive Tutorial, which contains
short progressive simulations on important aspects of Dragon usage. We recommend that all users take
advantage of it.
After you exit the Interactive Tutorial, the Learning Center (formerly called Learning Center) will open.
IMPORTANT : By default, the Learning Center (a thin resizable window that presents commands and tips)
is set to open automatically when a profile opens. In Dragon 13, it is set to “Floating” by default (in Dragon 12.0, it
was set to dock to the right). If you typically keep desktop items on the right side of your screen, the Learning
Center can move them, like other Windows Learning Centers would. For this reason, you may wish to rearrange
your desktop items before the Learning Center opens, or set your desktop to Auto-arrange. (See the Learning
Center’s Help about its options including Auto-Hide.) The automatic opening of the Learning Center can be
disabled from the Miscellaneoustab of Dragon’s Options dialog.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
8
Now that your profile is created, we encourage you to explore Dragon’s options to suit your preferences,
including changing numeric keypad hotkeys. (This is particularly relevant to laptop users, and people who like to
use their numeric keypad for data entry.) This workbook’s lessons will progressively introduce you to options that
most users should consider. Below are two of them.
Important options
After you create your profile, Dragon presents a special message if it determined that your computer’s
characteristics wouldn’t allow optimal performance. This message informs you that Dragon has adjusted the
defaults for two of its options as follows:
The Speed versus Accuracy slider was moved toward speed.
The Natural Language Commands for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Corel WordPerfect
were disabled. (The lesson “Controlling your Desktop and Applications” addresses these large sets of
flexible commands. Note: not all editions and languages of Dragon contain these commands.)
Later, you can reverse these changes through Dragon’s Options dialog, depending on your particular needs: 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 Speed-versus-Accuracy slider.
Note: Other options on the Miscellaneous tab include having Dragon start in its sleep state (useful for persons
who cannot use their hands), as well as disabling the “tracking” of menus, buttons and other interface elements or
disabling the automatic opening of the Dictation Box where Dragon does not have Full Text Control (for example
in PowerPoint or Emacs). Details about these important concepts are accessible from the DragonBar’s Help
menu.
The Help includes suggestions for optimizing Dragon’s performance on your computer. For instance, you can
choose to disable the ability to open items from the Start menu or the desktop at any time, even if they are not
visible. You can also choose to disable the shortcut commands for Facebook and Twitter, and shortcut
commands to create new emails, tasks or appointments.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
9
Now that your profile is created, you could start dictating, but before you do, we recommend you take a
look at the Help menu. Also, it’s a good idea to beginpersonalizing the Vocabulary as soon as
possible, since this plays a crucial role in accuracy and efficiency.
Note: If you’ve used a previous version of Dragon, we suggest you read the What’s New.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
10
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 11 and 10 can be upgraded with the Upgrade
Wizard. (Important: 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, as well
as the use of the Dragon Remote Microphone app or the Dragon recorder app with Dragon.
In editions Premium and up, you can add asourceto an existing profile (for instance, if after using
Dragon with your USB microphone you wish to also dictate using your smartphone as a wireless
microphone). Whatever source is used, you will access the same vocabulary and optional settings (as
well as custom commands, if applicable).
Even if your edition supports the transcription of spoken recordings, we recommend starting out with a
microphone source as opposed to a recorder source.
When reading a training text, speak clearly but naturally usingthe same volume, pitch and pace you are
likely to use day-to-day. Try to read what is prompted as if you were dictating your own words. Use the
Redo and Skip buttons as needed, as use the Pause button if you need to clear your throat or speak to
someone.
During profile creation, Dragon offers to perform a basic adaptation of your profile’s vocabulary based on
text in your Documents folder as well as on sent e-mails. Feel free to skip that step but be sure to use
Dragon’s powerful personalization tools as soon as possible after profile creation finishes.
