Nuance ScanSoft MacSpeech Dictate Getting Started

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MacSpeech, Inc.

50A Northwestern Drive

Salem, New Hampshire

03079

www.macspeech.com

MacSpeech Dictate™

License Agreement

5. U.S. Gove rnment Restricted Rights

The SOFT WARE PRODUCT is provided with Restricted Rights. Use, duplication or disclosure by or to the United States Government is subject to re strict ions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technic al Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 and /or subparagraphs (c)(1) and (2) of the Commercial Computer Softwa re - Restricted Rights at 48 CFR

52.22 7-19, as applicable. Manufa cturer is M acSpeech, Inc. in Salem, New Hampshir e, USA.

IMPORTANT - RE AD CAREFULLY : Before installing this software caref ully read the following terms and conditions. This Software End- User License Agreement (“Li cense Agreement ”) is a binding agreem ent between you (either an individual or a single entity), the end-u ser, an d MacSp eech, Inc. (“MacSpeech”) regard ing use of the software accompanyi ng this A greement, which includes computer soft ware (“SOFT WARE”) and accompanying docume ntation and may include “online” or electronic documentation and a license key (together “SO FTWAR E PRODUCT”). By in stalling, co pying or otherwise using th e SOF TWARE PROD UCT, by clicking on “yes”, you agree to be bound by the terms of this License Agreem ent. If you do not agree with the terms of this Lic ense Agre ement, click on “no”, and the insta llation p rocess will not continue.

1. Grant of License

If you are an individual, this License Agreement grants you ( “Recipient”) a non-exc lusive and non-transfer able right to use one copy of the SOF TWARE PRODU CT in the manner described in thi s License Agreement. If you are an entity, t his Lic ense Agreement grants you (“ Recipi ent”) the right to designate one i ndividu al within Recipi ent’s organization to have the sole right on a non- exclusive and non-transferable basis to use one copy of the S OFTWA RE PRODUCT in the manner described in this License Agr eement.

2. Use Limitation s

(a) Single Mac hine

Recipi ent may use th e licensed copy of th e SOFTWARE on a sin gle computer. The SOF TWARE is in “use” on a computer when it is loaded into temp orary memory (i.e. RAM) or installed into permanent memor y (e.g. hard disk, CD- ROM or oth er storage device) of that c omputer. Use on a “single computer” permits you to transfer the SOFTWARE from one computer to another computer provided the SOF TWARE is in use on only one compu ter at a time.

(b) Copies Permitted

Recipi ent may make one copy of the SOFTWARE solely for backup or archival purpo ses provide d that Recipient repr oduces all c opyright, co nfidentiality and other proprietary notices that are on the original copy of the SOFT WARE. Rec ipient may not copy the printed mater ials acco mpanying the SOF TWARE .

Recipi ent may not r ent, lease, sell or otherwise transfer the SOFTWARE, whether on th e media, if any, or otherwis e, nor any c opies of t he SOFT WARE, o r any of the accompa nying doc umentation. Recipi ent may not disclo se, make available, or otherwise redi stribute all or any par t of the SOFT WARE PRODUCT or any copies thereof to third parties. In addition, Recipi ent may not use the SOFT WARE or any par t thereof, in a ny form, in sof tware or other product that is or will be distri buted to a third part y.

(d) Limitat ions on Rever se Engine ering/ M odifications

Unless applic able law prohibits enforcement of this provision, Recipient shall not decomp ile, disass emble, reverse engine er, or create derivative works of t he SOFTWARE PRODU CT or of any pa rt of t he S OFTWA RE PRODUCT. Recipient m ay not alter or modify the SOFT WARE PRODUC T or any part thereof.

3. Copyr ight Limitations

(a) Ownership

The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is licensed, n ot sold to Recipient, for use o nly under the te rms of this L icense Agreement, and MacSpeech reserves all rights not exp ressly granted to Recipient. Recipi ent owns the m edia, if any, on which the SOF TWARE PRODUCT is recorde d. MacSpeech or its suppli ers owns the SOF TWARE and all copyright and other intellectual ri ghts in the SOFT WARE PROD UCT (inclu ding but not limited to images, “applets”, photographs, animati ons, video, audio, music and text in corporated into the SOF TWARE PRODU CT), the accompanyi ng printed materials, and any copies of the SOFTWARE. Under the terms of this License Agreement Recipi ent receive s only a limited right to use the SOFTWARE PRODUCT under all terms set forth by Mac Speech, Inc., whic h are subjec t to change. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is protected by United States copyright laws and internati onal c opyright treaties, as well as by othe r intell ectual proper ty laws and treaties. Therefore, Recipient must treat the SO FTWAR E PRODU CT like any other copyrighted material and not transfer or di stribute the SOFTWARE PRO DUCT to others.

(b) No Copie s

Except as expressly permitted under “Use Limitations” above, Re cipient may not copy the SOFT WARE PRODUCT or acc ompanyi ng written materi als.

4. Term

This License Agreement is effective until terminated. Recipient may terminate this Licens e Agreement at any time by destroying the SOFTWAR E PRODUCT and all copies thereof includ ing any doc umentat ion. This L icense Agreement will terminate imme diately witho ut not ice from MacSp eech if Recipient fails to c omply with any provision of this Agreement. In such event, Recipi ent must destroy th e SOF TWARE PRODUCT an d all of it s component part s, and delete, remove, or oth erwis e destroy all co pies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT that are in Recipient ’s possession or control i ncludin g installed SOFTWARE. A ll provisions of this Lic ense A greement relating to disclaimers of warrant ies, limit ation of liability, remedies or damages, and all of MacSp eech’s prop rietar y right s shall sur vive termination.

6. Expo rt Restrictions

The SOFTWAR E PRODUCT, including technic al data, is subject to U.S . export control laws, including the U.S. Export Adminis tration Act and its associated regulation s, and may be s ubject to expor t or import regulations in other countries . Recipient agrees to com ply stric tly with all such regulations a nd acknowledges that Recipient has the r esponsi bility to obt ain lic enses to export, re-export or import the SOFT WARE PRO DUCT.

7. Limited Warra nty

With the exclusion of any other warranty, MacSpeech solely warrants for a period of s ixty (60) days from the date o f delivery to Recipient (the “War ranty Period ”) that any media on which the SOFT WARE is fur nished, will be free from defec ts in materi als and work manship under normal use. Recipient’s sole and exclusive remedy and t he entire liability of Mac Speech and its sup pliers hereunder will be, at Mac Speech’s option, re pair or replaceme nt of the media, if reported (or, upon request, ret urned) to MacSpeech or its designee within the Warrant y Perio d. This war ranty does not apply if such defective media i s the re sult fro m accident, abu se, or mi sapplic ation. Any replac ement will be warranted for the remainder of the orig inal Warrant y Period or thirt y (30) days, whichever is longe r.

THE SOFTWARE AND ANY RELATED DOCUMENTATION IS PROV IDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF AN Y KIND. EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH AB OVE, NO OTHER WARRANTIES, EITH ER EXPRESS OR IMPLI ED CONDITIONS, REPRES ENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, ARE MADE WITH RESPECT TO THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT INCLUDI NG BUT N OT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARR ANTY OF MERCHA NTABILIT Y, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOS E, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND MACSPEECH AND ITS SUPPLIERS EXPRESSLY DISCL AIM ALL OTHER WARRANTIES NOT STATED HEREIN, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT SUCH DISCLAI MERS ARE HELD TO BE LEGALLY INVALID. RECIPIENT ASSUM ES THE RISK AS TO THE QUALIT Y AND PERFORMA NCE OF THE SOFTWARE. SOME STATES D O NOT PERMIT THE E XCLUSIO N OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS A ND YOU MAY HAVE OT HER RIGHTS W HICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE. IT SHOULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY RECIPIENT THAT SPEEC H RECOG NITION IS INHERENTLY A STATISTICAL PROCESS AND THAT RECOGNI TION ERRORS ARE INH ERENT IN THE PROCESS OF SPEECH RECOGNITION.

8. Disc laimer

TO THE MA XIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO E VENT SHALL MACSPEECH OR ITS SUPPLIERS OR THE OWNERS OF T HE RI GHTS IN THE SOF TWARE PRODUC T BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL , PUNITI VE, OR OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, IN CO NNECTIO N WITH OR ARIS ING OUT OF THE USE OR INA BILIT Y TO USE T HE SOFTWARE PRODUCT (I NCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAG ES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS REVENUE, PROFITS, USE, DATA OR OTHER ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE), HOWEVER IT ARISES, WHETHER FOR BREACH OR IN TORT, EVEN IF MACSPEECH HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POS SIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL MACSPEEC H’ OR ITS SUPPLI ERS’ LIABILIT Y TO RECIPIENT HEREUN DER, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDI NG NEGLIG ENCE) OR OTHERWISE, EXCEED TH E PRICE ACTUALLY PAID BY RECIPI ENT FOR THE SOF TWARE PRO DUCT. THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY EVEN IF THE ABOVE-STATED WARR ANTY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. BECAUSE SOME STATES AND JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW TH E EXCLUSION OR LI MITATION OF LI ABILIT Y, THE ABOV E LIMITATION M AY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

9. Speci al Provisions

This License Agreem ent shall be governed by and interpreted under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United St ates of America, without regard to conf licts of law provisions. By acceptin g this License Agr eement, Recipient agrees to be subje ct to jurisdicti on in Mas sachusetts, and to commence any action arising under or relating to this License Agreement in the appro priate State or Fe deral Court in Mas sachusetts.

BY CONTINUING WITH THE INSTALLATION OF T HE SOFT WARE RECIPIENT

ACKNOW LEDGES THAT RECIPIENT HAS REA D AND UNDERSTOOD T HIS LICEN SE

AGREEM ENT AND THAT RECIPIENT AG REES TO BE BOUND BY ITS TER MS. RECIPIENT

FURTHER AGREES TH AT THIS LICENSE AGREEM ENT IS THE COMPLET E AND

EXCLUSIVE STATEMENT OF THE AGREEM ENT BET WEEN RECI PIENT AND MACSPEEC H,

AND SUPERSEDES A NY PROPO SAL OR PRIOR AGREEMENT, ORAL OR WRIT TEN,

AND AN Y OTHER COMMUNICATIONS REL ATING TO THE SU BJECT MATTER OF THIS

SOFT WARE END -USER LICENSE AGREEMENT.

Dictate is a trademark of Mac Speech, Inc.

2 MacSpeech DictateLicense Agreement

Credits

MacSpeech Engineering:

…and the rest of MacSpeech:

Jeff Ganyard

Matt Gemmell

Paul Herzog

Eric Hon-Anderson

Jesper Lindholm

Fernando Lucas S. L. Santos

Robert Stuller

Andrew Taylor

Colin Taylor

Chad Weider

Special Thanks To:

Nuance Communications, Inc. for their phenomenal speech engine!

Sheila Ganyard

Stephane Gauthier

T. Patrick Henebry

Carla Hernandez

Donald MacCormick

Fernanda Mera-Weakley

Craig Nesbitt

Nathan Nesbitt

Chuck Rogers

Janis Rogers

Anne Schwing

Michael Schwing

Brenda Shiepe

Carly Taylor

Naomi Pearce and Ed Prasek for all their help introducing MacSpeech Dictate to the world!

And of course, thanks to everyone who has ever been involved with MacSpeech and iListen. MacSpeech Dictate certainly wouldn’t be here without all your hard work and support!

Credit Given Where Credit Is Due:

The above are registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. and are used here under license.

