dragon dictate manual

Dragon Dictate

Version 2.5

User Workbook

User Workbook (July 2011)

for Dragon Dictate Version 2.5

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

Nuance, the Nuance logos, the Dragon logos, Dragon Dictate, and Dictate are trademarks or registeredtrademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. Allother company names and product names referenced herein are the trademarks of their respectiveowners.

Part number: 50-S61A-20070

CONTENTS

Welcome to Dragon Dictate 2.5................................................................................................1

Learning More and Getting Help......................................................................................2

Chapter 1: Creating a Profile....................................................................................................3

Adding and Deleting Profiles ...........................................................................................7

Additional Audio Input Devices ........................................................................................7

SUMMARY: Creating a Profile.........................................................................................8

Chapter 2: Microphone Control................................................................................................9

The Status Window and the Microphone Icon..................................................................9

Turning the Microphone On and Off ..............................................................................10

Microphone Voice Commands and Sleep Mode ............................................................10

Optional Hot Keys including Microphone On/Off............................................................12

Dragon Remote Microphone..........................................................................................12

SUMMARY: Microphone Control ...................................................................................14

Chapter 3: Dictating Text and Punctuation ...........................................................................15

How to Dictate ...............................................................................................................15

Punctuation ...................................................................................................................17

New Line and New Paragraph.......................................................................................17

Capitalization.................................................................................................................18

Auto Formatting Options................................................................................................20

Recognition Modes........................................................................................................21

SUMMARY: Dictating Text and Punctuation.................................................................24

Chapter 4: Customizing the Vocabulary................................................................................25

Why Is Vocabulary Customization Important? ...............................................................25

Using the Vocabulary Editor ..........................................................................................25

Adding Vocabulary Entries: Words, Phrases and Acronyms … .....................................27

The Importance of Spoken Forms .................................................................................29

Deleting Words..............................................................................................................31

Vocabulary Training.......................................................................................................32

Customizing the Vocabulary from Existing Documents..................................................33

Importing and Exporting Vocabulary Entries..................................................................35

SUMMARY: Customizing the Vocabulary ......................................................................36

Chapter 5: Correcting Recognition Errors ............................................................................38

Correcting via the Recognition Window .........................................................................38

Using Playback and Text to Speech to Aid Correction...................................................41

SUMMARY: Correcting Recognition Errors ...................................................................43

Chapter 6: Formatting and Editing Text by Voice.................................................................44

How to Issue Commands...............................................................................................45

The Available Commands Window................................................................................46

Navigation Commands ..................................................................................................47

Selecting Text and Cut/Paste Options ...........................................................................47

Replacing and Inserting Words......................................................................................48

Commands to Edit and Format Text (bold, underline, etc.) ............................................49

SUMMARY: Editing and Formatting Text.......................................................................50

Chapter 7: Controlling Applications by Voice.......................................................................52

Using Voice Commands Within Microsoft Word.............................................................52

Keyword-Searching the Computer.................................................................................52

Opening and Closing Applications .................................................................................53

Resizing Windows and Switching Between Them .........................................................53

“Voice-Pressing” Keys ...................................................................................................54

SUMMARY: Controlling Applications By Voice ..............................................................55

Chapter 8: Email and the Web................................................................................................56

Creating Email Messages..............................................................................................56

Working on the Web......................................................................................................57

SUMMARY: Email and the Web ....................................................................................60

Chapter 9: Custom Commands..............................................................................................61

Boost Productivity by Automatically Inserting Text.........................................................61

Duplicating and Editing Commands...............................................................................63

Managing Commands ...................................................................................................64

SUMMARY: Custom Commands...................................................................................64

Chapter 10: Best Practices and Top Tips..............................................................................65

Copyright 2011 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. 1

WELCOME TO DRAGON DICTATE 2.5

Dragon Dictate lets you use your voice to perform actions on your computer such as creating or

editing documents, managing email, entering prices and other numeric data, searching the web,

and more. By reducing keyboard and mouse usage, you can focus more on the content of your

writing and get more done faster on your Mac.

This workbook presents the information an end-user needs to know to get started, but it does

not cover every aspect of Dragon. The basic training offered here will show you how to:

Type by voice:

Dictate text and punctuation

Format, edit, and revise text by voice

Command and control your Mac by voice:

Voice commands to use the Internet and email, open programs, close or minimize

windows, switch between windows, etc.

“Voice-press” keys or key combinations on your keyboard

Create custom commands to control your Mac

Achieve the highest possible accuracy:

Personalize the software’s Vocabulary with custom words and phrases, spoken forms

(pronunciations) and written forms, to ensure that Dragon is able to transcribe exactly

what you want

Correct Dragon’s errors when needed so that the software can learn from them and

avoid mistakes in the future

For information about how to install Dragon Dictate, consult the Quickstart Guide or the product

User Guide. Once the software is installed, we recommend you read through this workbook. It

contains progressive explanations and illustrations, as well as step-by-step instructions and

practice exercises. Highlighted notes and tips provide details and alert you to potential pitfalls.


LEARNING MORE AND GETTING HELP

If you complete this workbook and find that you still need more information, visit

www.nuance.com/dragon to access a variety of product training and support resources

including the following:

Product information: Product tips, feature demo videos, Frequently Asked Questions,

and Customer Service information; printable documentation (User Guides, command

print outs) and listings of microphones tested by Nuance for use with Dragon

Tech Support: a comprehensive Tech Support area with a Knowledge Base that

contains the latest technical information for Version 2.5 and previous versions, as well as

contact information to log personal support requests

Additional training resources: learn more about the available training video CD and

one-on-one web-based training; links to Value-Added Resellers who offer training and

customization services for Dragon (in person or remotely)

Community: visit the Dragon Dictate Customer Forum and Discussion Board so you

can connect with other Dragon customers to share ideas and best practices

http://www.nuance.com/dragon


CHAPTER 1: CREATING A PROFILE

After you’ve installed Dragon Dictate on your Mac, your first step is to create a profile. This

profile stores information about the unique characteristics of your voice. It also includes a

customizable Vocabulary (the words Dragon is prepared to recognize when you speak),

personal formatting preferences and customizable voice commands that you can use to control

your Mac. If different people are using Dragon, each person will need to create an individual

profile.

When you create a profile, Dragon starts with a general language model and then adapts to how

individuals speak and which words they use. This way, the software accommodates users with

varying accents and speech patterns. Your profile is key to helping Dragon accurately determine

the words spoken and choose between words that might sound alike. Dragon refines your

profile regularly, resulting in improved accuracy over time.

TIP For best results, creating a profile should be done in your “normal” environment, with the

same background noise and equipment you plan to use moving forward.

The first time you launch Dragon Dictate, you will be prompted to create a new profile. This

includes Voice Training, where you read aloud for a few minutes, enabling Dragon to adapt its

acoustic model to the unique way you sound. Profile creation takes about 5-10 minutes to

complete, and then you will be ready to dictate.

Step 1: Make sure your USB microphone is

connected and is selected as the sound input

device. (To be sure that your microphone is properly

connected, select System Preferences / Sound /

Input.) Adjust the microphone headset so that it

feels comfortable and stable. The microphone’s

listening side must face the corner of your mouth

(not the front) about a thumb's width away. You may

need to experiment a bit to find what position is best

for you.Adjust the microphone headset so that it feelscomfortable and stable.

Co

Step 2: Launch Dragon. If Dragon has never been used before on this computer, this

automatically brings up the first screen of the Profile Creation Wizard. (Otherwise,

choose Profiles from the Tools menu and click the button at the bottom of the

window).

Step 3: Provide a name for your profile and specify the folder where you want to save the user

files on your Mac. Then click Choose.

Step 4: Select the USB microphone from the list of options that appears in the Microphone field

at the top of the next screen.

NOTE For best results, do NOT use the Internal Microphone option. A USB headset, such as

the headset shipped with the boxed package of Dictate, delivers the highest quality

audio, enabling Dragon to provide the most accurate results for your dictation.

Step 4: Select your Spelling preference

(US or UK) and select your

general accent from the options

in the Accent field. Then click

Continue, and Dragon will

proceed to microphone setup.

Shs

place it anywhere you’d like.

electing one of the accent model options canelp to improve initial recognition accuracy for

pyright 2011 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

peakers with accents.

The data for your profile is stored on yourhard disk as a package. When offered thechance to set your profile’s location, you may

4


Step 5: Dragon will now calibrate the volume setting within the Microphone Setup window. Click

the microphone icon (turning the icon from red to green) and read aloud the text that

appears in the box in a clear but natural voice. Feel free to say the punctuation. The

level indicator to the right of the microphone icon shows your sound input level. Dragon

sets your microphone sound input level optimally and will let you know when it has

heard enough. You can listen to a playback of your voice for any problems such as too

much background noise or distortion. Click Voice Training to advance.

Step 6: The next step is a brief Voice Training, where Dragon asks you to read a story for about

five minutes so that it can adapt to the way you speak. During Voice Training, Dragon

listens to your speech, matching your voice and pronunciation to the actual words of the

story. When you’re ready to begin, click the arrow key to advance and then enable the

microphone by clicking the icon.

Step 7: Dragon presents the first prompt to read. Proceed through the training text by reading it

exactly as it is displayed. The words will turn green once Dragon has “heard” them, but

there is no need to wait for this to happen: just speak at your normal pace, clearly and

naturally. Progress from page to page is shown by the horizontal progress indicator

above the text.

If you need to pause for any reason, press the microphone icon, and then activate it

again when you’re ready to continue. Take your time. Try to read naturally but precisely

what is on the screen. If the software needs to hear you re-read something, the text will

turn red instead of green to indicate that you should re-read that word or phrase. If

necessary, click “Skip Word” to proceed past difficult text.

During Voice Training,Dragon presents wordson the screen for you toread aloud. Text will turngreen as it isrecognized. If you needto pause, click themicrophone icon to turnit to a red “stop sign,”and then click the iconagain when you’re readyto resume reading.


During Voice Training, Dragon is learning how you sound when you dictate. Using the

same tone, pace and volume you are likely to use day-to-day will help Dragon

recognize your future dictations most accurately. You may want to keep an eye on the

sound input level indicator (the vertical bar to the right of the microphone icon). Speak

at a level that keeps this at about the middle of the green section.

Once it has heard enough, Dragon takes a moment to process the acoustic information you just

provided and to create your profile. Your profile is now complete, and you’re ready to start

dictating!

TIP If you choose, you can complete additional Voice Training to improve your accuracy at a

later time. This process allows you to read additional stories to Dragon so that it can

further adapt to your unique voice.

Everyone should consider providing some reading for acoustic training after the first few days of

practicing dictation. By then, speaking clearly into the microphone should be familiar, and

reading aloud text presented by Dragon should better reflect how you actually dictate. If your

speech presents a particular challenge for speech recognition (due to a lisp or a strong accent

for instance), you should perform an additional reading for acoustic training as soon as possible.

To complete additional Voice Training:

Step 1: Select Voice Training from the Tools menu.

Step 2: When the Select Text window opens, choose a text to read, then click the right arrow to

continue. Turn on the microphone as indicated and read the story just as you did within

the original Voice Training.


ADDING AND DELETING PROFILES

To access the Profiles window, select Profiles from the Tools menu.