Dragon's scheduled tasks are designed to help improve accuracy over time. Be sure to schedule them
for a time when your computer will be on but Dragon will not be running.
By default, the Learning Center opens automatically when a user profile opens. By default, it is set to
“Floating.” If you’d prefer it docked, keep in mind the possible impact on Desktop items. Note: If you are
using a Bluetooth microphone, make sure that it is not only powered up, but also active (that is, in “call
mode”). On the Plantronics Calisto microphone, this is achieved by pressing the headset’s button. Please
see your microphone’s user guide for details, including how to charge the headset and how to pair it with
the dongle if necessary.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
11
Learning More and Getting Help
Dragon NaturallySpeaking offers so many tools, commands, and features that it would be impossible to cover
them all in detail 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!
Please see the card that comes in the Dragon NaturallySpeaking box. It includes important notes about installing
Dragon as well as sample lists of commands and what you can say to dictate special characters, times, dates,
postal codes and more. (The latest version of this quick reference guide 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 many of them and get guidance on which one to use when.
Step 1: Say Open Accuracy Center. You can also click the DragonBar’s Help menu (or say Switch to
DragonBar then say Click Help) then Improve my Accuracy.
Step 2: Click the link that interests you. You can also say its name immediately preceded by the word "click”.
("Require 'click' for HTML" is an option enabled by default, to help prevent unintended recognitions. See the
Commands tab of the Options dialog.)
TIP: You can activate links without saying their whole name: for instance, instead of “click add a list of words to
your vocabulary”, you could say just “click add a list”.
The Help and the Performance Assistant
The DragonBar’s Help menu gives you access to the on-screen Help topics (articles) and the Performance
Assistant (a collection of suggestions for what you can do to increase Dragon’s speed).
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
12
Another way to open the Help iby saying give me help. You can use the Help window’s Table of Contents, Index,
and Search tabs. For instance, entering the word “punctuation” in the Search field brings up topics including
“Dictating punctuation and symbols” and “Selecting characters and words.” Note: like in search engines, you can
indicate phrases by putting quotation marks around them.
From the Help window, you can also print articles of your choice or mark them as favorites.
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…” naming the word(s) you wish to search for. For instance, you could say “search
Help for Firefox”. Note that 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.”
Note: Dragon also provides contextual help: from its dialog boxes, the Help button (or question-mark icon) or links
take you directly to the relevant article in the Help.
The Learning Center
At any time, you can ask Dragon to display its Learning Center, a resizable vertical window meant to help users
discover and remember important tips and commands. (It can be made very thin.)
If a major application such as Microsoft Word is active, the Learning Center’s first tab will show commands for that
application. Otherwise, it will show a list of commands that are not specific to one application (Global commands).
CAUTION: By default, the Learning Center is set to floating. Note that when Floating, the Learning Center
may cover part of the currently-active window. If you’d prefer to Dock it, know that doing so would move any
desktop items located under it. You may wish to rearrange those desktop items before the Learning Center
opens, or set your desktop to Auto-arrange.
Step 1: Open the Dragon Learning Center. Voice commands for this include open Dragon Learning Center,
show Dragon Learning Center, and what can I say. You can alsouse the DragonBar’s Help menu.
Step 2: Explore the Learning Center and adjust it to suit your preferences. You can make its font size Small,
Medium, or Large. By clicking on its border and dragging it horizontally, you can make the Learning
Center very thin.
Note: One way to access details about the Learning Center is to use its question mark icon (in the top
right corner). You can also say a search-keyword command such as search Help for Learning Center
commands.
Step 3: Practice activating the Learning Center’s tabs and accordion panels: for each, say “click” followed by its
label.
Step 4: Right-click the Dragon Learning Center. This opens its menu. Note what is available there, including
activating Auto-Hide and printing the content.