AquaticPrime Framework

BDAlias

CTGradient

Some rights reserved: <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/>

Log4Cocoa

Shortcut Recorder

(See the contributors listed in detail <http://wafflesoftware.net/shortcut/ contributors/>.)

This Getting Started Guide was written by Chuck Rogers.

This manual was partially written using MacSpeech Dictate.

3 MacSpeech DictateCredits

Table of Contents

MacSpeech Dictate™ License Agreement 2

Credits 3

Chapter 1: Introduction 5

Chapter 2: Installation 8

Chapter 3: Getting Started 9

Chapter 4: Training 12

Chapter 5: Dictation 17

Chapter 6: Controlling Your Mac 24

Chapter 7: Reference 29

Index 36

4 MacSpeech DictateTable of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduion

What Is MacSpeech Dictate?

Welcome! You are about to use your voice in a new way — to replace your keyboard! With MacSpeech Dictate, what you say will appear on the screen, in virtually any Macintosh application. The technology that allows this amazing feat is called TalkAnywhere™, and it translates speech to text and characters almost anywhere you would normally type.

In addition to dictating, MacSpeech Dictate can be used as a “third hand” to control your Mac without using the mouse or keyboard. Speaking to your computer is faster and can help you accomplish tasks more easily than constantly moving your hands from keyboard to mouse.

MacSpeech Dictate, MacSpeech’s flagship dictation product, is speaker dependent speech recognition software, based on a proprietary implementation of the Dragon NaturallySpeaking engine from Nuance Communications, Inc. What does speaker dependent mean? Simply that in order to obtain its extraordinary accuracy, MacSpeech Dictate must be trained to recognize your unique speech patterns. Training sessions are stored in a profile along with other things such as the type of microphone you are using and the amount of background noise. MacSpeech Dictate can handle multiple profiles, so others in your family or workgroup can use it, too (as long as they use it on the same computer).

Who Should Use MacSpeech Dictate?

MacSpeech Dictate works well for many different people. If you are a typical Mac user, MacSpeech Dictate will speed up your work when creating documents such as memos, reports, and e-mails. Creative Professionals will love MacSpeech Dictate’s ability to control the Mac interface, effectively allowing them to use their voice as a “third hand.” MacSpeech Dictate can help overcome mobility problems that make using a keyboard difficult or impossible. Finally, those who have little or no typing skills will benefit from MacSpeech Dictate’s ability to free them from the “hunt and peck” method of typing.

No matter what type of user you are, you need to spend a little time teaching MacSpeech Dictate the unique qualities of your voice so the program can understand you better. As you use MacSpeech Dictate it learns how your voice sounds and how you pronounce things. The more you use the program, the better it will become at recognizing your speech.

Will MacSpeech Dictate Replace My Mouse And Keyboard?

Probably not totally. Speech is a useful addition to the way you work with your computer, but it isn’t a panacea. Some tasks will still be more efficiently performed using your mouse or keyboard. While using MacSpeech Dictate, you will discover what combination of speech, mouse, and keyboard use is appropriate for your tasks.

Who Is MacSpeech?

MacSpeech is a Mac-only company, with software developers who have been creating speech recognition software for many years. In fact, our founder and senior engineers were key members of the team that produced some of the first speech recognition products for Macintosh, including Voice Navigator and PowerSecretary from Articulate Systems.

The software we produce is exclusively for use by Macintosh users who are interested in one or more benefits provided by speech recognition. Being Mac-only means we don’t have our hands and creativity tied by a corporate requirement to maintain a common code-base across computer platforms. Since we are uniquely Macintosh-based, we can take advantage of all Macintosh has to offer.

The MacSpeech goal is speech everywhere o n the M aci n to sh, for every user.

MacSpeech Dictate System Requirements

In order to use MacSpeech Dictate, you must have the following minimum system requirements:

• MacOSXversion10.4.11(“Tiger”)or10.5.x

(“Leopard”)

• 1GB(ormore)RAM.

• AMacthatshippedwithanIntelprocessor.

• 2GBoffreeharddrivespace.

• AMacSpeech-certiedUSBnoise-cancelingmi-

crophone is strongly recommended.

Speech recognition takes a lot of horsepower. In order to decipher what you’re saying, your Mac needs to perform thousands of calculations every second. Slow machines just can’t keep up with the demand. So if you ever needed a reason for buying that new top-of-the line computer with gobs of RAM, now you have one.

5 MacSpeech DictateChapter 1 — Introduction

Microphones

Although today’s Macintosh computers appear to have a port for sound input, this only works with devices that provide a LINE IN signal, which is different from the signal produced by a microphone. For this reason, you need to use a high-quality, noise-canceling USB microphone with MacSpeech Dictate.

Microphones

For best results, use a MacSpeech-certified microphone. You should not use an iSight or the Internal Microphone that comes with some Macintosh computers because they do not have the necessary directional and noise-canceling properties that are required to obtain the best speech recognition accuracy.

The MacSpeech Dictate Status Window

The Status Window is MacSpeech Dictate’s main interface. This window floats on top of all the other windows on your screen, so it is always available to you. The Status window may be small, but it packs a surprising amount of information, as shown in Figure 1-1

Figure 1-1

From left to right: Microphone Icon

This icon tells you whether your microphone is on or off. Clicking it will turn your microphone on or off.

If you already have a microphone that is not MacSpeechcertified, don’t panic; it may work. The program’s Microphone Setup assistant should adjust the levels of most microphones to work with your system. If you use a microphone that is not MacSpeech-certified and are getting accuracy below 95%, it is a good indication the microphone you are using is not compatible with MacSpeech Dictate.

Naturally, if you bought your microphone from MacSpeech along with MacSpeech Dictate, you can be sure it will work with our software. See the MacSpeech Web site at

http://www.macspeech.com/microphones

information on supported microphones.

for up-to-date

Introducing MacSpeech Dictate’s User Interface

By design, MacSpeech Dictate has a user interface that tries to stay out of the way. Unlike other speech recognition programs that require you dictate into their own application, and then transfer the results to another program, MacSpeech Dictate allows you to Ta l k Anywhere™, into virtually any application. But for MacSpeech Dictate to work well with other programs, it must be a good neighbor and not take over your screen. Most of the time while using MacSpeech Dictate, you will only see the small Status Window. While you’re learning what the program can do, you can also open the Available Commands window.

Signal Meter

The signal meter displays the strength of the audio input when you are speaking. In general, this should be green with a little bit of black space at the top when you are speaking.

Speech Mode Indicator

The speech mode indicator in the top right of the status window tells you MacSpeech Dictate’s current mode. It will say either “Dictation,” “Command,” or “Asleep.”

MacSpeech Dictate Icon

When pressed, this will bring MacSpeech Dictate to the front, just like clicking its application icon in the Dock.

Current Profile

Below the MacSpeech Dictate icon is the name of the profile.

6 MacSpeech DictateChapter 1 — Introduction

The Available Commands Window

With its self-explanatory name, the Available Commands window provides a list of commands that are available to be spoken at that time. Because what you can do with MacSpeech Dictate varies depending on what is happening on the screen, you will see different commands in this window as the context changes. Typing a word or phrase in the search field will limit the display to only the commands containing that word or phrase.

Command Mode

Command mode is used when you only want to control your Mac by voice. In Command mode, anything not recognized as a command will be ignored. The advantage of using Command mode is that the commands will be more easily recognized and will be less likely to be confused as something you want dictated instead.

In Command mode, you can click buttons, control windows, launch applications, and use speech instead of pressing keys on the keyboard or using the mouse. Many commands in MacSpeech Dictate are written in AppleScript, the scripting language built into Mac OS X. Commands can be global, meaning they work everywhere, or application specific, which means they only work in a particular application.

Spelling Mode

Spelling mode will be added in a future version, which will be a free upgrade for all MacSpeech Dictate 1.0 users.

Sleep Mode

Sleep mode is a special mode where the microphone stays on, but ignores everything except a command to resume listening. You say Go to Sleep to put MacSpeech Dictate into sleep mode, and Wake Up to return it to the last mode used before putting it to sleep.

Figure 1-2

User Modes

The specific things you can do using speech vary widely, but they boil down to two main things: entering text and controlling your Macintosh. In order to accomplish these tasks, MacSpeech Dictate provides you with the following operating modes:

Dictation Mode

You will probably use Dictation m od e — wh ic h al lo ws di ct at i on into virtually any application — the most. In Dictation mode, MacSpeech Dictate types what you say into a text area in the active window. That text area can be in a word processing document, a text field in a dialog box, or even text that renames icons in the Finder.

All commands available in Command mode are also available in Dictation mode. In order to execute a command in Dictation mode pause briefly before and after saying the command. For Example:

This is a sentence that has been dictated. [pause]

Select All [pause] Copy Selection

Switching Between User Modes

There are several ways of switching between the user modes:

Speech

Say Command mode, Dictation mode, or Go to Sleep.

You can also switch modes by bringing MacSpeech Dictate to the front and selecting the desired mode from MacSpeech Dictate’s Speech menu.

Hot Keys

You can turn the microphone on or off and cycle between the three user modes with customizable keyboard shortcuts. To change your Hot Key preferences, select Preferences from the Dictate menu and click the Shortcut Keys icon in the toolbar (figure 1-3). Any key can be used for a hot key, but you must use at least one modifier (Command, Control, Option, etc.)

The above sequence will type the sentence, then select everything in the document and copy it to the clipboard.

7 MacSpeech DictateChapter 1 — Introduction

Chapter 2: Inallation

Insert the Program CD. A window like the one in figure 2-1 should appear. If it does not, double-click the CD image on your desktop. Drag the MacSpeech Dictate icon in the middle of the window over Applications folder on the right. This will copy MacSpeech Dictate and its documentation to the Applications folder.

Figure 2-1

Launch MacSpeech Dictate by opening your Applications folder, then double-click the MacSpeech Dictate icon.

Click the Register Now button to begin using the program. (Registration requires an Internet connection.) A dialog box will appear to confirm your registration has been accepted.

Your Reiration Code

Registration Codes have 16 characters broken into 4 groups of 4 characters each by dashes. Here is an example:

1A23-4B5C-678D-901E

This code should be on a sticker, on the sleeve for the MacSpeech Dictate Program CD. After entering your Registration Code you will receive a license file back from our servers.

Keep a copy of your license file in a safe place. If you lose it, please contact us through our support site at http://www.macspeech.com/support_center.

Removing MacSpeech Dictate

To remove MacSpeech Dictate, follow these steps:

Read Me

Be sure to review the Welcome and Tips & Tricks documents from MacSpeech Dictate’s Help menu. They may contain important, late-breaking information, and may include information not in this manual.

Click the Register button to fill out the required information in the Registration window (Figure 2-2). MacSpeech respects your privacy, and will never share your information with anyone else.

1) Open your hard drive followed by the Applications folder.

2) Delete the MacSpeech Dictate application, and close the Applications folder.

[If the user you logged in as during the install has Standard privileges the MacSpeech Dictate folder will most likely be in your Home folder’s Application folder — your Home folder is the one with the house icon.]

3) Open your Home folder again

4). Open the Library folder,

5). Open the folder called Application Support.

6) Look for a folder called MacSpeech; if it exists delete it.

7) Close the Application Support and open the Preferences folder (which is also inside the Library folder inside your Home folder).

8) Find the file called com.macspeech.dictate.plist and if it exists, delete it.

9) If you also want to erase any profiles you created while using MacSpeech Dictate, open your Documents folder and delete the folder named “MacSpeech Profiles.”