By clicking on the image to the left of your profile name, you can change the image associated

with a specific profile. Select and modify an image if you choose, and then click Set.

To add a new profile to your copy of Dragon Dictate, just click the + sign at the bottom of the

window. You can delete old or unused profiles with the - button.

ADDITIONAL AUDIO INPUT DEVICES

There are many different ways that you can provide audio to Dragon for transcription. Adding a

new audio source to your profile is helpful if you want to use more than one type of microphone

for your dictation.

NOTE If you already have a Dragon profile and want to use another type of audio input

device (such as your iPhone), don’t create a new profile. Add a new source to your

existing profile instead.

The Profiles windowallows you to manageyour voice profiles. Toaccess the Profileswindow, select Profilesfrom the Tools menu.


Since your profile stores all of the information about your customized instance of Dragon –

things like your personalized vocabulary so that Dragon knows the correct pronunciation and

spelling of the unique words you dictate, or perhaps custom voice commands that you create for

the tasks that you personally perform on your Mac – you’ll want to leverage your customized

profile regardless of which microphone you’re using.

To add a new audio source to your existing profile, click the + sign under the Audio Sources

field and provide a name for that source.

Now that you have multiple sources, a new field will appear under your profile name, allowing

you to easily select which microphone you plan to use for your dictation. If necessary, you can

delete an audio source later by using the minus sign in the Audio Sources field.

SUMMARY: CREATING A PROFILE

Each person who wants to dictate with Dragon first needs to create his or her own

profile. This is a short process, guided through a series of screens. You can change the

images associated with a specific profile. In the Profiles window (found under the Tools

menu), click the image to the left of the profile name, select and modify your image, and

click Set.

Make sure your microphone is properly connected and positioned, and the appropriate

audio input source (microphone) is selected. Additional audio input sources (such as

mobile devices) are reviewed later in this workbook.

You can “enroll” an additional audio source for an existing profile (for instance, if you

want to use your iPhone as a wireless microphone). Your various dictation sources will

benefit from the same vocabulary customizations (special words and phrases,

pronunciations, spellings, etc.).

When reading the acoustic training text, speak clearly but naturally, using the same

volume, pitch and pace you are likely to use day-to-day. Try to read what is prompted as

if you were dictating it. You can pause the Voice Training if you need to clear your throat

or speak to someone.

Copyright 2011 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved

CHAPTER 2: MICROPHONE CONTROL

Before you can dictate, you need to be sure that Dragon Dictate will be able to hear you. Your

microphone must be connected and positioned correctly of course, but the software also needs

to know whether to “listen.” This lesson shows several ways to turn Dragon’s microphone on or

off, and introduces the Status window.

THE STATUS WINDOW AND THE MICROPHONE ICON

The Status window is the primary user interface for Dragon Dictate and can be considered the

application’s “control center.” When the Status window is showing, it floats over all other

applications.

To show or hide the Status window: say Show S

choose “Show/Hide Status Window” from the Win

transparency using the slider found under the Dic

WHAT’S INSIDE THE STATUS WINDOW:

The top panel of the Status window identi

Next to the microphone icon, Dragon prov

“bring to front” button, and a button for the

Beneath these icons, buttons indicate wh

or numbers are currently active.

The bottom area of the Status window ind

application Dragon will place your text int

Below the Status window, Dragon can list

Recognized Text” option is enabled unde

Taifmtb

he Status window includes the name of thective profile, a microphone icon and sound

nput level. The window also includes a “bring toront” button and icons to control the recognitionode and the correction process. As an option,

he last recognized utterance can be listed

. 9

tatus window or Hide Status window or

dow menu. You can set the Status window’s

tate / Preferences menu, Appearance tab.

fies the active profile by name.

ides a sound input level, a mode button, a

Recognition Window, used to correct errors.

ether the commands for capitalization, spacing

icates the dictation target window (e.g., which

o).

the last recognized utterance if the “Show

r the Dictate / Preferences menu, General tab.

elow the Status window.


TURNING THE MICROPHONE ON AND OFF

Within the Status window, the microphone icon appears as a red “stop sign” when the

microphone is off. This indicates that Dragon is not listening at all – no sound can affect it. The

microphone becomes a green circle when the microphone is on, indicating that Dragon is

listening and is ready to transcribe your text or respond to your commands. In addition to the

Status window, you can view whether the microphone is on or off by observing the microphone

display in the menu bar and the Dock icon.

There are several different ways to turn the microphone on or off.

To turn the microphone on:

Click the microphone icon in the Status window or the optional status menu item in the

menu bar so that it appears with a round green button.

Choose Microphone On from the Speech menu.

Choose Microphone On from the Dock menu. (To reveal the Dragon Dictate Dock menu,

hold the Control key while clicking the Dictate icon in the Dock.)

To turn the microphone off:

Click the microphone icon in the Status window or the optional status menu item in the

menu bar so that it appears with a red “stop sign” button.

Choose Microphone Off from the Speech menu.

Choose Microphone Off from the Dock menu.

MICROPHONE VOICE COMMANDS AND SLEEP MODE

When you feel comfortable talking to your

computer, you may choose to use your voice to

control the microphone instead of using your

mouse or keyboard. Voice commands can turn

the microphone off entirely or put the

microphone in and out of a “sleeping” state where it doesn’t transcribe your words but it is still

listening. The advantage of Sleep Mode – vs. turning the microphone entirely off – is that you

can use voice commands to resume your dictation.


To control the microphone by voice:

Step 1: Turn the microphone on by clicking on its icon, then say go to sleep. Note that the

microphone display now shows a blue balloon with a crescent moon to indicate that

Dragon is asleep.

Step 2: To return to the active microphone from the sleep state, say Wake up or Turn [the]

microphone on.

Step 3: Say Microphone off to exit Sleep mode and stop Dragon from listening entirely.

NOTE For all voice commands, there should be a brief silence before and after, but none

in the middle of your command. Otherwise the program cannot recognize the

command and instead transcribes the words. For example, say the words “go to

sleep” together in a natural flow without pausing or inserting additional words.

Putting the microphone to sleep is useful when you need to put Dragon “on hold” for a moment.

However, leaving it in that state for a long time is not recommended. Turn the microphone off if

you will not be dictating for a while (and are physically able to turn on the microphone manually).

If the microphone is on but does not receive input after one minute, the microphone will

automatically go into Sleep mode. This Auto Sleep functionality is helpful as it forces you to

follow effective microphone control even when you forget to turn the microphone off.

TIP You can set your personal preference

for the time allotted for the Auto

Sleep microphone functionality (any

range from 30 seconds to five

minutes). Adjust the slider found

under the Dictate / Preferences

menu, Recognition tab. Here you

also have the option to turn off the

Auto Sleep functionality entirely.

C

OPTIONAL HOT KEYS INCLUDING MICROPHONE ON/OFF

Some users may find it faster to

press a key or two rather than

moving and clicking the mouse, so

Dragon offers a series of global

keyboard shortcuts, or “hot keys” to

perform various useful tasks. Hot

keys can turn the microphone on/off,

switch between speech modes,

show/hide the Recognition window to

make corrections and dismiss the

mouse grid (used to control the mouse by voice).

By default, the hot key combination to control the microphone is Function Command F11.

To set the hot keys for the microphone, along with the other hot keys, select the Preferences

option from the Dictate menu. Under the Shortcuts tab, click in the oval shortcut region and type

your desired key combination. To delete a shortcut, click the X at the right end of the oval

shortcut region.

DRAGON REMOTE MICROPHONE

Most customers use Dragon by speaking directly to their Mac

using the microphone included with their Dragon software

purchase. But some users can be frustrated by wearing a

headset that tethers them to their Mac. With the introduction of

the free Dragon Remote Microphone application (available in

the Apple app store), you can achieve the same great accurate

transcription using a device you may already have: your

iPhone! The Dragon Remote Microphone app converts a user’s

iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch 4th gen into a wireless microphone

via WiFi.

Optional keyboard shortcuts (hot keys) can be configured tocontrol the microphone and other Dictate tasks.

The Dragon Remote Microphoneapp turns your iPhone or iPod touch

opyright 2011 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. 12

into a wireless microphone.

Copyright 2011 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

We recommend that you first begin using Dragon with the standard headset microphone, and

add your mobile device as an alternate audio input option once you are more comfortable using

Dragon to dictate text and control your computer.

Step 1: In the Profiles window, click the + symbol under the Audio Sources box. Provide a name

for your mobile device and select “Dragon Remote Microphone” from the drop-down

menu options.

Step 2: A dialog prompts you to download and install the Dragon Remote Microphone app from

the iTunes store if you have not already done so.

NOTE: Your Mac must be connected to a local area network, and your mobile device must

establish a wireless connection to the same local area network before launching the

Dragon Remote Microphone app. The app may not work on certain public networks

that restrict device to device networking for security reasons.

Step 3: Within the Settings for the Dragon Remote Microphone app on your mobile device

(found under the gears icon), the name of the Mac running your Dragon Remote

Microphone profile will be displayed. Select your Mac and proceed with Voice Training.

Step 4: When you complete Voice Training, your profile opens

with your mobile device as the audio input source. Note

that the Status window now has a different appearance

since the ability to determine whether or not Dragon is

“listening” is now controlled by your mobile device and

can’t be controlled from your desktop.

Step 5: To control the microphone, click the Dragon button within t

app on your device. (The green icon indicates the microph

is on; the red icon indicates the microphone is off. Voice

commands will also work.)

Tmpbscreen.

The microphone icon in theStatus window no longer controls

he

one

whether Dragon “listens.”

o turn theicrophone on or off,ress the Dragonutton on your device

13


Your profile in the Profiles window will now display the Dragon Remote Microphone as one of

the audio input options within a drop-down menu when you open Dragon. Be sure that you

select the correct option before you begin your dictation.

SUMMARY: MICROPHONE CONTROL

Dragon “listens” whenever its microphone is on. Remember to turn the microphone off

(or put it into its sleeping state if appropriate) when you are not dictating, like before

answering the phone, speaking to someone, or clearing your throat. This is a simple but

important habit you should develop quickly.

To control the microphone, click the microphone icon in the Status window or in the

menu bar / Dock menu. (To set preferences to control the microphone in the menu bar /

Dock menu, select the Dictate / Preferences menu, Appearance tab.)

Keyboard shortcuts can also be a fast and convenient way to turn the microphone on

and off. You can change any of Dragon’s default hot keys, including the microphone’s, in

the Shortcuts Preferences pane (found under the Dictate / Preferences menu).

You can turn the microphone off by saying microphone off, but then the mouse or

keyboard need to be used to turn it back on. You can say go to sleep to put the

microphone into a sleeping state, and then say wake up or turn [the] microphone on

when you’re ready to dictate again.

Microphone off, go to sleep, wake up and turn [the] microphone on are all voice

commands. In order for Dragon to recognize and execute the desired action, you must

pause slightly before and after but not in the middle of the command.


CHAPTER 3: DICTATING TEXT AND PUNCTUATION

You can use Dragon Dictate to enter text into all of your favorite Mac applications. What you

dictate will be inserted wherever Dragon sees the blinking cursor within the active application.