The Interactive Tutorial
Available from the DragonBar’s Help menu, the Interactive Tutorial contains short progressive simulations and
aims to make you practice important habits for efficient dictating, correcting Dragon’s errors, editing text, using the
Web and personalizing Dragon. It includes important editing-related commands such as “go back,” Dictation
Commands such as “cap,” “all caps,” and “numeral…” as well an example of modifying an entry in the Spelling
Window and accepting a Smart Format Rule. We recommend that all users take advantage of it.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
13
Note: When the Interactive Tutorial opens, Dragon automatically turns off its microphone. In each lesson, you
practice an important habit: turning the microphone on and off.
While going through the simulations, you must speak just the current prompt and do so in one breath (without
pausing within it).
The User's Guides
The latest User's Guide is available as a PDF on the Nuance website alongside the Quick Start Guide, the
Bluetooth User Guide, and other resources. The DragonBar’s Help menu gives direct access to the website’s
User Documentation page.
When viewing the PDF file, you can click chapter headings to jump to specific topics, and you can print out
sections as well as the entire file.
Note: If you are using a Bluetooth microphone, be sure to read its User Guide. Before using the microphone with
Dragon, charge the headset, and make sure that it is not only powered up, but also active (that is, in “call mode”).
On the Plantronics Calisto microphone, this is achieved by pressing the headset’s button. Please see your
microphone’s user guide for details, including how to charge the headset and how to pair it with the dongle if
necessary.
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 Learning Center, the Accuracy Center, the Performance Assistant, as well
as the Nuance website, which includes tips, FAQs, video demonstrations and the Knowledge Base of
“TechNotes”.
Be sure to explore Dragon’s Help menu. You can open the Help at any time with generic commands
(give me help…) or “shortcut” commands that include the word(s) to search for, such as search Help for
Roman numerals.
The Learning Center is a thin vertical window which displays many commands and tips. You can open it
by voice commands or through the Help menu. Its right-click menu gives access to options including font
size and printing. To see all its commands, use the Command Browser.
Beyond these resources, consulting an experienced Dragon trainer for specific guidance and customizations can
be particularly efficient for users who have special environments, workflows, equipment, or challenges (for
instance, challenges related to motion, vision, or speech fluency.)
Now that you know how to access many resources, let’s learn the most important aspects of using Dragon,
starting with an often-overlooked but crucial one: personalizing your profile’s Vocabulary.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
14
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 voices 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.
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 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 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 others.
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 for you is a good investment to make right away, since it helps Dragon “get it
right the first time” (including spelling, capitalization, and spacing) and it needn’t take much of your time.
Personalizingthe Vocabulary early and often is strongly recommended. The following pages will
show you how.
Dragon offers many simple and powerful Vocabulary tools to allow you to make your dictations faster and
more convenient.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
15
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 explore the Vocabulary Editor’s interface:
Step 1: Say Edit Vocabulary (you can also use the DragonBar’s 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 vocabulary entries
You can quickly search for a particular Vocabulary 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.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
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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 will not have to adjust
their spelling and capitalization after transcription.
Exercise 1: In the Vocabulary Editor, search for a few familiar names such as your own first and last names, your
town, company, colleagues or relatives; if necessary, add them using the Add button.
TIP: When adding names of people, consider 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 idea 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 will not dictate
them very often!
Exercise 2: Open a word processor (such as DragonPad, available from the DragonBar’s Tools menu or from the
command “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: If you are using Dragon for work, 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 divisions,
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
17
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 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 Dragon 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 as well as to existing entries, in order to be able to dictate them as
Note that entries containing symbols, digits, or unusual spacing are particularly likely to warrant a Spoken
Form. If the written form of a word contains any punctuation, consider providing a spoken form so that there is no
doubt as to how the item will be pronounced.
If you add e-mail addresses to the Vocabulary, giving them a Spoken Form can make them quicker to dictate: for
instance, “Amy and John at yahoo dot com” or even just “Amy and John at yahoo” for
AmyT&JohnB@yahoo.com.