8 MacSpeech DictateChapter 2 — Installation

10) Close the folders you opened and empty the Trash.

Figure 2-2

Chapter 3:

Gettin Started

The first step is to get MacSpeech Dictate used to your voice. You begin by creating your first profile, and setting up your microphone. MacSpeech Dictate requires you Enable

access for assistive devices in the Mac OS X Universal Access System Preference. If this option is not turned on you

will see the following window:

Figure 3-1

If you see this window, click the icon next to Show Universal Access Settings. This will bring up the window shown in Figure 3-2.

Continue button. MacSpeech Dictate will not allow you to proceed until Enable access for assistive devices is on.

If Enable access for assistive devices is on, the first window you see will be the Read Me window. If you have not registered yet, you will see a window asking you to register or select your license key. Finally, you will see the Create Profile window (Figure 3-3).

Figure 3-3

Click the Create a New Profile button. Enter your name in the New Profile Information panel (Figure 3-4). Make sure you select the type of microphone you are using from the Microphone pop-down menu, then select the dialect that best suits your voice. MacSpeech Dictate comes with voice models for US, UK, Australian, Indian English, Southeast Asian English, and Teen English.

Figure 3-2

Make sure the check box next to Enable access for assistive devices is checked. (Don’t turn on VoiceOver at the top of

the window by mistake unless you want your Mac to talk back to you for everything it does). Once you have verified Enable access for assistive devices is on, you can close the Universal Access System Preference and click the

9 MacSpeech DictateChapter 3 — Getting Started

Figure 3-4

If you use the microphone that came with MacSpeech Dictate or iListen, select Standard Acoustics. If you are using an Array microphone, click on the Advanced button and then select “Array” from the pop-down menu next to the word “Acoustics.”

IMPORTANT

You must use a USB adapter for your microphone. All microphones sold with MacSpeech Dictate should include a USB adapter.

TIP:

The “microphone” menu may list something like “AK5370,” “C-Media USB Headset” or “VXI 7.0.2.” That’s OK. That is the firmware designation for the USB adapter. (Your Mac has no way to otherwise identify an analog microphone.)

For more tips on setting up your microphone, see the Troubleshooting section at the end of this chapter.

When you have verified your choices are correct, click the Create button. After a short wait while your profile is created, the first Microphone Setup panel appears.

The Connection panel (Figure 3-5), gives you information about connecting your microphone. All Macs with Intel-based processors will use USB for microphone input. Click the right arrow button on this screen to continue.

you should be able to drink from a normal-sized glass without spilling the liquid or touching the microphone.

Make sure the correct side of the microphone (usually marked with a dot or the word “Talk”) is pointing towards your mouth. When the microphone is adjusted correctly, click the right arrow.

Figure 3-6

The Volume Adjustment panel (Figure 3-7) asks you to read a short bit of text out loud while MacSpeech Dictate sets the audio levels for your microphone. Click the microphone button with the red stop sign on it, (MacSpeech Dictate’s symbol for “not on”) to display the text to read.

Figure 3-5

Clicking the right arrow brings you to the Microphone Position panel (Figure 3-6). Positioning the microphone is

very important. The microphone should not be directly in front of your mouth, because noise from your breath sounds can affect accuracy.

For most people, the microphone should be one or two fingertips from the corner of your mouth and off to the side a bit. If you are soft-spoken, you might need to have it as close as a thumb’s width away. When properly positioned,

10 MacSpeech DictateChapter 3 — Getting Started

Figure 3-7

Read the text in this panel (Figure 3-8) until it disappears and the panel automatically changes. You will see the volume meter bar fill as you read. If the panel does not change, simply start reading the text again from the beginning.

If the volume meter remains empty, or the text doesn’t disappear after you read it four times, you probably have a sound input problem. See the Troubleshooting Sound Input section at the end of this chapter for more information.

Clicking the Manual Gain Setting check box will allow you to bypass automatic volume adjustment and set the gain manually.

Listen for static, excess noise, a hum, or any other odd sound. If you hear any these of things, check your microphone’s connections. If they seem OK, the microphone may be faulty. To hear the voice sample again, click the Play button. MacSpeech Dictate is very good at determining the quality of the sound input, but if you hear anything unusual, consider re-sampling your voice. If you decide to record your sample again, click the left arrow to go to the previous panel.

When you are satisfied with your voice sample, press the Voice Training button to proceed to Voice Training. We will cover training in the next chapter.

TIP:

Microphone Setup can be used at any time. Run this procedure by selecting Set Up My Microphone from the Speech menu in MacSpeech Dictate to compensate for any changes in room noise or the way the microphone is positioned.

Figure 3-8

The Recording Quality panel (Figure 3-9) plays back some of what was recorded so you can check the sound quality.

Figure 3-9

Chances are, you will think your voice sounds funny. That’s normal; when we speak, we hear our voices with additional resonances from the bones in our head. Recordings lack these extra resonances, so they sound different than we expect. (If you don’t hear anything during the playback, check to make sure your volume is not muted.)

11 MacSpeech DictateChapter 3 — Getting Started

Troubleshooting Sound Input

If MacSpeech Dictate doesn’t respond to your voice or doesn’t seem to be working at all, check your sound input. The problem can either be with the hardware (your microphone or computer) or with software (the Macintosh sound input settings).

Checking Your Microphone

Make sure the USB adapter is plugged into an open USB port on your Macintosh. You may want to unplug it and plug it back in to make sure, then try the following:

1). Quit MacSpeech Dictate if it is running.

2). Open your System Preferences and click on the Sound icon.

3). Click on the Input tab and make sure your headset is highlighted in the input source list.

4). Click on the Show All icon in the upper left hand corner of the System Preferences window, then click the Speech icon.

5). Click the Speech Recognition Pane, then highlight the Listening sub-pane in the middle of the window.

6). Select your headset from the pop-down menu labeled “Microphone” towards the bottom of the screen. Sometimes your headset may be indi-

catedbythermwaredesignatorofyourUSB

pod. This might say something like “AK5370.”

7). Click on the “Calibrate” button. In the next window, say a few words and note if the signal meter moves when you speak. If it does, everything should be working correctly. Quit System Preferences and re-launch MacSpeech Dictate. Follow the on-screen instructions or the instructions in the User’s Guide to set up your microphone.

If you are not getting sound, you may have a defective microphone. Examine it to make sure there is no mute switch set to off (some headsets include mute switches). Unplug the microphone from your USB adapter and unplug the adapter from your computer.

Re-plug everything and then restart your computer. If possible, try the headset in a different Macintosh to rule out any problems with your computer.

12 MacSpeech DictateChapter 3 — Getting Started

Chapter 4: Trainin

In this chapter, we cover training MacSpeech Dictate to recognize your voice. Along the way, we will share some insight into how MacSpeech Dictate works, as well as tips for better recognition. We will also explain how to manage multiple profiles.

Why Do I Need To Train MacSpeech Dictate?

MacSpeech Dictate is speaker dependent, which means it needs to be trained to get the best accuracy. You do this by reading one or more training stories so it can adapt to your unique vocal characteristics.

Luckily, training MacSpeech Dictate is as simple as reading aloud and only takes a few minutes. The Voice Training part of the program will guide you through the process.

Speaking Properly To MacSpeech Dictate

It is important to relax and speak in a normal conversational tone. There’s no need to shout or project your voice. In fact, doing so can be counterproductive and lead to poor accuracy. It can also lead to vocal fatigue and voice strain. So relax!

Here’s a story that illustrates the approach to take regarding training: When we were testing the first version of iListen (our first speech recognition product) way back in 1999, we asked two of our colleagues to run through the initial training process. When iListen mis-recognized a word with our first friend, she paused, continued, and all was well. When the same thing happened to our second friend, he paused, and then repeated the offending word in a louder and more com- manding voice. Needless to say, the software was not cowed by his show of dominance. When he repeated the word in his normal voice, iListen accepted it and moved on. MacSpeech Dictate will respond in a similar way — so remember to speak normally.

Try to speak clearly. When you talk to other people, they can fill in the words you leave out, or compensate for words you mispronounce or slur. Computers can’t do that.

One last thing: just as MacSpeech Dictate cannot insert words you don’t say, it also cannot eliminate words or phrases you say, but do not want in your documents. For example, if you tend to pepper your speech with lots of “ums,” “uhs,” “likes,” and “you knows” MacSpeech Dictate will dutifully type what it thinks you said.

TIP:

After reading the first training story, MacSpeech Dictate will be familiar with your reading voice, which may be different from your dictation voice. For an idea of how accurate MacSpeech Dictate is at this point, try reading it something out of a magazine or newspaper.

Voice Training

Once you have created a profile, and set up your microphone, MacSpeech Dictate automatically starts Voice Training (Figure 4-1) so you can begin personalizing your profile. You can re-enter training at any time by choosing Voice Training from the Tools menu.

It is also important to speak at a normal pace. MacSpeech Dictate is a continuous speech recognition product, so it relies on the context of words within phrases to obtain its accuracy. If you insert… unnatural… pauses… between… words, accuracy will actually decrease. (This is also why you shouldn’t look at the screen while you are dictating. Waiting for MacSpeech Dictate to catch up with you will result in these unnatural pauses.)

13 MacSpeech DictateChapter 4 — Training

Figure 4-1

Click the microphone icon and read the text on the panel. Note you need to say punctuation, such as COMMA and PERIOD (US only) or FULL STOP (all dialects).

The text you read turns green as it is recognized (Figure 4-2).

Figure 4-2

MacSpeech Dictate automatically moves to the next panel as you read. If you make a mistake, don’t worry; if MacSpeech Dictate doesn’t understand you, the text will turn red (Figure 4-3).

TIP:

If you get a lot of red text, read fewer words, then

pause until the text turns green. Gradually increase

the number of words you read before pausing as

long as the text continues to turn green.

As you complete each panel, the progress bar indicates where you are in the story, and how far it is to the end. Keep reading until you finish the “Welcome” story.

Figure 4-3

Pause for a moment, then continue reading starting at the text that is not green. If the program stops on a particular word, try saying just the one word, or with a couple of words following it. If this doesn’t help, click the Skip Word button to continue training.

Figure 4-4

After a bit of processing (Figure 4-4), MacSpeech Dictate will indicate when you are at the end of the training section.

Adapting your voice samples is a time-consuming process. Be patient; your computer just needs a little time. When adaptation is complete, MacSpeech Dictate will let you know.

TIP:

It could take a few minutes for MacSpeech Dictate to

analyze your voice. In general, it could take about as

long as it took you to read the stories.

Just be patient. Whatever you do, do not Force Quit.

Doing so will render your profile unusable.

14 MacSpeech DictateChapter 4 — Training

Vocabulary Training

Besides analyzing your voice, MacSpeech Dictate can analyze documents you have written. It will learn new words and adjust itself to your speech patterns. To do this, you choose one or more documents for Vocabulary Training to evaluate, select which words you want the program to learn, and then save the results.

Here’s how to have MacSpeech Dictate analyze documents:

1. Choose “Vocabulary Training…” from the Tools menu. The Introduction screen appears. Read it, then click the right arrow button.

2.TheSelectlesscreenappears.ClicktheAdd Filesbutton.An“openles”dialogboxwill

appear.

3. Choose one or more plain text or Rich Text (rtf)

lesthatcontainsamplesofyourwritingstyle. Whenyouhaveselectedoneormoreles,click

the Open button. The Vocabulary Training window should now look something like Figure 4-5.