But talking to a computer isn’t exactly the same as talking to a person.

HOW TO DICTATE

Speech recognition programs don't understand what words mean, so they can't use common

sense the way people do. Instead they keep track of how frequently words occur by themselves

and in the context of other words. These contextual clues help the computer choose the most

likely word or phrase from among several possibilities. For this reason, accuracy increases if

you speak in longer, continuous phrases. Computers can't understand mumbled speech or

missing words either. They only understand what was actually spoken.

Try thinking about what you want to say before you start to speak. This can be challenging at

first, particularly for those who have been “thinking through their fingers” for years, but you’ll

develop the habit once you see what a difference it makes. And keep in mind, there’s no need

to talk robotically or to talk really slow. Don’t yell or whisper. Just speak at your normal pace in a

normal tone.

Are you ready to get started? For these exercises, open a word processor (like TextEdit or

Microsoft Word). Dragon Dictate also offers its own built-in word processor, called Note Pad,

which is specifically created for dictation through Dragon Dictate.

TIP A common technique is to dictate into a Note Pad window and then copy and paste into

another application. Note Pad window contents are saved as.rtf files which can be opened

for editing later with another word processor (such as TextEdit or Microsoft Word). You

can also open an existing .rtf file into a Note Pad window.


To summon a new Note Pad window:

Step 1: Say File New when Dragon Dictate is front-most or choose New Note Pad from the File

menu.

Step 2: To set the default font and size for a new empty Note Pad window, select the Format

menu and choose Font / Show Fonts. Specify the desired font and size, and close the

Font palette.

TIP Before dictating, make sure the desired window is active. The application where Dragon

will place your transcribed text is listed in the bottom panel of the Status window.

As you dictate, Dragon places your transcribed text directly into the active application.

Underneath the Status window, you can also choose to have Dragon display the last utterance

of your speech as it is recognized. This includes text and punctuation. Check the “Show

Recognized Text” option found under the General tab within the Dictate / Preferences menu.

Review the following text sample then dictate it in a blank document. (Ignore

any errors for now.)

The more I use it, the software will adapt to the way I sound and the words I

use. At the same time, I will also acquire good habits like pausing optimally,

keeping silent when hesitating, and turning the microphone off, or putting it

into its sleep state, when necessary!

NOTE Don’t forget to turn off your microphone when you finish dictating!


PUNCTUATION

Note that Dragon Dictate does not automatically insert punctuation marks for you. Include your

punctuation as you dictate your text. Here are the most common punctuation marks, followed by

what you say to “voice-type” them:

. period

, comma

? question mark

! exclamation point or exclamation mark

: colon

; semi-colon

A complete list of punctuation is available in the User Guide and product Help. Note that you

don’t always have to say hyphens: thanks to its built-in Vocabulary, Dragon can automatically

include hyphens in items such as 3-year-old, above-mentioned, after-tax, ad-libbed, ankle-

length, and more. Dragon will also automatically hyphenate famous names like Abdul-Jabbar.

Look at the following sample, and then dictate it including the correct

punctuation. (If any word is misrecognized, ignore it for now.)

How is this different from dictating to a person? I should try to provide “clean

input” (speaking naturally, but without mumbling or trailing off)! :-)

Dictate the last punctuation as smiley face.

NEW LINE AND NEW PARAGRAPH

When typing, you use your Return / Enter key to start a new line or new paragraph. When

you’re dictating within Note Pad, TextEdit or Microsoft Word, you can still press your Enter key

(or any other key on your keyboard), but you can also simply say commands like new line or

new paragraph.

“ open quote

” close quote

( open paren

) close paren

… ellipsis

& ampersand or and sign

-- dash

- hyphen


When you start dictating a new paragraph, Dragon will capitalize its first letter automatically, just

like it automatically capitalizes after a period, an exclamation point, or a question mark. By

default, Dragon does NOT capitalize the first word after you say the command new line.

TIP To delete your last utterance (the last string of words Dictate just transcribed), you can say

scratch that. To undo the last action Dictate performed on your Mac, say undo last

action. This is equivalent to Undo in the Edit menu, and is especially helpful if you

mistakenly issued a voice command that triggers an unexpected action on your screen.

Dictate the following sample, including the correct punctuation and line

spacing. (If any recognition errors occur, ignore them for now.)

These lessons remind me that "practice makes perfect."

(Who said this, Confucius?)

When it comes to speech recognition software, truer words were never

spoken…

CAPITALIZATION

Since many of the words that require capitalization (such as proper names, places, common

products, etc.) will be automatically capitalized when you dictate them, you often don't need to

worry about capitalization within your dictation. However, follow these steps to capitalize text

that is not automatically generated by Dragon:

To capitalize a single word: If you’re dictating

words that aren’t usually capitalized, say Cap

followed by the word to be capitalized. In the

Status window, the first indicator light will glow

yellow and will read "ABC." When you dictate the

word, it will be typed with an initial capital letter,

and the indicator light will go out automatically.

The first indicator light under the Modesbutton in the Status window illuminates todisplay the status of capitalizationcommands.


To capitalize a string of words: If you’re about to dictate a string of words that need to be

capitalized, say Caps On, followed by Caps Off when you complete the capitalized text.

In the Status window, the first indicator light will glow green and will read "ABC." The

indicator light will go out after you have turned off this command.

To capitalize an entire word: For all uppercase letters in your text, say All Caps followed

by the word to be capitalized. In the Status window, the first indicator light will glow

yellow and will read "ABC." When you dictate the word, it will be typed in all uppercase

letters, and the indicator light will go out automatically.

To capitalize all letters in a phrase: Say All Caps On to dictate a string of words to

appear in all capitalized letters, followed by All Caps Off when you have completed the

dictated text. In the Status window, the first indicator light will glow green while you say

the series of words, which will be typed in all uppercase letters. The indicator light will go

out when the command is turned off.

If you do not want capitalization for text that is generally capitalized, say No Caps / No

Caps On before dictating the word(s).

If the capital letters you’re trying to dictate are an acronym (a series of capital letters without any

spaces or periods between them), say Capital before each letter. For example, saying “Capital

A Capital P Capital C” would generate APC. Dictating “Cap A Cap P Cap C” would generate A P

C with spaces. If you want to dictate initials (a capital letter followed by a period), say Capital or

Cap followed by the letter, and say dot between each letter For example, you would say, “Cap

A dot Cap P dot Cap C dot” to generate A.P.C.

Dictate the following words, including the correct capitalization:

Name and Age

G.S.

DATE OF BIRTH

ASP

Copyright 2011 Nuance Communications, Inc. All righ

TIP If you will be dictating initials or acronyms often, it would be faster and easier to enter

them in your Vocabulary with an easier to dictate “spoken form.” See the next chapter for

more details on this helpful feature.

AUTO FORMATTING OPTIONS

As you saw in your first dictation, Dragon Dictate automatically inserts spaces between words. It

also follows spacing and capitalization rules: for example, it inserts a space after close quote

but none after open quote, and it capitalizes at the beginning of sentences and paragraphs.

Dragon also offers contextual

automatic formatting that allows you

to naturally dictate prices, times,

dates, abbreviations, contractions,

units of measure, street addresses,

email addresses, URLs, and other

special text.

On the Auto Formatting window

(available from the Tools menu), you

can turn Dragon’s rules of automatic

formatting off and on, as desired.

For example, you can choose to have

Dragon systematically transcribe

numbers as words not digits. (By

default, Dragon uses numerals for all

dictated numbers. If you uncheck this op

“numeral” before a number to ensure it is

TIP You can change the default date fo

Auto Formatting dialog. To correctly

double-zero for the top of the hour,

PM after the time (e.g., say “seven

Set your personal formatting preferences -- for items such asnumbers, dates, times, abbreviations and more – within the Auto

ts reserved. 20

tion, Dragon will spell out all numbers. You can say

transcribed as a digit.)

rmat to one of the many date formats offered on the

format times (so that Dragon inserts the colon and

instead of inserting “o’clock”), be sure to specify AM or

forty-five PM” to generate 7:45 PM).

Formatting window.


1) Dictate these phone numbers (with and without area code). There’s no

need to say "hyphen."

Please call 607-585-3926 instead of 587-1239.

Toll free directory: 1-800-555-1212

2) Dictate the following address. For the line containing the zip code, just say

Oakland California 9 1 2 3 5; Dragon automatically uses the postal

abbreviation for the state, and precedes it with a comma.

127 Evergreen Terrace

Oakland, CA 91235

3) Dictate the following dates and times.

Wednesday, July 16, 2012 at 6:00 PM

10/15/09 (say slash) at 8:30 AM

4) Dictate the following price as forty dollars and ninety cents; Dragon will

automatically format it with the dollar sign and dot.

Suggested retail price: $40.90

5) Dictate the following URL as w w w dot the best business dot com. Dragon

will automatically remove the spaces between words.

Please visit www.thebestbusiness.com for more information.

6) Dictate the following email addresses. (Remember: for email addresses

you frequently dictate, adding them to your vocabulary will ensure that you

can dictate them very quickly and with high accuracy.)

[email protected] (say “Laura underscore Miller” at A O L dot com”)

[email protected] (say “customer service at electrical

experts dot com”)

RECOGNITION MODES

There may be times when you want to do a special kind of dictation. For example, you may be

entering many numbers or characters in a row, such as inputting figures or product codes into a

http://www.thebestinthebusiness.com/

mailto:[email protected]


database. Dragon offers unique recognition modes that can help to improve your accuracy in

these instances.

The recognition mode determines whether and how

Dictate will respond to your speech. There are several

different ways to confirm what mode is currently active:

The Status window indicates what mode is

currently active. The mode button’s icon

represents the current mode.

The current mode is checked in the mode menu,

which appears when you click the mode button

in the Status window. The current mode is also

checked in the Speech menu and the Dock

menu.

Most customers work in the default Dictation Mode. If Dragon can interpret your words as a

command, it obeys the command. Otherwise Dragon interprets your words as dictation, and

types those words at the insertion point in the front-most application. Take a moment to explore

Dragon’s other recognition modes, which include Numbers Mode, Spelling Mode, and

Command Mode.

Numbers Mode

If you are about to dictate a sequence of numeric data, you may choose to switch to Numbers

Mode. When in this mode, the software tries to recognize everything it hears as number-related

(or as a command).

Step 1: Say Numbers mode or choose Numbers Mode

from the Status window mode menu. You can

also choose from the Speech or Dock menus or

press the keyboard shortcut for cycling between

modes. (Notice the mode icon change in the

Status window.)TN

indicator.

he Status window displays the current

Recognition Modes can be accessedwithin the Status window. The Modemenu appears when you click the Modebutton, found next to the Sound Level

22

umbers Mode.


Now that Dragon is in Numbers mode, you can:

Dictate numbers and punctuation (hyphen, dot or point)

Say new line, new paragraph and space

Step 2: To resume regular dictation, you can say Dictation mode, or use the Mode menu in the

Status window.

Spelling Mode

The Spelling Mode is very useful for dictating character sequences which don’t form

pronounceable words, as is often the case for part numbers, license plate numbers, codes…

(It’s also useful for spelling out terms which you anticipate Dragon won’t know, such as words in

a foreign language or unusual product names.)