Note: Spoken forms must not include punctuation, abbreviations, or symbols. Below are a few examples.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
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Written Form: The Man from U.N.C.L.E
Spoken Form: the man from uncle
Written Form: St. Clement's Hospital
Spoken Form: Saint Clements Hospital
Written Form: Soddy-Daisy, TN.
Spoken Form: Soddy Daisy Tennessee
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). This
capability can be used to give consistency and clarity to your writings; groups can take advantage of it to help
everyone comply with recommendations like avoiding abbreviations and other confusable items.
Deleting “words” and modifying word properties
If you encounter a word or phrase that Dragon does not transcribe as you would like, remember that it might
warrant a spoken form or longer entry in the Vocabulary and Dragon may need to learn about how and how
frequently you use it therefore you want to have Dragon analyze relevant text and run Accuracy Tuning (see the
Accuracy Center). Also, particularly if the pronunciation contains non-English sounds, you may want to provide
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 your profile’s active Vocabulary will solve the conflict by removing
your desired word’s “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” even though you have already
corrected the error, you may want to 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 bringing up the
Correction menu over the undesired word after Dragon transcribed it.
Note: Dragon’s active Vocabulary comes with literally thousands of entries. As you browse the Vocabulary Editor,
you will see many you are very unlikely to ever about what you are dictate, but don’t spend time deleting them
unless they actually cause a conflict!
There’s more you can do in the Vocabulary Editor! For instance, by clicking its Properties button, you open the
Word Properties 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 (dot dot dot) to NOT trigger
capitalization of the next word.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
19
In the Word Properties dialog box, you
can also choose one or even two
alternate written forms.
For example, you may want:
the spelling “organise” instead of
“organize”,
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 are marked with a “P” icon.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
20
Key points about the Vocabulary Editor and Properties
You can access the Vocabulary Editor with a command like edit vocabulary, through the Accuracy
Center, or through the Vocabulary menu of the DragonBar.
In the Vocabulary Editor, custom-added entries are marked with a red plus sign; choosing Custom
Words Only from the Display drop-down list allows you to see just the custom entries.
You can locate an item by entering it in the Search field (enter either the Written form or the Spoken
form). By using the Display drop-down list, you can also browse subsets like “Custom words only” and
“Words containing punctuation.”
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.”
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 (for instance, Cassidy and Cassity). To see the
words that have been deleted from the vocabulary, you can choose “Deleted words only” from the Display
drop-down list.
You can view or change the special Properties of Vocabulary entries, including spacing and
capitalization. For instance, you may wish to change whether Dragon uses the spelling “travelled” or
“traveled”, whether the ellipsis (dot dot dot) and the Dictation Command “new line” trigger capitalization of
the next word…
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
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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. If
available in your edition, 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 character 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.)
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
22
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.
Step 3: Say import custom words, or use the DragonBar’s Vocabularymenu to pick “Import list of words or
phrases.”
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 txt file. This is useful for safekeeping or for import in other user profiles.
Note:
In Dragon’s edition Professional and above, you can choose .xml as an export format so that Word
Properties will be captured.
For the file that results from the export in Dragon 11, 12, or 13, there are two items of note: a first line (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 as 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:
If your edition allows it, 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
DragonBar’s Vocabulary menu).
Word lists must be saved as plain text, and closed, before they can be imported.
Each word list 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 other user profiles.
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
23
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 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. 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", then "vocabulary" to open the menu, then "learn from specific
documents."(There are other ways to do, by voice or by hand.)
Copyright 2014 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
24
Note: You can select multiple files
at once by holding down the Ctrl
key or by pressing Ctrl A (the
Windows keyboard shortcut 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 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. Once Dragon indicates that the 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 times each word was encountered (the words 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. (If the list is long, using the Uncheck All button will save you
time.)
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>”), but 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 a spoken form to an item, make sure it’s highlighted then click Edit.
This opens the Edit Word window, which also presents a little context for the item.
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