Figure 4-6

6. To move a word you excluded back to the included list, highlight it in the right column and then click the “Include”button.Whenyouaresatised with your choices, click the right arrow to have

MacSpeechDictateanalyzeyourles(gure4-7).

Figure 4-5

4. Click the Analyze button. After a short wait (de-

pendingonhowmanylesyouareanalyzing),

the Unknown Words screen will appear.

5. Some of the the Unknown Words will be those you won’t want MacSpeech Dictate to learn. For example, there might be proper names that are not a usual part of your writing, or abbreviations or parts of URLs. Highlight the words you do not want to add, then click the “Exclude” button. The Vocabulary Training window should look

somethingsimilartogure4-6(withadifferentlist

of words, of course).

15 MacSpeech DictateChapter 4 — Training

Figure 4-7

7.Whennished,MacSpeechDictatewilldisplaya

screen informing you the words have been added

toyourvocabulary,asshowningure4-8.Click

the “Close” button or the red close window button to dismiss this window.

Figure 4-8

Don’t Over-enunciate!

If you read the training text with perfect enunciation, like a radio announcer, MacSpeech Dictate will think you speak that way all the time. Now, it is possible you really do talk like a radio announcer. Heck, you might be a radio announcer. If that’s the case, keep talking like an announcer. In any case, stick to talking like yourself, and train MacSpeech Dictate with your normal, clear speaking voice.

You don’t want to over enunciate, but you do want to speak clearly. You should not sound stilted or weird; ideally, you should still sound like you — just speaking a bit more distinctly then you normally might when talking with a friend. Those experienced with speech recognition software tend to develop a style that is a bit more precise than their usual speaking voices. They find when they are tired, or if they slack off a bit, their accuracy declines.

Think Before You Speak

Remember, you are developing a new skill when dictating. If you think before you speak, what you say will come out more clearly.

Improving Accuracy

There are a variety of things you can do to improve accuracy.

Proper Microphone Position Is Important!

Improper microphone position is the first thing you should check when accuracy declines. Make sure the microphone is pointed towards your mouth, but is not directly in front of it. Many microphones are noise-canceling, which discard sounds picked up away from your mouth. In many instances, people who were having problems with accuracy discovered the microphone had been turned around and the noise-canceling side was faced towards the mouth. No wonder accuracy was suffering!

To reiterate: the headset’s microphone should be one-half to three-fourths of an inch from the corner of your mouth. It should be out of the breath stream from your mouth or from your nostrils. An easy way to tell if the microphone is in your breath stream is to place a finger over the it and see if you can feel anything when you exhale normally. Once you have the microphone positioned properly, make sure it is placed there every time you dictate.

Read More Stories

Choose Voice Training from the Tools menu to read another story. You will see the Choose Story window, as in Figure 4-9.

Figure 4-9

The stories you have already read are indicated with a MacSpeech Dictate icon to the right of its name. Select an untrained story by clicking its name, click the right arrow button, then read on.

16 MacSpeech DictateChapter 4 — Training

When you are done reading, click the Finish Training button. Adaptation of your speech profile will take a while to complete.

Working With Profiles

Your profiles — your personalized voice files — are the most important part of MacSpeech Dictate. You have invested your time and effort into building them. So knowing how to back up and restore these valuable files is important.

More About Profiles

You can have as many profiles as you have room on your hard drive space. Each profile takes a little over 40MB of space — not a lot when today’s Macs come with 80GB drives and larger! Your profiles are stored in a folder named MacSpeech Profiles, which is located inside your Documents folder. It is important you do not remove or relocate any of the files inside this folder.

2. Click the PlusSigntocreateanewprole.

MacSpeechDictatewillcreatethenewprole,as showningure4-11.

Backing Up A Profile

The worst thing that can happen is to invest hours training and adding new words only then have your hard drive go belly up, or have an update install incorrectly, and wipe out all of your hard work.

You can backup your profiles by simply burning a copy of the MacSpeech Profiles folder inside your Documents folder to a CD, or drag it to an external drive to make a copy.

A Note For Users Of Backup Utilities

It is reasonable to wonder how well backup programs, such as Apple’s Backup, Time Machine, or Retrospect from Dantz Development, deal with it. We are happy to report they work just fine with MacSpeech Dictate. In short, any backup utility that is fully compliant with Mac OS X should backup MacSpeech Dictate and its files with no problem.

Adding Profiles

To create a new profile, follow these steps:

1. Choose “Proles”fromtheToolsmenutoopenthe

Proleswindow,asshowningure4-10.

Figure 4-11

3. Follow the procedure in Chapter 3 to complete

creatingthenewprole.

Switching Profiles

If more than one person is using MacSpeech Dictate on your Mac, each person will need to have his or her own profile.

1. Choose “Proles”fromthe“Tools”menutoopen

theProleswindow,asshowningure4-10.

2.Highlighttheproleyouwanttouseandclickthe

“Make Active” button.

3.MacSpeechDictatewillloadtheprole,asshown ingure4-12

17 MacSpeech DictateChapter 4 — Training

Figure 4-12

Figure 4-10

Deleting Profiles

To delete a profile, follow these steps:

1.Choose“Proles”fromtheToolsmenutoopenthe Proleswindow,asshowningure4-10.

2.Highlighttheproleyouwanttodelete.

3. Click the Minus Sign.

If you have only one profile, MacSpeech Dictate will not allow it to be deleted as a safety precaution. In this case, you need to create a second profile before deleting the first one. The program will also not delete an active profile. To delete an active profile you must first switch to (or create) another profile.

Troubleshooting Training

We have found most problems with achieving an acceptable level of accuracy with MacSpeech Dictate can usually be traced to improper setup. Below are a few tips that will help achieve the best results.

1. Make sure your microphone is properly connected and System Preferences are properly set (see “Troubleshooting Sound Input” on page 12 for more information).

2. Restart your computer, then launch MacSpeech Dictate.

3. Once MacSpeech Dictate has initialized, select

“Proles…”fromthe“Tools”menu,thenclickthe “+”buttonintheProleswindow.

4.Followtheproceduresforcreatingaprole.

5. Read some sample text. Make sure it is text without a lot of proper names or technical terms that MacSpeech Dictate is unlikely to know.

Most customers will get better than 95% accuracy after the first story.

8. Once your accuracy is above 95%, stop reading training stories.

9.OnceMacSpeechDictatehasnishedprocessing

the training stories choose Vocabulary Training from the Tools menu in MacSpeech Dictate to analyze previously created documents typical of those you intend to dictate. Doing so will make a noticeable difference in MacSpeech Dictate’s performance.

You should now be able to use MacSpeech Dictate without too much fine-tuning.

At this point, MacSpeech Dictate knows how you read aloud, but your dictation style may be different. Reading some sample text will give you a good idea for how accurate your profile is at this point. We recommend you read approximately 300 words to get a good sampling.

6. Gauge your accuracy percentage by dividing the number of errors by the number of words, then subtract the result from one. For example, if you read 300 words and there are 9 errors, your error rate would be .03, so your accuracy would be .97

or 97%.

7. If your accuracy is below 95%, read another story then repeat steps 5 & 6.

18 MacSpeech DictateChapter 4 — Training

Chapter 5: Diation

In this chapter we will explore using MacSpeech Dictate for dictation, and show how to dictate special words, such as capital letters and punctuation. Before we get into all of that, however, let’s take a look at a few pointers on how to get best results.

Don’t Strain Your Voice!

Dictation may help alleviate RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury), because it eases the burden on your arms and hands. But speech recognition has its own potential problem, which is vocal strain. Overuse of your voice can cause hoarseness and a sore throat. With a bit of preparation, however, you can easily avoid vocal strain.

Keep Drinking

No, not that kind of drinking. We’re talking about keeping your vocal cords lubricated. Speaking for hours will dry out your throat, so keep something drinkable nearby. While it is true that some liquid is better than no liquid, it is also true that some liquids are better than others. Plain water is best, and, because cold makes your throat muscles tighten up, water at room temperature is preferred. Caffeine promotes dehydration, so avoid it.

Find The (Vocal) Middle Ground

It is as much of a mistake to speak too quietly as it is to speak too loudly while dictating. Either extreme can lead to vocal strain. Try to keep a conversational speaking tone, as though you’re speaking to a person who is about an arm’s length away.

Mind Your Posture

Sit up straight. It helps to have an adjustable chair with support for good posture. This help’s your voice because there is a free flow of air; when slumped in your chair, you work harder to speak.

Make a conscious effort to keep your shoulders and facial muscles loose.

Take Breaks

Overdoing it seems to be a common trait in almost all computer related injuries. Dictating too long without a break is a great way to get a sore throat or end up feeling hoarse. Try not to dictate more than about 45 minutes without taking a short break.

Get Professional Help

This last tip is not for everyone, but if you expect to do a lot of dictation, consider taking a couple of hours of training from a speech teacher. In a short time, a good vocal coach can give you useful tips and exercises that will help protect your voice.

Working With MacSpeech Dictate

You will get the best results by following one simple guideline:

use your voice, or use your keyboard and mouse, but not both. The reason is simple: software applications handle text

in different ways, and communicating things like where the cursor is at any given time differently. If you only use your voice to fix mis-recognitions or edit, it is much less likely MacSpeech Dictate will lose its place, which can result in text out of sync with the rest of your document.

Using Dictation Mode

When off, the microphone button in the Status window has a red stop sign on top of it, as in Figure 5-1. (If the Status window is not visible, select Show Status Window from the Window menu.)

Don’t forget to breathe

It is easy to get into the bad habit of squeezing or blasting out a phrase at a time, with insufficient breath to power your voice. Try breathing from your stomach, not the chest. If you have taken a class in singing, yoga, or martial arts you know what we are saying.

Relax

If you are sitting tense and ramrod straight in your chair, chances are your voice and vocal cords will be tense too.

19 MacSpeech DictateChapter 5 — Dictation

Figure 5-1

To dictate text into virtually any application, follow these steps:

1. Launch MacSpeech Dictate. By default, it presents optionsforloadingthelastproleused, loading a differentprole,orcreatinganewprole,as

showningure5-2.Usuallyyouwillsimplyclick therstbuttontoloadthelastproleused.

Figure 5-2

2.Onceaproleisloaded,switchtotheapplication

into which you want to dictate, or use MacSpeech Dictate’s built-in Note Pad.

3. If necessary, create a new document, or open an existing document to which you will add text.

4. Click the microphone button in the Status window, or press the hot key that corresponds to the Microphone On/Off choice in MacSpeech Dictate’s Preferences. The microphone icon will change from a red stop sign to a microphone with

agreencirclebehindit,asingure5-3.

Handling Mistakes

No matter how good MacSpeech Dictate is — or how careful you speak — both it and you will make some mistakes. When that happens, there are some special commands available to assist you.

Scratch That or Forget That

Both of these commands do the same thing — they delete the last utterance, which is what you said from the last time you paused.

Scratch Word

If Scratch That o r Fo rg et T h at de le te s t oo mu ch, s a y Scratch Word or Forget Word instead to erase only the last word.

These commands can be said repeatedly. MacSpeech Dictate tracks what you do back to the beginning of the current session. If you started with a blank document, you would say Forget That (or Scratch That) repeatedly until the document was blank again.

Editing Your Document

As we have already mentioned, MacSpeech Dictate can track whatever you say with your voice, but it cannot track what you do with the keyboard and mouse. This is because software applications do not share information about key presses and mouse movements with other applications — and for good reason! Could you imagine what would happen if the words you were typing into your email program suddenly started appearing in your word processor as well?