Step 1: Say Spelling Mode or select the Spelling mode from the Status window mode menu.

The Status window will indicate that Spell Mode is on.

You can now dictate characters, including letters, digits, and symbols.

To capitalize a letter, say cap immediately followed by the letter

Say new line or new paragraph, as well as space or spacebar

Step 2: You can return to normal dictating by voice (say Dictation mode) or by clicking the

Mode menu in the Status window.

TIP Most of the time Dictate will insert spaces automatically before or after punctuation and

between words. But in Spelling mode, no automatic spaces are inserted – you must insert

any desired spaces yourself. To insert a space, say Space Bar.


SUMMARY: DICTATING TEXT AND PUNCTUATION

What you dictate is transcribed at the insertion point (the blinking vertical bar or cursor

where characters would appear if you started to type). Before you dictate, make sure

that the desired window is not just visible, but also has the focus.

Speaking in longer, continuous phrases provides contextual clues and thus helps

Dragon choose between homophones like “right” and “write” or “to” and “two.”

Punctuation is part of the dictation context—it has an impact on recognition accuracy.

Two very frequent dictation commands are new paragraph (which adds a blank line)

and new line. By default, new line does NOT trigger capitalization of the following word.

Dragon can format dates, times, prices, street addresses, phone numbers, Web

addresses, units of measure, and other special text automatically. The Auto Formatting

window (found under the Tools menu) lets you turn these built-in rules off or on as

desired.

The restricted recognition modes can make dictating special text more efficient. They are

accessible by voice commands (“Numbers Mode,” “Spelling Mode”) and through the

Status window’s Mode icon and menu.

If you will be dictating only numbers and punctuation, consider turning Numbers Mode

on. If dictating a long sequence of characters (letters, digits, punctuation, symbols),

consider Spelling Mode.

When spelling out, you can insert a capital letter by saying cap just before the letter, and

you can say space or spacebar.


CHAPTER 4: CUSTOMIZING THE VOCABULARY

Dragon includes more than 150,000 words and phrases in its standard “out-of-the-box”

vocabulary, so it’s prepared to recognize most of the text that you will likely dictate. But what

happens if you dictate unique words or terms that aren’t in the standard vocabulary? Dragon

has the amazing ability to “learn” the desired spelling and formatting of the specific text that you

dictate. This includes acronyms, abbreviations, special phrases, names of people, places,

products, etc.

WHY IS VOCABULARY CUSTOMIZATION IMPORTANT?

An unusual name may seem commonplace to you because you use it frequently, but a person

who hears it for the first time may not be able to recognize and spell it: that name is not yet a

part of this person’s vocabulary. Similarly, if a word or phrase is not in Dragon’s active

vocabulary, the software cannot transcribe it correctly without a little instruction. When you

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

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

model and Vocabulary.

Personalizing the Vocabulary early and often is strongly recommended. Vocabulary

customization helps to ensure that Dragon is prepared to recognize the words and terms that

you will dictate regularly. Dragon will make fewer recognition mistakes because vocabulary

customization helps Dragon “get it right the first time” -- including spelling, capitalization, and

spacing.

USING THE VOCABULARY EDITOR

The Vocabulary Editor window is your interface for viewing and editing the list of words, phrases

and symbols that Dictate can type for you. It also allows you to add new entries, as well as edit

existing entries—including their Spoken Forms and Properties.


The Vocabulary Editor contains a built-in vocabulary list of more than 150,000 words and a user

list that you can customize based on your individual needs. An icon next to each word

distinguishes built-in vocabulary from user vocabulary. The default view combines both lists to

show all words that Dragon is prepared to recognize. By scrolling through the list, you can see

that the built-in Vocabulary already includes many names of people, places, institutions and

products, as well as common words, phrases, and abbreviations.

To view the Vocabulary Editor:

Step 1: Select Vocabulary Editor from the Tools menu to open the Vocabulary Editor window

and view the entries currently in Dragon’s active Vocabulary.

Step 2: Click on the i information icon at the bottom of the window for more information about

each word. Most entries only have a Written Form, but some also have at least one

Spoken form. By browsing these words, you can get ideas about what entries you might

add or edit.

The Vocabulary Editor lists the words,phrases and symbols that Dictate is preparedto transcribe.

Copyright 2011 Nuance Communication

ADDING VOCABULARY ENTRIES: WORDS, PHRASES AND ACRONYMS …

To add a new word or phrase:

Step 1: Open the

Vocabulary Editor

and click the + icon

at the bottom of the

Vocabulary Editor

window. In the

dialog box, type the

new word or phrase

exactly as you want

it to appear during

transcription.

Step 2: To add a

description of how

the word is spoken,

click Advanced to

reveal the rest of

the dialog.

Step 3: Click OK, and the

word or phrase will now

Alternately, you can quickly se

field and pressing Return. The

criteria by “contains,” “begins w

field.

If the word or term appears in t

Vocabulary. If you execute a se

will offer to add the term to you

vocabulary item later). To decli

TV

each Dragon the unique words and phrases that you will dictate using the

s, Inc. All rights reserved. 27

be included in your custom Vocabulary.

arch for a particular Vocabulary entry by entering it in the Search

drop-down list in the Search field allows you to filter your search

ith” or “ends with” options. Press Escape to clear the Search

he scrollable list, it is already in the active layer of the

arch and no match is found (and you’re in the “All” view), Dictate

r user vocabulary. To add it, click Yes (you can edit the new

ne, click No.

ocabulary Editor.


Some of the "words" in the Vocabulary Editor aren't single words. Of course is listed. So is as

well as. There are also names of people, places, products, and institutions: Mother Teresa,

Madison Square Garden, KitchenAid, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Marine Corps, Library of

Congress, Babe Ruth, Accounts Payable, George Washington, Johnson & Johnson, Division I,

LAN Server …

Multi-word vocabulary entries help the software resolve spelling and capitalization ambiguities: if

the Vocabulary didn’t contain the phrase Mother Teresa, dictating it would probably produce the

transcription "mother Theresa"—because the word mother is usually not capitalized, and

because Theresa is the more common spelling of the name. Having the phrase in its

Vocabulary helps Dragon know that the words “Mother” and “Teresa” are likely to occur

together, and hence helps Dragon choose the desired capitalization and spelling.

We strongly recommend adding personal “multi-words” to your Vocabulary. This will later save

you time since you will not have to adjust their spelling and capitalization after transcription.

When adding names of people, consider nicknames and diminutives as well as formal names,

particularly for names that are very short or that can be spelled different ways: for instance, one

might add Liz Hansen, Elizabeth McGee Hansen, Jennifer B. Addams, Jennifer Addams, Jenny

Addams, etc. This idea applies to more than just names. Whenever you add an item to the

Vocabulary, think of its possible variations: singular/plural for nouns, present/past/gerund for

verbs …

TIP If something is not in the Vocabulary, the software cannot recognize it. So don’t hesitate

to add items even if you think you will not dictate them very often! When adding an entry

to the Vocabulary, be sure to spell and capitalize it correctly. Otherwise, it will appear

misspelled in your documents every time you dictate it.


1) In the Vocabulary Editor, search for a few familiar names such as your

own first and last names, your town, company, colleagues or relatives; if

necessary, add them using the + button.

2) Open a word processor (such as Note Pad, which automatically opens

when you start Dictate) and start a list of Vocabulary entries relevant to you;

some suggestions are below.

Jargon and phrases specific to your profession (such as distro, site visit

and non-State)

Names of places, facilities or organizations (such as Building 52, or

County Adoption Center)

Names of products (such as MicroPore tape or Latex Exterior Semi-

Gloss)

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

Names of people (coworkers, clients, friends, relatives …) including full

combinations for names that could be spelled differently (Kristin, Gene,

Steven, McGregor, Wolfe …) or are very short (Kip, Kit, Dee …) since this

helps Dragon resolve acoustic ambiguities.

If you are using Dragon at work, note that your employer may be able to

give you some lists that could save you time: lists of staff or clients,

departments, units or divisions, products, trademarks, building names, as

well as glossaries of terms and acronyms. Starting from such lists doesn’t

just save time; it may also help add these items with their official, correct

spelling.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SPOKEN FORMS

Some words or phrases could be pronounced in several ways, and some are not pronounced

“the way they are written” (because of silent letters, for instance). For example, acronyms are

often pronounced letter by letter, but not always (e.g., ASAP is pronounced "ay sap" by many

people or A-S-A-P by others). Dragon enables a “Spoken Form” in the Vocabulary so that you

can pronounce words your own way.


If the information area is not present on the Vocabulary Editor window, click the i information

icon to summon it. Take a moment to scroll through and look at existing spoken forms—you will

get ideas for what kinds of entries warrant them and how they can be written.

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

custom entries as well as to existing entries. This way you can dictate words in the way

that comes most naturally to you. For example, to enter the symbol ©, you might like to

say “circle see” instead of the existing spoken form “copyright sign.”

Spoken forms should not include punctuation (including periods), abbreviations, or symbols.

Here are a few examples:

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

Spoken Form: the man from uncle

Written Form: St. Clement's Hospital

Spoken Form: Saint Clements Hospital

Written Form: Soddy-Daisy, TN.

Spoken Form: Soddy Daisy Tennessee

Written Form: Trenton-Mercer Airport

Spoken Form: Trenton Mercer Airport

Adding Spoken Forms allows you to dictate in the way that is most natural, but also quickest for

you. In addition to indicating pronunciation, Spoken Forms can be used for “vocal shorthand”

and automatic substitution. You say something short and easy, and Dragon types something

longer or “trickier” to say or remember. This capability can be used to give consistency and

clarity to your writings. For example, your Spoken Form can be “New York O C F S” and the

Written Form appears as “New York Office of Children and Family Services.”

Bwybcsstp

y adding a Spoken Form toords in the Vocabulary Editorou can specify how an item wille pronounced. Spoken formsan be used for “vocalhorthand” – say somethinghort and easy, and Dragon willype a more complicated word or

30

hrase.


To add a Spoken Form in the Vocabulary Editor:

Step 1: First, decide what you want to say, and what Dragon should transcribe when you say it.

For example, suppose your school, Central Lexington United High School, is often

called CLUHS or "cluss". When you dictate “cluss,” do you want Dragon to type CLUHS

or Central Lexington United High School?

Step 2: Press + to add a new word or phrase. In the Word field, type what you want Dragon to

write. Be careful with its capitalization, spacing, and spelling — including symbols or

punctuation marks if needed, as in E*TRADE.

Step 3: In the next field, type what you will actually say. (Click the Advanced arrow if the spoken

form field is not automatically displayed.) In some cases (as in our “cluss” example),

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

Step 4: Click OK.

TIP Entries containing symbols, digits, or unusual spacing are particularly likely to warrant a

Spoken Form. If the written form of a word contains any punctuation, consider providing a

spoken form so that there is no doubt as to how the item will be pronounced.

If you add email addresses to the Vocabulary, giving them a Spoken Form can make them

quicker to dictate. For example, to type AmyT&[email protected], you could have a spoken

form of “Amy and John at yahoo dot com” or even just “Amy and John at yahoo.”

DELETING WORDS

Deleting a word can be helpful if it “competes” with a word you are trying to dictate (e.g., if

Dragon consistently transcribes Schaefer when you are trying to dictate Shafer, you can delete

the word that is not important to you from your Vocabulary).

mailto:AmyT&[email protected]


To delete a vocabulary item:

Step 1: Open the Vocabulary Editor (found under the Tools menu).

Step 2: Highlight the word/phrase you want to delete and choose Delete from the gear icon

menu at the bottom of the window.

Step 3: A dialog appears giving you an opportunity to change your mind. Click OK.

VOCABULARY TRAINING

If at some point you find that an item is not transcribed as you intended, remember that it might

need a spoken form, or a longer entry in the Vocabulary. You may also want to train the

pronunciation of the item. This means that you pronounce the item several times, so that

Dragon Dictate can record your voice saying it and better “learn” how you pronounce that

specific vocabulary item.

To train a vocabulary item:

Step 1: Open the Vocabulary Editor and select

the item from the vocabulary list. Choose

Train from the tool (gear) menu at the

bottom of the Vocabulary Editor window.

To “teach” Dragon how you pronounce a specificword or phrase, select the Train option from the Tool(gear) menu in the Vocabulary Editor and follow theshort “Train Words” process.


Step 2: Dragon Dictate opens a new dialog that highlights the word or phrase you are about to

train. Click Train again and then say the word or phrase three times. Dragon indicates

that it has heard you each time and then confirms that the training process is complete.

Be sure to use your natural dictation voice when training words. When providing acoustic

training, there is a natural tendency to over-enunciate or speak loudly. Since you will not over-

enunciate in your normal dictations, doing so in the Train Words window would provide Dragon

with non-representative acoustic data. Relax, and speak clearly, but not louder or slower than

you would when dictating normally.

TIP The i icon displays the information area for vocabulary entries. Here you can edit the

capitalization and spacing features for user vocabulary items, and for most built-in

vocabulary items.

Spaces before and after: normal words will have one space before and one space after.

But a punctuation mark might follow a different rule.

Next Word: how should the word following this item be capitalized? In most cases,

natural capitalization (the default) will be the right choice.

Lowercase in titles: a "title" is a phrase dictated while title casing is turned on (Caps

On). You might prefer that "small" words such as "of" or "in" not be capitalized in such

phrases.

CUSTOMIZING THE VOCABULARY FROM EXISTING DOCUMENTS

Another efficient way to help Dragon learn unknown words – and therefore boost your accuracy

-- is to let Dragon analyze text that is similar to what you are likely to dictate. The Vocabulary

Training tool uses many documents at once to “harvest” potential words to add to the

Vocabulary, as well as to “adapt to your writing style” (i.e., learn frequency information). The

greater the amount of relevant text Dragon gets to analyze, the better it can adapt its

Vocabulary to what you usually need to dictate. (This is similar to giving a just-hired

transcriptionist many documents in which to observe the terms used, their spellings, the words

that often appear before or after, etc. Doing so would help the transcriptionist get ready to

transcribe your dictations most accurately, right from the start.)


“Adapting to writing style” will make Dragon learn frequency information, which increases

accuracy since it helps differentiate between homophones like “world” and “whirled.”

Dragon can perform its text analysis on the following file types: .txt (plain text), .rtf (Rich Text),

.doc(x) (Microsoft Word), and .odt files.

TIP If significant text exists only in an application that doesn’t normally produce files of these

types (PowerPoint is an example), see whether this application lets you copy text so you

can paste it in the Note Pad and save it from there, or whether it offers a way to extract

plain text (it could be called “export” or “save as outline” for instance).

To analyze existing documents:

Step 1: Locate some electronic documents you have stored on your Mac — it doesn’t matter if

they were written by you or someone else. Think of reports, letters, memos, proposals

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

better. Spell-check the documents if necessary. (Dragon would detect misspellings as

unknown words.) There is no need to analyze all documents at one time; you can

repeat this step later if you choose.

Step 2: Choose the Vocabulary Training option

from the Tools menu.

Step 3: Click Add to select the files you want

Dragon to analyze. You can also drag files

directly into the window if you choose.

Step 4: Click the Right Arrow button to proceed.

Dragon will now analyze the text contained

in the designated documents. This may

take a moment. If there is a lot of text to

analyze, you should run this tool when you

do NOT need to use Dragon for something

else.

Tot

he Vocabulary Training window gives you anpportunity to select the files you would like Dragon

34

o analyze to learn your vocabulary and writing style.


Step 6: Dragon will then present you with a list of the “unknown” words it found in a series of

two columns (Included and Excluded). Each word is followed by the number of times

that word was encountered. (The

words found most frequently are

presented at the top since they are

most likely to be relevant, unlike those

that only occurred a few times.)

Dragon will include words from the

Included column into your vocabulary.

You can transfer specific words to/from

the Included and Excluded columns by

selecting the word and clicking the

Exclude/Include buttons at the bottom

of the window.

Step 7: When only the words you want to add to y

click the Right Arrow button to proceed. D

added to your Vocabulary. Click Done to e

TIP You can also analyze text from a document t

to analyze and say Train Vocabulary from S

select the text and choose “Train Vocabulary

IMPORTING AND EXPORTING VOCABULARY

Once you’ve customized your Vocabulary, Dragon

words that you are likely to dictate. But note that a

profile. You may want to copy user vocabulary from

Use the Exclude and Include buttons at the bottom ofthe Vocabulary Training window to select the new words

35

our Vocabulary are listed in the left column,

ragon signals when the words have been

xit the window.

hat is already open. Select the text you want

election. Or within a Note Pad window,

from Selection” from the Tools menu.

ENTRIES

is better prepared to recognize the unique

user Vocabulary is specific to an individual

one profile to share with another profile.

that will remain on the Included list for your Vocabulary.


To export and import a list of “words” (i.e. Vocabulary entries):

Step 1: To export your customized Vocabulary, select the User view from within the Vocabulary

Editor window. Highlight the items you want to include in your export file and click the

Export option from the gear icon. Dragon creates an XML file that you can name and

save.

Step 2: When you're ready to import a list, open the Vocabulary Editor and choose Import from

the gear menu and select the XML file that you exported. The imported entries will now

be viewable in the Vocabulary Editor of each profile.

SUMMARY: CUSTOMIZING THE VOCABULARY

You can access the Vocabulary Editor through the Tools menu.

You can locate an item in the Vocabulary Editor by entering it in the Search field. The

drop-down list in the Search field allows you to filter your search criteria by “contains,”

“begins with” or “ends with” options.

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

view many examples of Spoken Forms in the Vocabulary Editor. In addition to clarifying

pronunciation (particularly useful for items that contain digits, symbols, or silent letters),

Spoken Forms can be used to allow the speaker to say something quite different, and

much shorter and easier, than their associated written form. For example, you can just

say just “E O B stat,” and Dragon types “Explanation of Benefit (EOB) statement.”

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

and capitalization.

When providing acoustic training, remember to speak as you typically do when you

dictate to Dragon. It’s important to avoid the temptation to over-enunciate or speak

loudly when training a word or phrase in isolation.


The Vocabulary Training window is accessible from the Tools menu. This tool can

analyze existing documents to learn about the “writing style” you plan to use—meaning,

which words are used with what frequency, and what words appear near each other.

You can input documents written by someone else, as long as they are similar to what

you will dictate. To be used in this tool, files must be text files (.txt, .rtf, .doc(x), or .odt

files).

The Vocabulary Training tool can process many files at a time. You may wish to re-run it

whenever you create or find suitable text. The more (relevant) text is processed, the

more refined your profile can become. When presented with the unknown words the tool

found in the texts, you can choose which ones to add.

Adding words and phrases to the Vocabulary and letting Dragon see how often and next

to what you are likely to dictate these items helps pre-empt recognition errors so Dragon

can deliver greater accuracy when you dictate.


CHAPTER 5: CORRECTING RECOGNITION ERRORS

Sometimes Dragon will make mistakes as it transcribes your text. Just as human beings

sometimes can’t recognize words correctly, Dragon may mistakenly insert text that is different

from what you actually dictated.

Dragon uses contextual clues and statistical information to guess what to transcribe, but

sometimes Dragon can’t guess correctly. Instead it types what could be a likely alternative

according to its statistics. We call this a “misrecognition.” But if you take time to correct Dragon’s

mistakes, the software will actually “learn” from your corrections, and will be less likely to make

the same mistake again.

TIP Dragon can’t recognize and transcribe a word it has never seen. For this reason, Dragon’s

Vocabulary customization tools, reviewed in the previous chapter, are a critical component

to achieving fewer recognition errors.

If you notice a misrecognition as you dictate a phrase or sentence, it's usually best to finish your

train of thought before you correct that mistake. But remember that correcting Dragon’s

mistakes is critical! Otherwise the software will continue to make the same mistake every time

you dictate that word or phrase, and you will quickly grow frustrated.

What if the mistake was your own and not Dragon’s? In other words, what if you misspeak, or if

you simply change your mind while dictating, and now you want to replace the text that appears

on your screen? The instructions below explain how to correct Dragon’s mistakes, but this

workbook will cover how to edit and modify your text in the next chapter.

CORRECTING VIA THE RECOGNITION WINDOW

If you see a misrecognition (i.e., Dragon transcribes text that is not exactly what you said), use

the Recognition window to correct Dragon’s interpretation of what you said. The Recognition

window “trains” the voice model within your profile. In other words, the Recognition window is

used to “teach” Dragon and to improve its accuracy in recognizing your speech.


To correct misrecognized text:

Step 1: To summon the Recognition window, say Train or Correct followed by the word or

phrase you would like to correct.

TIP The Recognition window (and voice model training in general) operates on dictated

utterances (the strings of dictated text that occur between pauses as you dictate). Dragon

will select text for correction based partly on where you paused while dictating. Therefore,

the phrase that is selected when you say “Train” or “Correct” or the phrase that appears in

the Recognition window might be longer or shorter than what you initially specified.

Step 2: When the Recognition window is showing, it floats over all applications. The

Recognition window presents alternative interpretations of the phrase containing the

current selection or insertion point in the dictation document. The first alternative is the

interpretation that Dragon entered in your document.

TIP You can set the number of additional alternatives presented in the Recognition window by

customizing the setting for the “Maximum number of alternatives” in the Recognition

Preferences pane (select the Dictate menu, choose Preferences, then click the

Recognition tab).

Step 3: If what you actually said is in the list of

choices, you can pick it by voice: say

Choose or Pick immediately followed by

the number of the desired choice (i.e.,

“choose 2” or “pick 3”). You can also

select your alternative choice by clicking

the numbered button at the left of the

correct alternative.

If the Recognition window does not list the

correct alternative, you can edit one of the

alternatives so that it is correct.

TDcc

he Recognition window lists alternatives whenragon “misrecognizes” something you said. Youan select the correct option, or edit one of the listed

39

hoices until it is correct.


To edit an alternative:

Say Edit followed by the number at the left of the desired alternative. (Or you can

click once to select the alternative, pause, and then click once inside the text of

the alternative.)

The alternative you are editing is now the “target” for dictation and commands.

You can edit the text by voice using Dictation or Spelling mode, or type the

correct text manually. When you are finished, say Choose followed by the

number of the option you edited.