Figure 5-3

5. Speak into your microphone. There will be a short delay while MacSpeech Dictate interprets your speech, after which text will appear in the document window.

6. Whenyounishdictating,clickthemicrophone

icon in the Status window or say “Microphone Off,” or “Go to Sleep.”

Dictation Sessions

If you are dictating into the active text area of a supported application, and you open a second document in that or another supported application, MacSpeech Dictate starts a new dictation session for the new window. This allows MacSpeech Dictate to keep track of words and punctuation for each window.

Because of this, there are some special rules for editing your documents when using MacSpeech Dictate. You can use the “Scratch That,” “Forget That,” and “Scratch Word” commands we already told you about, but there are many other commands at your disposal.

20 MacSpeech DictateChapter 5 — Dictation

Moving Around Documents By Voice

Just because you can’t use the keyboard or mouse before you are finished editing doesn’t mean you can’t get around. In fact, once you get used to how to do it, you may prefer moving around by voice in the documents you have dictated. Here’s how:

…but MacSpeech Dictate types…

I am teaching my Mac to wreck a nice beach.

You would say…

“Do Select WRECK to BEACH” [pause] “recognize

speech”

Editing and Navigation Commands

What You Say What Happens

Do Delete <word or phrase>

Do Select <word or phrase>

Do Select <word> to <word>

Go to Beginning

Go to End Goes to the end of the current document.

Insert After <word or phrase>

Insert After <word> to <word>

Insert Before <word or phrase>

Insert Before <word> to <word>

Move to Beginning of Document

Move to End of Document

Deletes the instance of the word or phrase spoken that is closest to the insertion point.

Selects the instance of the word or phrase spoken that is closest to the insertion point.

Selects the instance closest to the insertion point for the range of words spoken.

Goes to the Beginning of the current document.

Moves the insertion point to just after the word or phrase you said.

Moves the insertion point to just after the range of words you said.

Moves the insertion point to just before the word or phrase you said.

Moves the insertion point to just before the range of words you said.

Moves to the beginning of the current document.

Moves to the End of the current document.

Using “Do Delete”

When you say Do Delete followed by a word or phrase, MacSpeech Dictate finds the occurrence of what was said closest to the insertion point and deletes it. If there are multiple instances of the same word in the document, you can insure you delete the correct instance by saying Do Select, Insert Before or Insert After to select or move the insertion point next to the word you want to delete.

If there are multiple occurrences of a word or phrase, select the correct instance of a word or phrase by saying enough words to insure there is only one instance of the phrase in the document, then use the Do Select command again to zero in on your selection. You can also use Insert Before or Insert After to move the insertion point next to the word or phrase you want to select.

Using “Insert Before” and “Insert After”

You can say Insert Before followed by a word or phrase to move the insertion point before that word or phrase. Likewise, you can say Insert After to move the insertion point after the word or phrase.

You can also say Insert Before <word or words> to <word

or words> or Insert after <word or words> to <word or words> to move the insertion point before or after a range of

words. This can be very helpful as it allows you to “zero in” on exactly where you want the insertion point to go, especially when there are multiple occurrences of a word or phrase in a document.

For example, suppose you just dictated the following:

“Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid

of their country.”

If you want to add “and women” after “men,” say the following:

“INSERT AFTER men [pause] and women”

After inserting the new text you could move the insertion point back to the end of the document by saying either Go to End or Move to End of Document.

Using “Do Select”

Say Do S el e c t followed by a word or phrase to find the closest occurrence of that word or phrase to the insertion point. You can also say Do Select <word or words> to <word or words> to select a range of words. For example, suppose you dictated the following…

“I am teaching my Mac to recognize speech

PERIOD” (US only)

“I am teaching my Mac to recognize speech FULL

STOP” (all dialects)

21 MacSpeech DictateChapter 5 — Dictation

Correcting Mis-recognized Text

Despite MacSpeech Dictate’s excellent accuracy, the software will sometimes type an unintended word or words. Fortunately this doesn’t happen very often. When it does, simply select the word and either re-dictate it or type the correct word manually. A future version of MacSpeech Dictate will have a Correction feature that will help automate this process, and further improve your voice profile.

Adding New Words

If you are using MacSpeech Dictate’s Note Pad, you can add new words using Train Vocabulary from Selection. Here’s how:

Make a selection in a MacSpeech Dictate Note

Pad document that contains the word or words you want to add.

2. Select “Train Vocabulary from Selection…” from the Tools menu.

You may not want MacSpeech Dictate to learn all

the unknown words. For example, there might be proper names that are not a usual part of your writing, or abbreviations, or parts of URLs. Highlight the words you do not want to add, then click the “Exclude” button. The Vocabulary Training window should look

somethingsimilartogure5-4(withadifferent

list of words, of course).

Figure 5-5

7.Whennished,MacSpeechDictatewilldisplaya

screen informing you the words have been added to your vocabulary. Click the “Close” button or the red close window button to dismiss this window.

Note Train Vocabulary from Selection only works in MacSpeech Dictate’s Note Pad. It will not work within other applications.

Figure 5-4

To move an excluded word back to the included

list, highlight it in the right column and then click

the“Include”button.Whenyouaresatisedwith choices,clicktherightarrowtonish

(Figure 5-5).

Sleep Mode

If you are interrupted while using MacSpeech Dictate, the program can be put to sleep. In sleep mode the microphone is still active, but it will only respond to commands intended to wake it up.

Sleep mode is useful for short interruptions such as phone calls or taking a break. Sleep mode is activated by saying Go To Sleep. To wake up MacSpeech Dictate and return to the mode you were last in, say Wake Up. When MacSpeech Dictate is asleep, the Status window will lo ok like Figure 5-6:

Figure 5-6

If you will be away from the computer for an extended period of time, use the Turn Microphone Off command instead. This insures MacSpeech Dictate can’t accidentally interpret room noise or speech from a conversation as a Wake Up command.

22 MacSpeech DictateChapter 5 — Dictation

Dictating Special Kinds of Words

As you learned while training MacSpeech Dictate, it is necessary to speak punctuation so it can accurately tell where sentences begin and end, among other things. There is an extensive list of things you can say. The following tables provide a guide to the different things you can say that do not produce words on the page.

One thing we get asked frequently is how MacSpeech Dictate knows the difference between punctuation and a real word. Consider the following sentences:

Wayne scored the winning goal in the third period

PERIOD (US Only)

The train came to a full stop FULL STOP (all

dialects)

Hyphenated and compound words

The behavior for dashes and hyphens is slightly different depending on what you are dictating. For most things, MacSpeech Dictate puts a space before and after a dash. If you dictate a US phone number, however, MacSpeech Dictate will correctly type it without the spaces before and after the dash.

To make a hyphenated word, you would need to say “hyphen” where you want the hyphen to appear, as follows:

“free HYPHEN wheeling”

For compound words you would say No Space On before you say the compound word, and then say N o S p a c e O ff after yo u finish speaking the word. For example, to have MacSpeech Dictate type “AppleTV” you would do the following:

“NO SPACE ON Apple TV NO SPACE OFF”

As mentioned earlier, MacSpeech Dictate does not use word recognition, but rather a highly complex analysis method commonly referred to as continuous speech recognition. The program actually analyzes complete phrases as you speak — taking a close look at what is said both before and after the current word you utter. Only then does it make its best guess on what should be typed.

Because of this, MacSpeech Dictate has many special terms that produce a variety of effects or symbols. Let’s take a look at them.

Capitalization

MacSpeech Dictate does some capitalization formatting for you. It will automatically capitalize the first word in a document, the first word in a sentence, and proper names that are already in its vocabulary. Otherwise, use the following capitalization commands:

Capitalization Commands

What You Say What Happens

Caps On

Caps Off

Cap <word> Capitalizes the next word spoken.

All Caps <word> Types the next word spoken in CAPS.

All Caps On Makes every word CAPS.

All Caps Off Returns capitalization to normal.

No Caps <word> Makes the next word spoken lower case.

No Caps On Makes the following text lowercase.

No Caps Off Returns to regular capitalization rules.

Turnscapitalizingtherstletterofevery

word on.

Turnscapitalizingtherstletterofevery

word off.

You can also say No Space <word> to type the next word without putting a space in front of it. Using the same example, you would say:

“Apple NO SPACE TV”

Punctuation

There are a variety of things you can say to have MacSpeech Dictate type punctuation and symbols. The following table lists the various things you can say, and what MacSpeech Dictate will type:

Punctuation Examples

What You Say

Ampersand &

Apostrophe ‘

Apostrophe ess ‘s

Asterisk *

At Sign @

Back Slash \

Back Quote ‘

Caret ^

Cents Sign ¢

Close Angle Bracket >

Close Brace }

Close Bracket (US Only) Close Square Bracket (All Dialects)

Close Euro Quote »

Close Parenthesis (All Dialects) Close Bracket (Non-US Dialects)

Close Quote ” (close curly quote)

Close Single Quote ’

Colon :

Comma ,

What Happens

]

)

23 MacSpeech DictateChapter 5 — Dictation

Punctuation Examples

What You Say

Dash <space> -- <space>

Degree Sign °

Dollar Sign $

Dot .

Ellipsis …

Em Dash <space> --- <space>

En Dash <space> -- <space>

Equals Sign =

Euro Sign €

Exclamation Mark (All Dialects) Exclamation Point (US Only)

Forward Slash /

Full Stop (all dialects) .

Greater Than Sign >

Hash Sign (Non-US dialects) #

Hyphen <word>-<word>

Left Angle Bracket <

Less Than Sign <

Minus Sign -

New Line <one carriage return>

New Paragraph <two carriage returns>

Number Sign (US Only) #

Open Angle Bracket <

Open Brace {

Open Bracket (US Only) Open Square Bracket (All Dialects)

Open Euro Quote «

Open Parenthesis (All Dialects) Open Bracket (Non-US Dialects)

Open Quote “ (open curly quote)

Open Single Quote ‘ (open single quote)

Percent Sign %

Period (US only) .

Plus Sign +

Point .

Pound Sign (US Only) #

Pound Sign (non-US Dialects) Pound Sterling Sign (US Only)

Question Mark ?

Registered Sign ®

Right Angle Bracket >

Section Sign §

Semi Colon ;

Sharp Sign (Non-US Dialects) #

Slash /

Space Bar <the space character>

What Happens

[

(

What You Say

Tab Key <the tab character>

Tilde ~

Trademark Sign ™

Underscore _

Vertical Bar |

What Happens

Instant Messaging

In addition to being able to dictate directly to chat windows, MacSpeech Dictate has some special commands you can use when dictating an instant message.

Here are a few examples to give you an idea of how you can use MacSpeech Dictate in chat programs such as iChat, MSN Messenger, and many others:

Commands Helpful in Chat Programs

What You Say What Happens

New Line Sends the current message.

Smiley Face :-)

Frowny Face :-(

Winky Face ;-)

Numbers

When you say a number, MacSpeech Dictate will either type out the words or the number, depending on the context in which the number was used. If you want to force MacSpeech Dictate to type a number instead of typing the words for the number, say Numeral before saying the number.