To exit editing mode without entering the corrected phrase into your document,

say Cancel Edit or click elsewhere.

Step 4: To close the Recognition window, say Hide Recognition Window or Cancel training.

You have now performed phrase training. Internally, Dragon Dictate will modify its

speech model, and will save this information into your profile the next time your profile

is saved.

After dictating the following, use the Recognition Window to fix any

recognition errors.

Until further notice, the BHDP meeting will be held in room B31 (not B40).

Special invitees this week: Stephen Hess, Anne Petersen, and Gene Wood.

TIP Try different Recognition Preferences pane settings and different ways of summoning and

closing the Recognition window as you train your dictation. You’ll soon settle on a favorite

way of working.

Additional ways to access the Recognition window include the following:

Say Show Recognition window immediately after dictating text that contains an error.

Click the “Open Recognition window” button (the rightmost icon) in the Status Window.

Press the Recognition window keyboard shortcut (by default, Function/Command/F9).


If “Show Recognition window when dictating” is checked in the Recognition Preferences

pane (found under the Preferences option of the Dictate menu), the Recognition window

will open automatically when you are dictating in Dictation mode or Spelling mode as

soon as the insertion point is within or after a phrase capable of being trained. Usually

this will be as soon as you dictate anything.

Additional ways to close the Recognition window include the following:

Say Cancel Edit.

Say Cancel Recognition.

Click the close button at the top left of the Recognition window.

Press the Recognition window keyboard shortcut (by default, Function/Command/F9).

If “Close Recognition window after each choice” is checked in the Recognition

Preferences pane, the Recognition window will close automatically as soon as you use it

to replace a dictated phrase with its correct version.

Dictate uncommon words, such as nicknames or product names, until a few

misrecognitions appear. Use the Recognition window and practice editing

what you actually said from the list of alternative options.

USING PLAYBACK AND TEXT TO SPEECH TO AID CORRECTION

Just as with any written work, you should always proofread your dictated text to be sure that

everything appears as you intended. While it’s true that Dragon will not make a spelling mistake,

it may insert text that is not what you intended. Sometimes Dragon’s mistakes (i.e., the

misrecognitions within your text) can be difficult to see, which could be the case if Dragon

transcribes “and” when you actually said “an.” HEARING your text can help you catch mistakes,

especially ones that a spelling or grammar checker might miss.

As you’re proofreading your text, you may not remember exactly what you actually said. This

can be a challenge especially if you dictate a significant amount of text before correcting.

Dragon’s playback feature is very helpful in these instances.


To use the playback feature:

Step 1: If you need a reminder of what you actually dictated to generate a passage of text,

select the text you want to review and correct.

Step 2: Open the Recognition window (following one of the options outlined above). Once the

Recognition window appears, say Press Play (or click the Play button at the top right of

the Recognition window) to hear the recording of your voice as you dictated that text.

Step 3: In most cases, Dragon Dictate will have preserved the recording of your speech from

when you dictated the phrase. Use the content of the audio playback to accurately

correct the transcribed text.

Dictate a detailed paragraph about a recent trip: where, how long… Then

select portions of the text to play back. If you find any misrecognitions, use

the Recognition window and editing commands to correct them.

Dragon Dictate can also read your text back to you using the text-to-speech capabilities that are

built into the Mac OS X. A computerized voice reads your text aloud, providing a proofreading

tool that can help you identify any mistakes that Dragon may have made. This tool also lets you

listen to the flow of your writing so you can decide where to make changes during editing.

Say Read document or Read the selection to have Dragon Dictate read the entire document

or the text you’ve selected by highlighting with your mouse. You can also use the command

Read the words [text] through [text] or Proofread the words [text] to [text] to tell Dictate to

read a specific passage of text. Say Wake up … Stop reading to stop the audio.

TIP You can change the voice you hear during the proofreading by clicking on Speech under

your Mac System Preferences and selecting Text to Speech. You can choose between

multiple male and female voices. You can also change your preferred voice’s speaking

rate (i.e., slow, normal, fast).


SUMMARY: CORRECTING RECOGNITION ERRORS

Although correcting misrecognitions can seem time-consuming at first, it will result in

increased accuracy, which in turn means that there will be fewer and fewer

misrecognitions to address.

In Correction commands, do not pause at all between saying “train” or “correct” and the

misrecognized word(s).

To proofread using playback – hearing your own voice played back to be sure of what

exactly was said -- click Play in the Recognition Window or say Press Play.

To have a computerized voice read your text aloud to you, making it easier to proofread

the content of your final document, say Read document.


CHAPTER 6: FORMATTING AND EDITING TEXT BY VOICE

As you learned, Dragon transcribes your dictation wherever the insertion point is (usually shown

as a thin blinking vertical bar some call a cursor.) You can also use your voice to move around

within a document and edit the contents.

Mouse and keyboard actions can be combined seamlessly with dictation and voice control if you

are working within Note Pad, TextEdit or Microsoft Word 2011. But when you’re dictating

outside of these applications, it is important to keep in mind that you should not mix your voice

with your hands when creating and editing documents.

NOTE Navigating within a document or editing the dictated text requires that Dragon has the

ability to constantly “see” or “know” the location of the cursor within your document.

Since Dragon is tightly integrated with TextEdit, Note Pad and Microsoft Word 2011,

Dragon knows where your cursor is within a document whether you are using your

voice or using your mouse and keyboard. Within some applications, Dragon can’t track

mouse/keyboard movements and may lose track of where the cursor is located. For

this reason, do not mix dictation with mouse/keyboard actions.

With some applications on your Mac, such as Mail or Microsoft Excel, Dragon can’t actually

“see” what’s going on. It doesn’t know what the current document window looks like, or what

you do there. Dragon knows only what tasks you have completed BY VOICE. As it works with

text, Dragon memorizes its own actions: the text it types, the navigation it performs. This

memory is called the cache. The cache is how Dragon keeps track of what text is in the window

and where the selection or insertion point is located within that text.

When you’re using Dragon to work with text outside of Note Pad, TextEdit or Microsoft Word

2011 therefore, you shouldn’t do anything with a mouse or keyboard that Dictate can’t track.

Don’t use the mouse and keyboard to navigate, select, cut and paste, or type. If you do,

Dictate’s cache will get out of sync with reality. Dictate won’t recognize that you’ve made a

manual change to a document where you’ve been dictating, so navigating and editing

commands will not work reliably.


This rule is easily broken since many of us are accustomed to using a keyboard and mouse to

execute routine tasks. To reduce this risk, you may find it easier to work in a Note Pad window

or Word document (where you can combine dictation and mouse/keyboard input in whatever

way is most efficient for you) and then copy the text and paste it into some other application. It’s

better not to get the cache out of sync if you can help it, but you can easily work around mixed

text input options by creating a new cache for your document.

To start a new cache:

Step 1: Say cache document, which instructs Dragon to read the whole document’s contents,

no matter how that content was created. Dragon disregards what it entered by voice

within this document, and deletes its recordings of your voice (so training on existing

text is no longer possible). Dragon now has an accurate record of the current document

contents, so you can proceed with dictation and reliably format and edit the text by

voice.

Step 2: Alternatively, you can say cache selection. This is similar to the “cache document”

command, but it works only on the currently selected text. Commands for navigation

and editing text will work reliably only within this region. (To work with Dragon outside

this region of your document, you would need to issue another “cache” command.)

HOW TO ISSUE COMMANDS

Voice commands are used to tell Dragon to perform an action instead of transcribing your words

into text. The key to effective commands is where and when you pause while issuing the

command. When issuing voice commands, pause before and after you issue the command. But

do not pause while saying the command itself. Any hesitation will cause the words of the

command to be typed on the screen. (If this happens, just say scratch that and try again,

without pausing this time.)

For example, the correct command is “scratch that” instead of “oops! I guess I need to scratch

… my mistake here …that whole paragraph.” Effectively pausing as you state specific

commands will determine whether Dragon correctly executes the task for you.

TIP If the command you want to execute is confused with dictated text, switch to Command

mode to ensure that Dragon understands your words as a command to be obeyed, and

not dictation to be typed.

THE AVAILABLE COMMANDS WINDOW

To learn what commands are available at any moment, use the Available Commands window,

which serves as a “cheat sheet” on your desktop to remind you about the voice commands that

you can use to control your computer.

To show the Available Commands window, say Show

Available Commands or choose “Show Available

Commands” from the Windows menu. When the

Available Commands window is showing, it floats over

all applications so it is always available for your

reference. You can hide the Available Commands

window by saying Hide Available Commands or by

choosing “Hide Available Commands” from the

Window menu.

To discover commands, scroll through the window, or

use the Search field. You can hover the mouse over a

command’s name in the Available Commands window

to see a tooltip displaying its description.

The Available Commands window displays thecommands that are available at any given time


The list of commands displayed in the Available Commands window changes automatically

depending on what mode you’re in, what application is front-most, and whether the Recognition

window is open. The order in which commands are displayed depends on your settings in the

Command Preferences pane (e.g., whether you have generated the application launch and

email commands which will be discussed later in this workbook).

to help you get more done on your Mac.


TIP If there is text in the Search field, the list of commands is filtered to display only

commands containing that text. To be certain that all commands are displayed, empty the

Search field (click in the Search field and press Escape).

NAVIGATION COMMANDS

Some commands move the insertion point regardless of its starting location:

Go to beginning –- moves to the beginning of the document

Go to end –- moves to the end of the document

Other commands move the insertion point relative to its present location:

Move [left / back] [1-99] word(s) –- e.g., move left 7 words

Move [right / forward] [1-99] word(s) –- e.g., move forward 3 words

The insert commands position the insertion point just before or just after a specific word or

phrase:

Insert before your office –- moves the insertion point to just before the phrase "your

office"

Insert after park yesterday -– moves the cursor to just after the phrase “park

yesterday”

SELECTING TEXT AND CUT/PASTE OPTIONS

The select commands let you “highlight” editable text visible on the screen. You can say select

followed by the specific word or phrase you want to highlight.

You can also select a range of text by naming its “start text” through “end text.” For example,

“select do let THROUGH convenience” would select the entire range of text "do let me know at

your earliest convenience." You can include punctuation in your selection, or select the entire

content by saying select all.


Selection commands are especially helpful when combined with cut and paste commands.

When you have selected your specified text, you can say Cut selection or Copy selection. To

paste, say Paste from Clipboard.

As with all commands, say the “select” commands as a continuous phrase, with a brief pause

before and after. For commands that quote words from your screen, choose your target words

before you start to say the command.

TIP If the word or phrase you are trying to select appears more than once in your document,

say Select again (or Select previous / Select next) until the correct instance is

highlighted. To unselect text, say Unselect that.

REPLACING AND INSERTING WORDS

The select commands are very useful when you need to change some of the text on your

screen. As you would with mouse or keyboard, you select the relevant segment, and then you

overwrite it—by dictating or typing.

For instance, if your text reads "100 Main Street," but you want to change it to "500 Washington

Street," say “select 100 Main” (pause) “500 Washington.”

TIP To select large passages of text, take advantage of the select [start text] through [end

text] command structure.

Practice “overwriting” by voice. Dictate the following paragraph then issue

the commands listed below.