MacSpeech Dictate has the built-in ability to properly format numbers as they are spoken. Here are some examples:

Number Examples

What You Say What Happens

One or Numeral One 1

Five or Numeral Five 5

Seventeen 17

Forty Two 42

One Hundred Seventy Nine 179

Five Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty Three

Five COMMA Four Twenty Three 5,423

Twelve Thousand Five Hundred and Thirty Seven

One Hundred and Forty Two Thousand and Fifteen

Thirty Five POINT Two Three 35.23

Zero POINT Zero Three (All Dialects) Naught POINT Naught Three (Non-US Dialects)

5423

12,537

142,015

0.03

24 MacSpeech DictateChapter 5 — Dictation

Number Examples

What You Say What Happens

Forty-Three POINT Twenty Eight PERCENT SIGN

Oh Two Four Six Zero 02460

Oh Two Four Six Zero HYPHEN One Four Five Eight

Two and Three Fourths 2 3/4

Eleven Over Thirty Two 11/32

Eleven Thirty Seconds 11/32

Ninety Nine Dollars and Fifty Five Cents $99.55

Forty Five Euros and Thirty Five Cents €45.35

Pound Sterling Sign One Hundred and Twenty POINT Thirty Five

43.28%

02460-1458

£120.35

Fractions

You can dictate common fractions the way you would normally say them. To dictate 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/7, 1/8, 1/9, 1/10, and 1/16 or a multiple of these fractions, just say the fraction normally. If the fraction is typed out as text (“one half” instead of “1/2”) try saying NUMERAL before the fraction.

If the denominator (the bottom number) is greater than 10, enter the fraction by saying slash or over between the two numbers.

Fraction Examples

What You Say What Happens

One Half 1/2

One Fourth or One Quarter 1/4

Fifteen Sixteenths or Fifteen Over Sixteen 15/16

Three and Seven Eights or Three and Seven Over Eight

Nine SLASH Twelve or Nine Over Twelve 9/12

Five SPACE BAR Three SLASH Fifty Six 5 3/56

One Thirty Over Seventy 130/70

3 7/8

Roman Numerals

Roman Numerals are dictated by saying Roman Numeral and the number. For large numbers, say the number in smaller combinations, as shown in the last example below.

Roman Numeral Examples

What You Say What Happens

Roman Numeral One I

Roman Numeral Four IV

Roman Numeral Five V

Roman Numeral Ten X

Roman Numeral Fifty L

Roman Numeral One Hundred C

Roman Numeral Five Hundred D

Roman Numeral One Thousand M

Roman Numeral Twenty Four XXIV

Roman Numeral Examples

What You Say What Happens

Roman Numeral Thirty One XXXI

Roman Numeral One Thousand [pause] Roman Numeral Nine Hundred [pause] Roman Numeral Ninety [pause] Roman Numeral Seven

MCMXCVII

US ZIP Codes

Five-digit US ZIP Codes are dictated the same as any group of numbers. When dictating nine-digit ZIP Codes, you must say the hyphen.

US Zip Code Examples

What You Say What Happens

oh one oh oh ve 01005

Five Three Four Zero Three 53403

Nine Four Seven Oh Four HYPHEN One One Five Oh

94704-1150

UK and Canadian Postal Codes

You can dictate UK postcodes by saying Postcode followed by the letters and numbers that make up the postcode. For Canadian postal codes, say Postal Code followed by the characters that make up the postal code. Spacing and formatting will happen automatically.

UK and Canadian Postal Code Examples

What You Say What Happens

Postcode N G Three Two H X NG3 2HX

Postcode E Ten Seven B D E10 7BD

Postcode E C Two Y Four L K EC2Y 4LK

Postal Code K One A Zero M Five K1A 0M5

Postal Code X Oh A Oh H Oh X0A 0H0

Dates and Times

You can dictate most dates and times the way you would normally say them. Say Oh or Zero to enter 0. In dialects other than US and Canada you can also say Naught.

The US dialect of MacSpeech Dictate automatically types the colon (:) if you say A M or P M when dictating the time. Say O’clock or Colon Zero Zero to enter “:00.”

Non-US dialects automatically type the point (.) if you say A M or P M depending on the regional setting.

Date and Time Examples

What You Say What Happens

Twenty Two January Nineteen Ninety Nine 22 January 1999

April Nine COMMA Two Thousand and One April 9, 2001

Fourteen SLASH Oh Seven SLASH Eighty Five

Three SLASH Eleven SLASH Zero Two 3/11/02

14/07/85

25 MacSpeech DictateChapter 5 — Dictation

Date and Time Examples

What You Say What Happens

Three SLASH Eleven SLASH Two Thousand and Two

April First April 1

March Twenty Second March 22

The Nineteen Eighties the 1980’s

Eight COLON Thirty

Seven Forty Five A M

Ten Twenty Two P M

Three O’Clock or Three COLON Zero Zero

Five O’Clock PM

3/11/2002

8:30 (US)

8.30 (others)

7:45 AM (US)

7.45 AM (others)

10:22 PM (US)

10.22 PM (others)

3:00 (US)

3.00 (others)

5:00 PM (US)

5.00 PM (others)

Telephone Numbers

MacSpeech Dictate will even format phone numbers for you. For the US version, just say the number as you normally would, pausing between groups of numbers.

US Telephone Number Examples

What You Say What Happens

Three Five Zero Zero Nine Zero Three 350-0903

Six Oh Three Three Five Oh Oh Nine Oh Three

One Eight Hundred Five Five Five One Two One Two

OPEN PARENTHESIS Six Zero Three CLOSE PARENTHESIS Three Five Zero Zero Nine Zero Three

One Two One Two Five Five Five Twelve Twelve

603-350-0903

1-800-555-1212

(603) 350-0903

1-212-555-1212

When dictating a phone number for outside the US you will need to say all the punctuation (hyphens, spaces, and parenthesis).

Troubleshooting Dictation

Using MacSpeech Dictate for dictation is fairly straight forward — you speak, and the text appears at the location of the insertion point, in any document. Occasionally, however, you may experience reduced accuracy or other problems. There is usually an easy solution to these issues.

Extra Words

If “extra” words such as “the,” “to,” “of,” “oh,” “and,” and “a,” appear in your document — sometimes when you aren’t even speaking — this usually means the microphone is too close to your mouth. What is happening is MacSpeech Dictate is capturing the sound of your breathing — your breath sounds — and attempting to convert those sounds into words.

For best results, makes sure the microphone is one to two fingertips away from the corner of your mouth. (If you are softspoken, you might have to have it as close as a thumb’s width. If you have a loud voice, maybe a bit further.) When properly positioned, you should be able to drink from a normal-sized glass without touching the microphone or spilling the liquid.

Accuracy Issues

If your recognition accuracy suddenly deteriorates, first take a look at the signal strength meter in the Feedback window. When you speak, it should be about 80% to 90% green. If there is too little or too much green in the meter, there is a good chance your voice is not being recognized properly. This can happen if the noise level in the environment in which you are using MacSpeech Dictate changes from what it was when you first set up your profile.

Non-US Telphone Number Examples

What You Say What Happens

OPEN PARENTHESIS Oh One Six Two Eight CLOSE PARENTHESIS EIght Nine Four One Five Oh

Oh Two Seven SPACE BAR Six Two Nine SPACE BAR Eight Nine Four Four

Six One HYPHEN Seven HYPHEN Four Six Nine Five HYPHEN Two Zero Five Five

OPEN PARENTHESIS Six Five CLOSE PARENTHESIS Two Seven Seven Eight Five Nine Zero

(01628) 894150

027 629 8944

61-7-4695-2055

(65) 2778590

Spelling Mode

Spelling Mode will be introduced in a future version. This will be a free update for existing MacSpeech Dictate 1.0 users.

26 MacSpeech DictateChapter 5 — Dictation

Don’t panic. All you need to do is select S e t U p M y M i c r o p h o n e from the Tools menu in MacSpeech Dictate to re-calibrate your microphone, which takes only a few seconds.

Dictation Doesn’t Appear In Your Document

Make sure you are using the same microphone that was connected when you set up the current profile. Microphones are profile-specific. To use a different microphone, you need create a new profile.

There is a rare instance where a corrupt font could prevent dictation from appearing in a document.

Chapter 6: Controllin Your Mac

In this chapter, we will look at how MacSpeech Dictate can control a Macintosh. It can open files, type keys, press buttons, and click the mouse.

Will MacSpeech Dictate completely replace your keyboard and mouse? Probably not – it’s still faster to do some things the old-fashioned way. Think of MacSpeech Dictate as a “third hand” to click a button without raising your hands from the keyboard, or open a file without digging through folders. As you work with it, you will figure out what tasks are right for you to accomplish by voice, keyboard, and mouse.

Using Command Mode

Command mode is used when you want to have MacSpeech Dictate focus on only executing commands. While all commands are also available in Dictation mode, dictation is ignored when you are in Command mo d e, making it easier for MacSpeech Dictate to understand that what you say should be interpreted as a command.

Figure 6-1

The available commands can be seen in the Available Commands window. The list will change depending on

what you are doing, and what application you are using. MacSpeech Dictate tracks what application is active, and automatically loads any commands it has available for the front-most program, as shown in Figure 6-2.

Here are some tips for using Command mode:

• Makesureyousee“Command”inthe

MacSpeech Dictate Status window before you begin speaking the command.

• Toseewhichcommandsareavailable,keep

the “Available Commands” window open.

• Don’tpauseinthemiddleofsayinga

command. If you say “Close <pause> Window” instead of “Close Window,” MacSpeech Dictate may not understand what you want it to do.

Switching To Command Mode

To switch to Command mode, do one of the following:

• Say“CommandMode”

• Select“Command”fromMacSpeechDictate’s

Speech menu

• Pressthekeyboardshortcutforswitching

modes.

Figure 6-2

Launching Applications

MacSpeech Dictate already knows the names of all the applications on your hard drive and allows you to open any of them by voice. Here’s how:

Say “Open [application name].”

That’s it! When you install or update applications, MacSpeech Dictate will already know how to open them by voice as well.

You can tell MacSpeech Dictate is in Command Mode because “Command” appears in the Status window, as in Figure 6-1.

27 MacSpeech DictateChapter 6 — Controlling Your Mac

NOTE: You can’t launch MacSpeech Dictate by voice, because

it has to be running before it can interpret your speech. If you

want it to launch when you start your Macintosh, do one of

the following:

- Launch MacSpeech Dictate. Move the mouse over

the MacSpeech Dictate icon in the Dock. Press

and hold the mouse button until a menu appears.

Select “Open at Login” from the menu.

- Drag the MacSpeech Dictate icon into the Login

Items section of the Accounts panel in System

Preferences.

Controlling Buttons

MacSpeech Dictate can operate most buttons that appear in

dialog boxes regardless of the mode it is in. You can verbally

press a button by saying:

Press [button name]

For example, if a dialog box appears on the screen asking if

you want to save a document, the choices are usually “Don’t

Save,” “Cancel,” and “Save.” You can press these buttons us-

ing your voice by saying Press Don’t Save, Press Cancel,

or Press Save.

MacSpeech Dictate only knows about buttons that were

programmed in accordance with Apple’s programming

guidelines. If you try to press a button by voice and it doesn’t

respond, it is probably because the program you are using

has not told Mac OS X about its buttons.

Managing Commands and Command Sets

MacSpeech Dictate manages a number of different files

that have commands, words, and text macros. These files

are known as command sets. Some of these sets contain

commands that work everywhere on your Mac; these are

global commands. Others are only active while in a particular

application, and are called application-specific commands.

To access these commands, choose Commands… from the

Tools menu. The Command List window opens, as shown in

Figure 6-3

By default, all commands are active when you start MacSpeech Dictate. A particular command can be deactivated by clearing the check mark in the Active column next to the set.

Global Commands

MacSpeech Dictate’s Global commands are available in any application, whenever the microphone is active.

Dictation Commands

MacSpeech Dictate’s Dictation commands are available when MacSpeech Dictate is in Dictation Mode. These are general commands for positioning the insertion point, controlling capitalization, and deleting the last spoken word or phrase.

Types of Commands

There are several types of vocabulary items in MacSpeech Dictate:

• AppleScript: AppleScript items are the most

common.Ascripttypedintothecontenteldis

executed when you speak its name. MacSpeech Dictate has a built-in script editor for editing and testing scripts.

• Application: These are commands that open a

specicapplication.Youwouldonlyneedtouse

this if there is an application on your hard drive stored outside the Applications folder that you would like to open by voice.

• Bookmark: A Bookmark command opens a web page when it is spoken.

• File or Folder: A File or Folder command will open a File or Folder when it is spoken.

• Shell Script: You use this to run Shell Scripts by voice. Shell Scripts are scripts created to run in Mac OS X’s Terminal application.

Figure 6-3.

28 MacSpeech DictateChapter 6 — Controlling Your Mac

• TextMacro:Atextmacrotypesapredenedblock

of text when you speak its name. The text can be

a whole form letter or just an address; in fact it

can be any amount of text.

• AutomatorWorkow:Thiscommandwillrunthe

referencedAutomatorWorkowwhenitsnameis

spoken.

Creating and Modifying Commands

Most commands are written in AppleScript, Apple’s

system-wide scripting language. An AppleScript tutorial

is beyond the scope of this manual. You can learn more

about how to write AppleScripts from Apple’s web site, at

http://www.apple.com/applescript/

All the commands built-in to MacSpeech Dictate are open

source, which means their source code is available for you to

view, copy, or modify. Commands can be Automatically or

Manually Created. When you create or modify a command,

MacSpeech Dictate automatically saves it for you, and it ap-

pears in the Command list for the Command set in which it

was created.

Creating Commands Automatically

To create an Automatic command, follow these steps:

Turn off MacSpeech Dictate’s microphone.

1. Switch to MacSpeech Dictate by clicking the

MacSpeech Dictate icon in the Status window, or

using the Dock.

Figure 6-4

6. Drag an existing AppleScriptle,bookmark, textortextclipping,leorfolder,orAutomator Workowintotheeditingareaforthenew

command. (Note: when creating an automatic Bookmark command, you can also drag the ad-

dressfromtheaddresseldinmostbrowsers

directly into the Automatic area of MacSpeech Dictate’s command window.

7. A suggested name will be entered in the Command Name Field. Leave it as is or enter a new name. This will be the command you say, so make sure the command name is speakable, not an unpronounceable abbreviation.

2. Choose “Commands…” from the Tools menu. The

Commands window opens (Figure 6-3). Individual

command sets are listed in the left sidebar. For

this example, we will create a new global com-

mand in the Global command set.

3. In the Commands window, select the command

set into which you want the command to be

stored from the “Context” menu.

4. Click the Plus Sign, or select “New Command”

from the File menu. A new command is created

and is ready to be edited, as shown in Figure 6-4.

29 MacSpeech DictateChapter 6 — Controlling Your Mac

Creating Commands Manually

You can also create a command manually. Use this method when you don’t have pre-existing content that will work with MacSpeech Dictate’s ability to automatically create a command.

To create a command manually, follow these steps:

Turn off MacSpeech Dictate’s microphone.

1. Switch to MacSpeech Dictate by clicking the MacSpeech Dictate icon in the Status window, or using the Dock.

2. Choose “Commands…” from the Tools menu. The Commands window opens (Figure 6-3). Individual command sets are listed in the left sidebar. For this example, we will create a new global command in the Global command set.

3. In the Commands window, select the command set into which you want the command to be stored from the “Context” menu.

4. Click the Plus Sign, or select “New Command” from the File menu. A new command is created and is ready to be edited, as shown in Figure 6-4.

5. Select the type of command you want to add from the “Type” pop-down menu, as shown in Figure 6-5.

6. Edit the command so it does what you want when its name is spoken.

AppleScript

Anything that can be written as an AppleScript can be made speakable. MacSpeech Dictate includes a full AppleScript Script Editor. Enter the code for the AppleScript into the Source field. Press the Compile button to verify the script will compile, and the Stop or Run buttons to stop or run the script.

To see the result of running a script, click the Result button.

Application

Application commands are for opening applications that can be seen by your computer. By default, MacSpeech Dictate already knows how to open all the applications in your Application folder. You would only need to create this type of command if you wanted to open an application that is outside your Applications folder, such as on an external hard drive or network server.

Bookmark

The quickest way to create a bookmark command is to simply drag a URL to the Automatic area of t h e C ommand w i n d o w, as dis cuss e d ear li er in th is ch ap te r. If yo u w an t t o m an ua lly c re at e a Bookmark command simply type the web address, including the “http://” into the URL field, then give the command a name and description.

File or Folder

A File or Folder command allows you to use your voice to open any file or folder you could normally open in the Finder. As with Bookmarks, the quickest way to create a command of this type is to simply drag a file or folder’s icon into the Automatic area of a new Command window and name the command.

Figure 6-5

Types of Commands - More Details

The Command window will look slightly different depending on what type of command you are creating. This section will provide additional information to assist you in creating different types of commands. Refer to Figure 6-5 for an illustration of how to select the different types of commands in the Command window.

30 MacSpeech DictateChapter 6 — Controlling Your Mac

If you want to manually create a File or Folder c om ma n d, t ype the path to the item, or click the Browse button and navigate to it, then give the command a name and description.

Shell Script

A Shell Script is a text file that contains a sequence of commands for your computer to execute. It’s called a shell script because it combines into a “script” in a single file a sequence of commands that would otherwise have to be presented to the system from a keyboard one at a time. The shell is the operating system’s command interpreter and the set of commands you use to communicate with the system. A shell script is usually created for command sequences for which a user has a repeated need. You initiate the sequence of commands in the shell script by simply entering the name of the shell script on a command line.

In Mac OS X, shell scripts are most commonly created with Apple’s Terminal program, which you will find inside the Utilities folder on your hard drive. If you save a Shell Script from within Terminal, you can drag it into the Automatic area of a new Command and name it to easily create the command.

7. Enter a name for the new command in the

“Command”eld.

8.Optionally,entertextintothe“Description”eld

(this is for informational purposes only and will not be typed out).

Your command will automatically be saved.

To manually create a Shell Script command, select Shell Script from the Ty p e pop-down menu and write the shell script directly into the Source field of the Command window, then choose a name for your command.

Text Macro

Text Macros put whatever is in the Tex t area of the Command window at the insertion point whenever the command’s name is spoken. They can have an unlimited amount of text in them.

Text Macros work almost like any other command — you speak the command name to invoke the macro. Instead of executing an action, however, a Text Macro enters pre-defined text at the insertion point in the active document. Like with dictation, MacSpeech Dictate doesn’t care where the insertion point is. It can be in a word processing document, a cell in a spreadsheet, using the text tool of a graphics program, or even the name of a file in the Finder.

Text Macros are great for form letters, email signatures, starting a letter – just about anything you need to type frequently.

Creating Your Own Text Macros

Creating text macros is similar to creating other commands. Here’s how:

Turn off MacSpeech Dictate’s microphone.

1. Switch to the MacSpeech Dictate application by clicking the MacSpeech Dictate icon in the Status window Dock.

2. Select “Commands…” from MacSpeech Dictate’s Tools menu.

3. Click the Plus Sign or select “New Command…” from the File menu to create a new command.

4. Select “Global” from the “Context” menu to store the command in the Global command set. You can also store Text Macros in ApplicationSpecic command sets. Doing so will mean the command will only be available when that application is active.

5. Select “Text Macro” from the Type pop-down menu.

6. Enter text in the “Text” area that is to be typed when the name of the command is spoken (you

canalsopasteordictateintothiseld).

That’s all there is to it. Whenever you say the name you gave that command, it will insert the text you put in the Tex t area for that command at the insertion point of the active application.

Automator Workflows

Mac OS X comes with some examples of Automator Workflows. Let’s try making one speakable. We’re going to make the Copy Unread Mail to iPod Notes workflow speakable.

1. Launch MacSpeech Dictate if it is not already running and turn on its microphone.

2. Say “Open Automator”

3. With your mouse, select “Open Examples Folder” from Automator’s Help menu. This will open a Finder window with the Automator Examples in it.

4. Say “Microphone Off.”

5. Switch to MacSpeech Dictate by clicking it’s icon in either the Status window or the Dock.

6. Select ”Commands…” from the Tools menu.

7. Click the Plus Sign to open a new Command window, or select “New Command…” from the File menu.

8. Make sure “Globals” is selected from the Context pop-down menu in the Command window (unless you want the macro to only execute when a particular application is active. If so, then put it in that Application’s command set).

9. At this point, you simply drag the Automator

Workowiconnamed“CopyUnreadMailtoiPod

Notes” to the automatic area in the Command window, name the command, and (optionally) provide a description and you are done.

If you want to manually create the command, do the following instead of step 9:

9.Select“AutomatorWorkow”fromtheTypemenu

in the Command window.

10. Click the Browse button and navigate to the ex-

ampleworkow.Itislocatedatthefollowingpath:

<HARD DRIVE>/Library/Application Support/

Apple/Automator/Workows

31 MacSpeech DictateChapter 6 — Controlling Your Mac

Duplicating Commands

To duplicate a command, do the following:

1. Launch MacSpeech Dictate if it is not already running or switch to it by saying “Bring Dictate to the front.”

2. Select “Commands…” from the Tools menu.

3. In the side bar, click the command set to which the command you want duplicated belongs.

4. Highlight the command you want to duplicate in the command list.

5. Press the button that looks like two documents on top of each other.

6. The command you highlighted in step 4 is duplicated with the name “<command name> copy.”

Modifying Commands

To modify a command, do the following:

1. Launch MacSpeech Dictate if it is not already running or switch to it by saying “Bring Dictate to the front.”

2. Select “Commands…” from the Tools menu.

3. In the side bar, click the command set to which the

commandyouwantmodiedbelongs.

4. Highlight the command you want to modify in the command list.

5. Makeanymodicationsyouwouldlike.

MacSpeech Dictate will automatically save the

modiedcommandforyou.

4. Highlight the command you want to delete in the command list.

5. Press the minus button.

Troubleshooting Commands

There are several things to check if a command does not execute after it is spoken. First, make sure you are pausing briefly both before and after you say the command. This will help MacSpeech Dictate recognize what you said as a command.

If you have problems getting a command to be recognized while in Dictation mode, try switching to Command mode. This will limit the vocabulary MacSpeech Dictate understands to only those words that are in the command names, making them easier to recognize.

To insure you are in command mode, make sure the microphone is turned on and say Command mode or select Command from the Speech menu. When in Command mode, the word Command will appear in the Status window.

If a command still fails to execute, make sure you are saying the right thing. To do this, make sure MacSpeech Dictate’s microphone is turned on and say Show Available Commands window. This will display a list of commands that can be spoken at that time. If the command you are trying to execute is in the list, try double-clicking its name. If you don’t see the command in the Available Commands window, then it is not available to be spoken.

Deleting Commands

To delete a command, do the following:

1. Launch MacSpeech Dictate if it is not already running or switch to it by saying “Bring Dictate to the front.”

2. Select “Commands…” from the Tools menu.

3. In the side bar, click the command set to which the command you want deleted belongs.

32 MacSpeech DictateChapter 6 — Controlling Your Mac

Chapter 7: Reference

This chapter provides a quick reference to menus and windows.