I will be in Boston for a few days next week, and would love to get together

for lunch. We could meet at your office at noon. I’ll be staying at the Madison

downtown; give me a call. Talk to you soon!

“Select lunch” You should see the word “lunch” highlighted.


Say “an early dinner” The sentence should now read “get together

for an early dinner.”

“Select noon” You should now see the word “noon” highlighted.

Say “six o’clock PM” The sentence should now read “We could

meet at your office at 6:00 PM.”

“Select in through week” The words “in Boston for a few days next

week” are highlighted.

Say “in your area on Tuesday” The sentence should now read “I

will be in your area on Tuesday…”

Observe the insertion point’s current position. Say “insert after dinner”

then say “if you have time”

“Insert before exclamation mark” (observe the move), then say

“comma I hope”

COMMANDS TO EDIT AND FORMAT TEXT (BOLD, UNDERLINE, ETC.)

Just as you can select editable text using the commands select [text] and select [start text]

through [end text], you can say the verbs bold, underline, and italicize immediately followed

by the word(s) (and punctuation) you’d like to format or edit (e.g., “Bold ‘Commands to Edit and

Format Text’” or “Bold ‘Commands’ through ‘Format Text’”). This “Quick Voice Formatting” also

applies to delete and cut commands, making it easy to remove extra text from your document.

TIP Rather than inserting "open" and "close" quotation marks, parentheses, and brackets

during dictation, you can use a single voice command during editing such as:

Put brackets around [existing text]

Put parentheses around [existing text]

Put quotes around [existing text]

Dictate the following text, and then format the text as instructed.

It was nice meeting you Tuesday. I think you have some good ideas about

the Johnson project! Let’s get the team focused on this project by February.


When you have time, could you write up your comments and email them to

me? I would really appreciate it.

“Italicize I think through project”

“Put quotes around the team”

“Bold by February”

“Delete when you have time comma”

“Underline really”

The same type of Quick Voice Formatting commands outlined above can be applied to words

that you would like to capitalize with a Capitalize [text] command. For example, to capitalize

the heading of this section, you could say, “Capitalize commands through format text.” To go

beyond initial capitalization to have the entire word capitalized, say Uppercase [text].

SUMMARY: EDITING AND FORMATTING TEXT

You can use your mouse and keyboard combined with voice commands to format and

edit documents within TextEdit, Note Pad and Microsoft Word 2011. With all other

applications, don’t mix your voice with your hands. Otherwise Dictate will not be able to

perform navigation and formatting commands reliably within your document.

If you mistakenly mix manual input with voice commands, use the cache document

command. Dictate will now have an accurate record of the current document contents,

so you can proceed with dictation and reliably format and edit the text by voice.

Commands to select text can address small or large amounts of text, even several

paragraphs or the entire document (select all). When selecting text, include dictated

punctuation if appropriate.

If the word or phrase you want to select appears in several places, you can use select

[text], followed by the command select again to move to the next instance.

To unselect text say unselect that.


At first, uttering the whole command can be tricky for commands that quote words from

your text, such as bold [start text] through [end text] or insert before [text]. Deciding

what you are going to say before starting to speak is recommended.

As with all Dragon commands, you must pause briefly before and after saying these

formatting commands. If you mistakenly paused mid-command, just say scratch that,

pause, and give the complete command again.

You say scratch that to delete the last thing you said. To undo the last action, you can

say undo last action.


CHAPTER 7: CONTROLLING APPLICATIONS BY VOICE

Dragon Dictate can do much more than type and format your dictated text. You can start

programs, open desktop items, control windows, “voice-click” buttons, “voice-press” keys, move

the mouse pointer, and much more – all without touching the mouse or keyboard.

USING VOICE COMMANDS WITHIN MICROSOFT WORD

In addition to the correction, formatting and editing commands reviewed in previous chapters,

Dragon Dictate offers application-specific commands for TextEdit, Microsoft Word 2011 and

other applications to allow you to do more by voice. These application-specific commands are

listed in the Available Commands window, but some of the most helpful Word commands are

highlighted below:

file new or new blank document

file save

insert hyperlink

insert page break

insert page numbers

insert picture from file

insert table

insert text box

check spelling and grammar

set font size to # points (e.g., “set font size to 24 points”)

KEYWORD-SEARCHING THE COMPUTER

The “Dragon Voice Shortcuts for Desktop Search” help speed up a process many of us go

through very often: finding information that we know is somewhere on our computer.

At any time, no matter what application is currently active on your screen, these commands let

you launch a search for items containing the keyword(s) you specify. The commands leverage

Spotlight, the fast and convenient search technology built into Mac OS X. These commands

include:


Search Mail for <xyz>: searches for the keyword(s) <xyz> in just the emails indexed on

your computer

Search Mac for <xyz>: searches your Mac for documents and content

Search Spotlight for <xyz>: searches files, images, contacts and more stored on your

Mac

OPENING AND CLOSING APPLICATIONS

To generate commands for launching applications, be sure that you check "Generate

Application Launch Commands" found under the Dictate / Preferences menu, Command tab.

You will need to quit Dragon Dictate and start it up again for this preference to take place. As

the program starts up, it will look through all the applications on your computer and generate

launch commands for all of the applications on your computer. Now, to start a program by voice,

you can say activate (or open or launch) immediately followed by the name of the application

(e.g., “Open iTunes,” “Activate Automator,” or “Launch Safari”). The commands for launching

applications will now appear in the Available Commands window.

To close the active window, you can say close window. To exit the application entirely, say

quit this application. You can also say quit or kill followed by the application name (e.g., “Quit

TextEdit”).

TIP When closing an application, you can use your voice to control the dialog that presents

options to Save, Don’t Save or Cancel, say Press [button name] for the option you

choose. For example, to close without saving, say “Press Don’t Save.”

RESIZING WINDOWS AND SWITCHING BETWEEN THEM

To maximize an active window (enlarge it to fit the screen), say zoom this or zoom the

window. To minimize an active window, say minimize window (the window remains on your

screen, minimized as a taskbar icon).


If several windows are open on your computer, you can change which one is active and in the

foreground using a variety of voice commands:

Switch to previous application: to go back to the previously active window (or say

switch to next application as many times as necessary to cycle through all the open

windows)

Next application window: to activate the next window in the open application;

previous application window: to activate the previous window in the active application

Hide this application: to hide the fore-most application; say hide other applications to

hide all applications except the fore-most application (hide all applications / show all

applications are also available)

“VOICE-PRESSING” KEYS

At times, you may wish to press a key or two on your keyboard. In Note Pad, TextEdit or

Microsoft Word 2011, you can continue to incorporate the use of your keyboard in your

document creation. But as explained in the previous chapter, the "Golden Rule" of Dragon

Dictate suggests that in some applications you limit manual keystrokes when dictating.

Fortunately you can use Dragon to “voice-press” the keys.

Dragon lets you “voice-type” any key on your keyboard. Tab key and spacebar can be used as

stand-alone commands. For other keys, say press the key followed by the name of the key(s):

any letter or number, but also Page Up, Home, Enter, Tab, Caps Lock, F2, Control, Alt, Shift,

etc. You can also combine modifier keys into a command by saying press the key combo

followed by the modifier and key name (e.g., “press the key combo command shift four”).

Examples include:

press the key page up

press the key F5

press the key combo command

shift

press the key Escape

press the key combo option Enter

To undo a keystroke, you can say undo last action.


SUMMARY: CONTROLLING APPLICATIONS BY VOICE

You can open an application by saying activate, launch or open immediately followed

by the name of the application.

You can switch between windows with commands like switch to next / previous

application or switch to next / previous window.

You can “voice-press” any key(s) by saying press the key or press the key combo

followed by the name of the key or combination of keys.

Dragon offers commands to search your computer for items containing the keyword(s)

you specify (these commands take advantage of the search capabilities of Spotlight,

which must be running on your computer). For instance, to find all indexed files

containing the words “Canada” and “budget”, you can say “search Mac for Canada

budget.”

You can also use voice commands to control mouse movement and mouse clicks. View

the “Mouse Commands” under the “Global” section in the Available Commands window.


CHAPTER 8: EMAIL AND THE WEB

Dictating is in itself a great benefit of Dragon Dictate for email usage. But Dragon also offers

Mail-specific voice commands that will make it even faster and easier to create and manage

your email.

To be sure that commands are available to control Mail, check Generate Email Commands in

the Command Preferences pane, found under the Commands tab of the Dictate / Preferences

menu. This will generate the list of email commands for your reference in the Available

Commands window.

CREATING EMAIL MESSAGES

You can use Dragon Voice Shortcut commands to create and send an email regardless of what

application is currently active on your desktop.

To send an email to one or more of your contacts:

Step 1: Consult your Address Book in Mail. Dragon Dictate allows you to say the name of any

person or group having an email address in your Address Book.

Step 2: Say Send an email to [Name] where “name” is the primary addressee of your

message. You can specify multiple recipients by appending and [Name] to your

command.

Step 3: When you have specified the recipients, Dragon creates a new email window

addressed as specified, with the insertion point (cursor) in the subject line ready for you

to dictate a subject. After you’ve entered the subject say Press the key Tab (or just say

Tab key) to move to the body of your message.

Step 4: After you’ve dictated your text, say Send message to send your mail.

TIP As you create emails, you can move between fields by saying Press the key Tab or

Tab key.


You can also use your voice to perform routine tasks within Mail:

new message – creates a new mail message

forward this message – forwards the highlighted or open mail message

reply to this message / reply all to this message – replies to the highlighted or open

mail message

TIP Dragon will automatically format email addresses as you say them (e.g., “sam dot johnson

at hotmail dot com”). You may want to add complicated email addresses to your

Vocabulary if you will use them frequently.

WORKING ON THE WEB

Dragon Voice Shortcuts for Web Search make it faster and easier to find information on the

Internet. You can search Bing, Yahoo or Google for any subject area using a single voice

command. Simply say Search Yahoo for [search criteria], Search Bing for [search criteria]

or Search Google for [search criteria]. For example, “Search Google for Boston Celtics

schedule.” Dragon will open your browser, go to the specified search engine, automatically

conduct the requested search and present the search results for you.

A key advantage of these “Web search shortcuts” is that, like the desktop search shortcuts and

email shortcuts, they can be used anytime, no matter what program is currently active on your

screen. What a convenient way to get more done faster!

Dragon Dictate also offers the Web 100 Commands to make it faster and easier to find what you

need on the Web. These commands take you in your browser to any of 100 commonly used

Web sites. Simply use the Jump to [site address] command. For example, you can say “Jump

to CNN” to open the CNN web page no matter what application is currently active on your

screen.

In the Commands Preferences pane (found under the Dictate / Preferences menu, Command

tab), be sure that you have enabled “Web site commands.” If so, you will see a listing for the

“Web 100” subgroup under the Global group of commands in the Available Commands window.


To go to a specific web site that is not included within the Web 100 Commands:

Step 1: Within Safari, say Create new browser window or create a new tab if necessary.

(You can also say Make new browser window or make a new tab).

Step 2: In the browser window, say Access Open Location Window or Show Open Location

Window to move your cursor to the address bar of the current window. (Within a new

tab, your cursor will automatically be placed in the address bar).

Step 3: Dictate the web address, just as you would say it to a friend (e.g., w w w dot nuance dot

com slash dragon). If you’re dictating a complex URL, you may want to switch to Spell

mode to ensure the highest level of recognition accuracy. When you have dictated the

complete address, say Press the key Enter.

Step 4: Say Close window when you are finished with the page.

You can jump to specific pages by saying Jump Back, Jump Forward or Jump to Bookmark

[1-9] (e.g., “Jump to bookmark 7”).

Go to Amazon and ESPN.com without opening Safari. Then open a new

browser window and navigate to www.nuance.com/dragon.

Once you’re on a page, you can navigate the content of the page by saying commands such as:

Move to [next/previous] link – when the link you want to access is highlighted, say

Jump to this link

Scroll to bottom / scroll to top (additional scrolling commands include: scroll

up/scroll down; scroll left/scroll right; scroll one screen up/scroll one screen

down)


Twitter and Facebook

Dragon also offers built-in commands that enable

you to more easily update Facebook. Just say Post

to Facebook and dictate your text or paste the text

you want to post. You can edit the text however you

would like – by voice or keyboard – before posting.

If it’s easier for you, you can dictate your post first,

and then say: Post that to Facebook, where “that”

is the last utterance Dragon just heard.

Note that Facebook does not need to be open to use th

The first time you use one of these commands, Dragon

Facebook credentials. You can also configure your acco

Preferences menu, Sharing tab. Dictate does not store

it includes a tagline revealing that the post was created

If you have a Facebook account, use

without opening Facebook. Say “Pos

“Share on Facebook” box. (If this is y

the prompts to enable Dragon to acc

Similar shortcuts are available for Twitter. Tweets are q

dictated or typed text (via mouse or voice command), an

Twitter commands include Tweet [text] and Post to Tw

Use voice commands to quickly and easily post to

ese comma

will prompt

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with Dragon

Dragon to

t to Facebo

our first tim

ess your ac

uickly captu

d say Post

itter [text].

Facebook.

Before using voice commands topost to Facebook and Twitter,you must enable Dictate toaccess your account. Dictatedoes not store your password

59

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SUMMARY: EMAIL AND THE WEB

Dragon Voice Shortcuts for Email and Web Search allow you to control Mail and Safari

tasks regardless of what application is currently active.

To send an email say Send an email to [Name].

To search the Web, say Search [Bing/Google/Yahoo] for [search criteria].

You can jump to any of 100 specific web sites by saying Jump to [site address]. If the

web site you want to browse is not part of an existing command, you can dictate the web

address and navigate links by voice.

Voice commands can make it faster and easier to post your status to Facebook and

Twitter. The Facebook/Twitter applications do not need to be open for these commands

to work.

CHAPTER 9: CUSTOM COMMANDS

The Commands window is your interface for management of global commands (i.e., commands

that are always available) and application-specific commands (i.e., commands that become

available only when a certain application is front-most). To open the Commands window, select

the Commands option from the Tools menu.

To switch among command lists, select a command set from the left column. At the top of the

middle column, choose to view all commands, built-in commands or user-defined commands. (It

is the combination of both of these settings that determines which commands are displayed.)

Various built-in voice commands control tasks on your Mac such as formatting text, searching

the Internet, creating a new email, and more. You can modify these commands – and even

create custom commands – so that Dragon Dictate works the way that you work.

BOOST PRODUCTIVITY BY AUTOMATICALLY INSERTING TEXT

Custom commands can provide considerable time-savings and convenience. One of the most

convenient options is a voice command that will automatically insert frequently used text into

your document, whether it’s a simple line of boilerplate information or multiple paragraphs of

complicated text.

To create your owncustom voicecommand, click onthe + button at thebottom of theCommands window(accessed byselectingCommands from


the Tools menu).


To create a new command:

Step 1: Click the + button at the bottom of the Commands window (or select New Command

from the File menu).

Step 2: A workspace appears in the right-hand column. Click within the Command Name field to

enter a name.

TIP The command’s name is the phrase you will say to cause the command to execute.

Choose it well! It should be easy to remember and easy to say, like Paste Signature Block

or Enter Home Directions.

Choose a descriptive, meaningful name (as opposed to a name like “macro 3”).

Make it neither long nor short (between 2 and 5 words is usually best). Avoid single

words, and phrases you may need to dictate.

Use words that are easily pronounced and recognized (all words in the command

name should be in the Vocabulary), and avoid symbols—for instance, use

“number” instead of “#”, otherwise Dragon would expect to hear “number sign” or

“pound sign” when you say the command.

Step 3: In the Description field, enter some information about your command. This is optional,

but it helps remember any important details about the command (its intent, when and

where you might use it, etc.).

Step 4: In the Context field, select the application in which you want the command to be

available. For all applications, choose Global. Contexts for which Dragon already has

application-based commands are listed in the pop-up menu. To create a new context,

click Choose and select an application in the Open dialog.

Step 5: Select the “Text Macro” option from the pop-up menu within the Type field. You may

also choose to leave the default “(automatic)” type in the field.

Step 6: If your text already exists electronically, drag the text that you want Dragon to paste

when you say your command into the open box. If necessary, you can create (or edit)

the text within this window, either by voice or by keyboard.


Step 7: Once the command is named and edited as you want it, click Save.

Create your own command. When you’re done, open Note Pad, and then

say your command’s name. (Commands you create yourself follow the usual

rule: you must pause before and after, but not in the middle.) You may

realize now that you could make your command even more convenient.

Perhaps you want to add a blank line before the content so the text placed

by your command automatically starts as a new paragraph. The section

below explains how to edit a custom command.

TIP The same process outlined above can be used to create other types of commands. Other

command types include:

AppleScript: the command executes a script written in AppleScript

Application: the command launches a specified application

Bookmark: the command jumps to a URL in your default browser

File or Folder: the command opens a specified file or folder in the Finder

Menu Item: the command chooses a menu item (specified by menu and menu

item name)

Shell Script: the command executes a shell script (a shell script to be run from

within Dragon should generally be created and tested elsewhere)

Automator Workflow: the command executes an Automator workflow, specified

by the pathname of the workflow file

Keystroke: the command executes the simulated pressing of a specific key, or

group of keys

DUPLICATING AND EDITING COMMANDS

Instead of making a command from scratch, you can create a command based on the “clone” of

an existing one, by clicking Duplicate from the tool (gear) menu in the Commands window.

To edit an existing command, select the command name from the list and edit the right-hand

column. Click Save when you’re done editing. Changes that you make in the Commands

window might not be registered until you close the Commands window.


MANAGING COMMANDS

To activate or deactivate a command, click the checkbox to the left of the command’s name. A

deactivated command still exists, but it is not listed in the Available Commands window, you

can’t issue the command, and Dragon doesn’t have to consider that phrase as a possible

command when you say it. So deactivating commands can be useful, but you probably should

wait before doing so to see which commands you really don’t need.

To delete a command, select the command and press Delete, or choose Delete from the tool

(gear) menu. You can’t delete an unmodified built-in command. Deleting a built-in command that

you’ve modified restores the original unmodified built-in command.

SUMMARY: CUSTOM COMMANDS

You can quickly create custom commands to insert blocks of text in your documents.

This is done using the Commands window, which you can bring up by selecting

Commands from the Tools menu.

If the boilerplate text you want to use for your text macro command already exists in an

electronic document, you can copy and paste it into the content box of the Commands

window. If not, you can enter the text directly within the box either by voice or with your

keyboard.

Names for custom commands should be memorable, intuitive, easy-to-pronounce

phrases. Avoid names that could be used as dictation, such as single words.


CHAPTER 10: BEST PRACTICES AND TOP TIPS

You already know that personalizing Dragon’s vocabulary is a small investment of time that

makes a big difference in how accurately the software can work for you. You also know that

using proper correction technique to fix misrecognitions allows Dragon to learn from its

mistakes.

Here we provide some of the best practices and usage strategies you can put in place to ensure

the most successful and enjoyable experience with Dragon Dictate.

BE PATIENT. In general, the best thing you can do to make Dragon recognize your

speech more accurately is to use the software regularly. Over time, Dragon adapts to the

unique characteristics of your voice. Don’t get frustrated if the recognition accuracy is not

perfect right out of the box.

When dictating, speak in long, natural utterances at a normal pace and in your normal

tone. Try to think about what you want to say before you start dictating.

Practice effective microphone control. Be sure to turn your microphone off when you’re

not dictating.

If you don’t want to be tethered to your computer, consider using the Dragon Remote

Microphone application which turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a wireless

microphone.

Personalize the Vocabulary to help preempt recognition errors (This includes editing

Spoken Forms or Word Properties as needed, designating specific documents for

Dragon to analyze, and providing Vocabulary Training for specific words that create

recognition challenges.) If Dragon “learns” the unique words you are likely to use, it will

be more likely to correctly transcribe your dictated text.

Correcting misrecognitions enables Dragon to learn from its mistakes so it will be less

likely to incorrectly transcribe that word or phrase in the future.


In some cases (if a certain word is consistently misrecognized, or if overall accuracy is

lower than you expected), you will want to provide Dragon some additional acoustic

data. Complete additional Voice Training (reading more text to Dragon) by selecting

Voice Training from the Tools menu.

Try to complete your dictation in Note Pad (Dragon’s built-in word processor), TextEdit

or Microsoft Word 2011. In these applications, you can freely combine dictation with

manual text entry via mouse or keypad. In other applications, it is best not to combine

dictation with mouse/keyboard entry. If you break this “Golden Rule,” say cache

document so that navigation and editing commands will continue to work reliably.

When issuing commands, do not pause in the middle of the command. Pause before

you begin the command, and at the end of the command.

Consider creating custom commands to get more done faster. You can create your own

voice commands to have Dragon automatically execute routine tasks on your computer.

If you misspeak, say scratch that to delete the last transcribed utterance. If you issue a

command by mistake, say undo last action.

To format and edit your text, say bold/italicize/underline/cut/delete followed by the

word or phrase you want to format or edit. To select a range of text, say select [first

word] through [last word]. If you have multiple instances of the requested word or

phrase in your document, say select next or select previous until the correct option is

selected.

Regardless of what application is currently active, you can send an email to one or more

of your contacts by issuing the command send an email to [Name].

Quickly and easily find information on the Web with Dragon Voice Shortcut commands

such as search Bing for [text]. Or quickly access a specific web site using a Web 100

command such as Jump to YouTube.


PRACTICE EXERCISE: CREATING A MEMO BY VOICE

Launch Note Pad or your usual word processor. Using your new dictation and formatting skills,

try to create the following document entirely by voice. After you have created the sample

signature block shown in the sample below, replace it with your own information.

December 5, 2011

AnyCorporation

Gene Hansen-Wolffe

P.O. Box 3299

Minneapolis, MN 67811-3299

Dear Gene,

I am pleased to report that my team has reviewed the Western Region Report for thisquarter. As of November 29, 2011:

The total is $875,512.89.

Please let me know your projected figures for the rest of Q3.

As always, don’t hesitate to contact me at the number below.

Sincerely,

Sara Petersen

Regional Sales Manager

My Company, Inc.

202-965-5000

mobile: 715-377-1925

fax: 800-968-2231

[email protected]

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