Getting Technical Support

Via the World Wide Web

MacSpeech provides technical assistance through our web site, 24 hours a day. Go to

http:/www.macspeech.com/support_center

for answers to

many questions. This is where you should go first for help.

Via E-mail

You can also contact us via email by selecting Send Email To Tech Support from the Help menu when MacSpeech

Dictate is the active application. Typically, you should receive a response within one business day (usually much sooner).

Dictate Menu

Startup Mode

This controls the state MacSpeech Dictate is in when it is launched. You can have it start up with the Microphone off (Idle - Mic Off), in Dictation mode, in Command mode, or Sleep.

Figure 7-1

About MacSpeech Dictate

Displays the About window. Click anywhere to dismiss it.

Preferences... (Cmd-comma)

Opens the Preferences window, which has three panes. Switch between panes by clicking the icons in the toolbar at the top of the window. Closing the Preferences window saves any changes.

The Preferences areas are General, Command, and

Shortcuts.

1. General

Let’s take a look at each of these in detail.

General Preferences (Figure 7-2) is where you fine-tune MacSpeech Dictate’s performance and behavior. It has four sections, Startup Mode, Startup Actions, Feedback, and Recognition.

Figure 7-2

Startup Actions

These options control what happens when MacSpeech Dictate is launched. Turn on Check for Updates to automati- cally check for updates at startup (an Internet connection is required). Check Show Startup Window to see the startup window when MacSpeech Dictate launches. This is useful if you have are multiple profiles. Check Open a New Note Pad Window if you prefer dictating into MacSpeech Dictate’s built-in Note Pad. If you prefer dictating into other applications leave this unchecked.

Feedback

These options control whether or not to show the Status window at startup, and if you want to see the recognized text printed on the screen. When the Show “Recognized Text” Feedback option is on, whatever you say will appear in white shadowed text below the Status window whenever the Status window is visible.

33 MacSpeech DictateChapter 8 — Reference

Recognition

Moving the slider towards Faster makes text appear more quickly, but may sacrifice accuracy. Moving the slider towards More Accurate makes the program try harder to understand you, which could slow it down. By default, the slider is set to balance the two factors. Feel free to experiment to see which setting works best for you.

2. Command Preferences

Command Preferences allow you to adjust the ways commands are handled. This window has two sections, Available Commands Window and Command Generation at Startup (Figure 7-3).

Available Commands Window

Checking Disable at Startup will disable all commands when MacSpeech Dictate starts up.

say Open followed by the name of an application to open it by voice.

The Generate Email Commands option generates commands allow you to address an email to a person in your Address Book.

3. Shortcuts

This pane (Figure 7-4) allows you to choose what keyboard shortcuts you want to use to toggle the microphone on or off and cycle through the speech modes.

The defaults are Command-F11 to toggle the microphone and Command-F10 to select the speech mode, but you can use any key combination you prefer, as long as at least one modifier key (Command, Control, or Option) is used. The To g g l e

Microphone shortcut turns the mic on and off. The Select Speech Mode shortcut will switch between Dictation and Command modes.

Figure 7-3

Enable Command Grouping will group commands, rather than show them as one big alphabetical list. This option has two sub-options: Show Global Commands at Top and Show

all Global Commands in One Group.

Global Commands at Top

When checked, this option forces all the Global commands to appear at the top of the Available Commands window.

Show all Global Commands in One Group

Wh e n c he cke d, th is op t ion p u ts all th e G lo ba l c omman ds in one group, leaving Application Specific commands in their separate groups.

Command Generation at Startup

Turn on Generate Application Launch Commands to generate specific commands that allow each application on your hard drive to be opened by voice. With this option on you can

Figure 7-4

Visit MacSpeech’s Web Site

Launches your browser and takes you to MacSpeech’s Web site (Internet connection required).

Check for Updates…

Checks for to see if there are any updates available for MacSpeech Dictate (Internet connection required).

Services

Provides access to Mac OS X’s Services.

Hide MacSpeech Dictate (Cmd-H)

Hides MacSpeech Dictate

Hide Others (Cmd-Opt-H)

Hides all applications other than MacSpeech Dictate.

Show All

Shows all hidden applications.

Quit MacSpeech Dictate (Cmd-Q)

Quits the MacSpeech Dictate application.

34 MacSpeech DictateChapter 8 — Reference

File Menu

Figure 7-5

New Note Pad (Cmd-N)

Choose this to open a new Note Pad window (f igure 7-6). You can dictate directly into a Note Pad window and transfer the text to another document. Multiple Note Pad windows can be open at once.

Figure 7-6

The built-in Note Pad may provide more control over the text you are dictating compared to many third-party applications. Many commonly-used word processing commands are available for formatting the text in this window. These commands are in the Edit and Format menus, which are described later in this chapter.

Figure 7-7

Open (Cmd-O)

Opens a previously saved Note Pad document.

Close (Cmd-W)

This closes the active window.

Save (Cmd-S)

This allows you to save the current Note Pad window.

Save As… (Cmd-Shift-S)

Saves the current Note Pad document under a different name.

Import…

The Import menu item is used import commands that have been exported from iListen. In order to use this, you must first export the desired command set from your iListen profile. For more assistance with this, please consult the iListen User Guide.

Edit Menu

New Command (Cmd-Shift-N)

This opens a new Command wi n d ow (Fi g ur e 7-7 ) . Command s can be either Automatic or Manual. (See Chapter 6).

35 MacSpeech DictateChapter 8 — Reference

Figure 7-8

All these commands work exactly as they do in other applications.

Speech Menu

Figure 7-9

The Speech Menu is used to turn the microphone on or off, or select MacSpeech Dictate’s mode.

Microphone On/Off

Using this menu item toggles the microphone on and off. The menu item changes to Microphone Off when the microphone is on.

Dictation

Choosing this puts MacSpeech Dictate into Dictation mode.

Command

Choosing this puts MacSpeech Dictate into Command mode.

Sleep

Choosing this puts MacSpeech Dictate to Sleep. When in Sleep mode, the microphone will remain on but the program will ignore everything you say until you say Wake Up.

Tools Menu

Figure 7-11

Highlight the profile you want to use, then click the Make Active button. If there is only one profile listed, click the Make Active button to close the window.

Commands

The Commands window (Figure 7-12), allows you to manage Global and Application Specific commands.

Figure 7-10

Profiles…

Opens the Profiles window (Figure 7-11), from which you can change to a different profile, as well as add or delete profiles.

36 MacSpeech DictateChapter 8 — Reference

Figure 7-12

Microphone Setup…

Use this if accuracy seems to be decreasing. Microphone Setup will help if you change the microphone’s position, if

the noise level in the environment has changed, or even if the characteristics of your voice changes.

Figure 7-13

Voice Training…

Select Voice Training (Figure 7-14) when you want to read more training stories in order to further improve your accuracy. Select a story from the list in the Voice Training Selection window and then follow the on-screen instructions. Stories you have already read are indicated with a MacSpeech Dictate icon next to their name.

As you read, recognized text will turn green. If something is not recognized, the text will turn red. When that happens, pause briefly, and continue reading from the text that is not green.

Train Vocabulary from Selection…

This allows you to select text in a MacSpeech Dictate Note Pad document and have the program learn new words “on-the -fly.”

Vocabulary Training and Trai n Vocabulary from Selection both display a window similar to the one shown in Figure 7-15.

Figure 7-15

Format Menu

Items in the Format Menu change the look of text in a Note Pad document. There are two menu items: Fonts and Text.

Figure 7-14

Vocabulary Training…

Vocabulary Training allows you to have MacSpeech Dictate analyze documents you have written and discover words you commonly use which are not in MacSpeech Dictate’s extensive vocabulary.

Fonts

The items in the Font menu (Figure 7-16) control how text is formatted.

Figure 7-16

37 MacSpeech DictateChapter 8 — Reference

Show Fonts (Cmd-T)

This menu item displays the Font palette, as shown in Figure 7-17.

Figure 7-17

Bold, Italic, Underline (Cmd-B, Cmd-I, Cmd-U)

These menu items format your selection in Bold, Italics, or Underlined, respectively.

Bigger, Smaller (Cmd-Plus Sign, Cmd-Minus Sign)

The menu items increase and decrease the size of the selected text.

Show Colors (Cmd-Shift-C)

This menu item displays the Color Palette (Figure 7-18), which you can use to change the color of the selected text.

Text

Figure 7-19

The menu items in the Text sub-menu allow you to align the selected text left, right, centered, or justified.

Window Menu

Figure 7-20

Figure 7-18

Copy Style (Cmd-Opt-C)

This copies the style of the selection.

Paste Style (Cmd-Opt-V)

This applies the style information on the clipboard to the selection.

Minimize (Cmd-M)

Minimizes the active window to the Dock.

Zoom

Zooms the active window to its full size.

Bring All To Front

Brings all MacSpeech Dictate windows to the front.

Show or Hide Status Window

Shows or hides the Status window.

Show or Hide Available Commands

Shows or hides the Available Commands window.

At the bottom of this menu is a list of all currently open MacSpeech Dictate windows. The active window is indicated by a check mark to the left of its name.

38 MacSpeech DictateChapter 8 — Reference

Help Menu

Figure 7-21

Enter a word or phrase in this field to search for a particular topic on which you need help.

Welcome

Displays the MacSpeech Dictate Welcome window.

Tips & Tricks

Displays Tips & Tricks for using MacSpeech Dictate.

Release Notes

Displays the Release Notes for this version of MacSpeech Dictate.

Send Email to Tech Support

Prepares an message in your email client to send to MacSpeech Technical Support.

Status Window

The Status window displays information a b out the state of the microphone, the gain level of the signal being received when you are speaking, and the name of the profile being used, as shown below.

Figure 7-23

Microphone Asleep (Sleep mode)

When MacSpeech Dictate is in Sleep mode the microphone will be on, but any incoming sound will be ignored. There will still be activity in the signal meter when the program is in Sleep mode, but no action will be taken on what it hears (Figure 7-24).

Figure 7-24

Mode Indicator

The upper right corner of the Status window indicates the current mode for MacSpeech Dictate. This will be either Command (Figure 7-22), Dictation (Figure 7-23), or Asleep (Figure 7-24). Command and Dictation modes will be indicated no matter whether the microphone is on or off. If the program is in Sleep mode, it will indicate Asleep instead of one of the active modes. MacSpeech Dictate returns to the last mode used when awakened from Sleep mode.

Microphone Off

When the microphone is off, you will see a red stop sign in front of the microphone icon. This is the default state when MacSpeech Dictate is first launched. (You can change the startup state in preferences.) When off, the signal meter to the right of the microphone icon will be empty (black) as in Figure 7-22.

Figure 7-22

Microphone On

When the microphone is on, you will see a green circle behind its icon. When on, the signal meter to the right of the microphone icon will be partially filled when you are speaking (Figure 7-23).

Profile Indicator

The lower right corner of the Status window indicates the Profile that is currently loaded into MacSpeech Dictate.

“I Heard” Indicator

As you speak, the words MacSpeech Dictate thinks you said appear below the Status window in white, shadowed text. Whether this text appears or not is determined by how the

Show “Recognized Text” Feedback preference is set in General Preferences. The default is for the text to appear.

39 MacSpeech DictateChapter 8 — Reference

Nuance ScanSoft MacSpeech Dictate Getting Started

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual