USER'S GUIDE February 2005. Version 8 Professional, Medical, and Legal, Preferred, and Standard editions. This material may not include some last-minute technical changes and/or revisions to the software. Changes are periodically made to the information provided here. Future versions of this material will incorporate these changes. ScanSoft, Inc. has patents or pending patent applications covering the subject matter contained in this document. The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to such patents. This software is protected under the following patents, among others: 5,027,406; 5,168,548 5,202,952; 5,231,670; 5,388,183; 5,428,707; 5,465,318; 5,526,463; 5,680,511; 5,715,367; 5,754,972; 5,765,132; 5,794,189; 5,799,279; 5,818,423; 5,822,730; 5,850,627; 5,890,181; 5,909,666; 5,915,236; 5,920,836; 5,920,837; 5,949,886; 5,960,394; 5,970,448; 5,970,460; 5,983,179; 6,029,124; 6,058,366; 6,064,959; 6,073,097; 6,088,671; 6,092,043; 6,092,044; 6,101,468; 6,125,342; 6,125,347; 6,138,098; 6,151,575; 6,163,768; 6,167,377; 6,212,498; 6,260,013; 6,292,779; 6,349,282; 6,424,943; 6,456,972. 6,393,399, 6,360,237, 6,456,972, 6,490,555, and 6,601,027. No part of this manual or software may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including, without limitation, electronic or mechanical, such as photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without the express written consent of ScanSoft, Inc. Specifications are subject to change without notice. Copyright © 2002-2005 ScanSoft, Inc. All rights reserved. ScanSoft, the ScanSoft logo, the Dragon logo, Dragon, NaturallySpeaking, NaturallyMobile, RealSpeak, Nothing But Speech (NBS), Natural Language Technology, Select-and-Say, MouseGrid, and Vocabulary Editor are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. in the United States or other countries. All other names and trademarks referenced herein are trademarks of ScanSoft or their respective owners. Designations used by third-party manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products may be claimed as trademarks by those third-parties. Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. Adobe and Acrobat are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Corel and WordPerfect are registered trademarks of Corel Corporation. Lotus and Lotus Notes are registered trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation. 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Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook, © Copyright 1996 by United Feature Syndicate, Inc., published by HarperBusiness, a division of HarperCollins Publishers. Success Is a Journey: 7 Steps to Achieving Success in the Business of Life, © Copyright 1999 by Jeffrey J. Mayer, published by McGraw Hill. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, © Copyright 1972 by Roald Dahl, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., and Penguin Books. The Captain of Battery Park, © Copyright 1978 by Eugene Pool, published by Addison-Wesley. 50-A11A-10072 Contents CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1 About this guide 2 What's new in Version 8? 3 What should I expect from Dragon NaturallySpeaking? 4 Installation and Training 5 System requirements 5 Plugging in the microphone 6 Installing the software 6 Activating Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Creating a new user 10 Setting up your microphone 12 Training a new user 14 Adapting to your writing style 16 Starting to Dictate 17 Starting Dragon NaturallySpeaking 17 Turning on the microphone 17 Starting to dictate 18 Getting Help 21 Troubleshooting 22 The DragonBar 23 Using QuickStart 24 Working on your Desktop 27 Programs, documents and folders 27 Switching between open windows 28 Opening and closing menus 28 Selecting buttons, tabs, and options 29 Selecting icons on the desktop 30 Resizing and closing windows 31 Scrolling in windows and list boxes 31 Opening lists and making selections 32 Pressing keyboard keys 32 Moving the mouse pointer and clicking the mouse CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 36 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide iii Contents CHAPTER 5 Correcting and Editing 41 Correcting mistakes 41 Selecting text by voice 45 Moving around in a document 48 Copying, cutting, and pasting text 50 Deleting text 50 Spelling as you dictate 52 Playing back your dictation (Preferred and higher) Using text-to-speech 58 Formatting 61 Capitalizing text 61 Formatting text 64 Working with Applications 67 Working with e-mail 67 Working with Microsoft Internet Explorer 70 Working with Microsoft Word 76 Working with Microsoft Excel (Preferred and higher) 54 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 80 CHAPTER 8 Dictating Names, Numbers, Punctuation & Special Characters 83 Dictating numbers 83 Punctuation 91 Dictating hyphenated words 93 Dictating compound words 94 Dictating names 95 Dictating abbreviations and acronyms 96 Dictating e-mail and Web addresses 96 Dictating special characters 97 Switching Recognition Modes 101 Using the Command Browser 103 Supported Applications 103 Starting the Command Browser 104 Finding specific commands 105 Training commands 109 Working with Custom Commands (Preferred and higher) Improving Accuracy 117 The Accuracy Center 117 Tools to improve your acoustics 118 Tools to Manage Commands 121 CHAPTER 9 109 CHAPTER 10 iv Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide Contents Tools to improve your vocabulary 121 Training a word or command 130 Using the Performance Assistant 131 CHAPTER 11 Managing Users 133 Creating a new user 133 Opening a user 134 Closing a user 135 Renaming a user 135 Deleting a user 135 Backing up and restoring a user 136 Importing and exporting users 138 Upgrading Users 138 Creating Multiple Dictation Sources 140 Setting Up Roaming Users 143 Roaming User Concepts 143 Setting up the Roaming User feature 144 Creating a roaming user 147 Using Portable Recorders (Preferred and Professional) 151 Installing recorder software 152 Creating a user adapted to your recorded speech 153 Dictating into your recorder 157 Transcribing recorded dictation 159 Correcting mistakes 164 Using the Dragon NaturallyMobile recorder as a microphone 165 Automate Your Work (Preferred and Professional) 167 Viewing and editing commands 168 Creating new commands 168 Deleting custom commands 174 Importing and exporting commands 174 Changing the command group and availability 175 Customizing Dragon NaturallySpeaking 177 Correction options 177 Commands Options 179 View options 180 Hot keys options 182 Text-to-speech options (Preferred and higher editions) 183 Miscellaneous options 184 Formatting options 186 CHAPTER 12 CHAPTER 13 CHAPTER 14 CHAPTER 15 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide v Data Options 189 APPENDIX A APPENDIX B Version 8 File Structure 191 MSI Installation Options 195 InstallShield (setup.exe) options 197 MSI options specific to NaturallySpeaking 199 209 INDEX CHAPTER 1 Introduction D ragon NaturallySpeaking lets you talk to your computer instead of typing. As you talk, your words are transcribed onto your screen and into your documents or e-mail messages. Talking to a computer while it types what you say is called dictating. You can dictate into Microsoft® Word, Corel® WordPerfect®, e-mail programs, personal information organizers, and virtually any other program in which you normally type. You can use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to: Compose letters, memos, and send e-mail messages. You can cut and paste inside your documents as well as revise and format text. Just think about what you want to say, and then say it into the microphone. Enter data into forms or spreadsheets. Most people can dictate numbers faster than they can type. Using Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional or higher editions, you can create custom voice commands to let you move from field to field on your form by voice. Work on the Web. You can search the Web, access information, and navigate Web pages by speaking URLs and links. Start programs and open menus. Use handheld recorders to dictate while you are away from your computer. Dragon NaturallySpeaking can then transcribe what you said. (Available in Preferred and higher editions.) Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 1 1 Introduction About this guide This guide covers all editions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Most of the information presented in this guide is applicable to all the editions. Differences between the editions is noted in the text. Conventions used in this guide 1 This guide contains many examples of words and phrases you can say when using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. These examples appear in italics with quotation marks, for example: "Format That Bold." 2 Some procedures also include sample text for you to dictate. Sample text appears in a different typeface, with punctuation in square brackets. This guide applies to the five English dialects that ship with Dragon NaturallySpeaking: 3 US English UK English Australian English Indian English Southeast Asian English US English uses US spelling, punctuation, and time and currency formats. We recommend US English for Canadian users since this dialect formats numbers (including times, telephone numbers, and currency) in North American formats. All other dialects use UK spelling, punctuation, and time and currency formats (some number settings depend on your Windows Regional Settings). Where multiple dialects are used in dictation examples, those dialects appear in a different font style. For example: You can also correct a longer phrase by saying "Correct [text] Through [text]" (US/ Canada) or "Correct [text] To [text]" (Other Dialects). 4 5 This guide uses US spelling and punctuation for consistency. This guide also includes tips and notes to help you use the software more effectively. Tips and notes appear like this: TIP If you pause correctly, but Dragon NaturallySpeaking still types a command as dictation, you can force it to recognize what you say as a command by holding down the CTRL key. 2 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 1 Introduction NOTE With Numbers Mode on, Dragon NaturallySpeaking tries to interpret everything you say as a number. If you dictate words, the results will be unpredictable. However, you can still navigate menus and switch between programs by voice when Numbers Mode is on. What's new in Version 8? Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 8 includes the following new features: Accuracy: Version 8 speech engine is more accurate than Version 7. Expanded language models and improved acoustic training techniques deliver a large accuracy increase over Version 7. Roaming Users: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 8 makes your user files available anywhere on the network through the Roaming User feature, and automatically synchronizes updates and adaptations centrally (Professional only). Upgrade user files from previous versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking during installation or after installation from the Open User dialog box. Support for Palm OS®: Dictate into any device that supports the Palm OS® and have your recording transcribed by Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 when you synchronize with your PC. This functionality is installed separately from Dragon NaturallySpeaking. See the online help for more information.(Preferred and Professional only). Support for Additional Input Devices: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 8 now supports additional digital handheld recorders, array microphones and cordless microphones. Multiple Dictation Sources: With Multiple Dictation Sources you can use a single vocabulary for your microphone and handheld recorder profiles. (Professional only) With new text formatting options you can specify how Dragon NaturallySpeaking formats dates, measurements and acronyms to meet your requirements. The Word Properties dialog box gives you the power to establish the specific configuration of any word in specific contexts. Use text and graphics commands with dynamic variables to instantly define the variables in any boilerplate text. The simplified Add Words from Documents wizard makes customizing your vocabulary from documents or word lists faster and easier. An improved Vocabulary Editor makes it easier to fine-tune custom dictionaries. An improved Acoustic Optimizer Scheduler makes it easier to schedule running the Acoustic Optimizer Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 3 1 Introduction What should I expect from Dragon NaturallySpeaking? One reason to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking is to do your writing more quickly; creating letters, reports, and other documents by voice. Another is to reduce the stress associated with keyboarding. Or maybe you just like the idea of being able to lean back in your chair, put your feet up on the desk, and still get work done. Dragon NaturallySpeaking is good for all these reasons, but making it work well requires some effort from you. Dragon NaturallySpeaking learns about your voice and pronunciation as you use it. When you use words the program doesn't know, it will misrecognize them. By correcting your mistakes, you help Dragon NaturallySpeaking improve its ability to recognize your way of speaking. Do I still need my keyboard and mouse? Although you can use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to do almost everything on your computer by voice, some things are still easier to do by mouse or keyboard. If using a mouse and keyboard is an option for you, try experimenting with using your voice and using your hands for different tasks, to see what works best. If using a mouse and keyboard is not an option, see "Working on your Desktop" on page 27. 4 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 2 Installation and Training T his chapter describes how to install, set up, and train Dragon Naturally Speaking. System requirements To run Dragon NaturallySpeaking, your system must meet the following requirements: Intel® Pentium® III 500MHz or greater (or equivalent AMDTM processor) NOTE Dragon NaturallySpeaking will not install on machine with a processor of less than 500MHz. 512MB RAM (256 MB free minimum). 500MB of free hard disk space for a Custom Installation where you install only the program files and 1 set of speech files. Installations can range from 800 MB (Standard Edition) to 2.5 GB (US English Medical). Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 or higher, Windows XP Pro, Windows XP Home. Windows ME is supported only for Standard and Preferred editions. 16-bit Creative® Labs Sound Blaster®, or compatible sound card capable of and set to 16bit, 11KHz for Audio Recording. Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 5 or higher (free download available at www.microsoft.com). CD-ROM drive (8x or faster) required for installation. ScanSoft-approved noise-canceling headset microphone. A microphone is included with the full product. A microphone is not included with upgrade versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Speakers - optional for playback of recorded speech and text-to-speech features. (Available only in Preferred and higher editions). An Internet connection for product activation and automatic updates. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 5 2 Installation and Training Multiple users on one computer Dragon NaturallySpeaking is licensed on a "per individual" basis. You are permitted to install the software on more than one computer (for example, on a desktop and a laptop computer, or on a work computer and a home computer), although you may not use the software concurrently on more than one computer, and you are permitted to create multiple voice profiles, so long as each voice profile is for you. If someone else desires to create or use another voice profile, however, that person must purchase a separate license for Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Volume license agreements are available. Plugging in the microphone To use Dragon NaturallySpeaking, you will need to plug in your microphone. 1 Insert the microphone plug into the MIC input jack of your sound card. Microphones and sound cards vary, but the microphone jack is usually red and has a picture of a microphone. If your sound card does not have a MIC jack, use the LINE IN jack. If you are not sure how to plug in your microphone, consult the documentation that came with your computer. Also, if you have a USB or array microphone (supported in Preferred and higher editions), follow the instructions that came with it instead of this description. 2 Insert the headphone plug into the LINE OUT jack on your sound card. If your sound card does not have a LINE OUT jack, use the SPEAKER or HEADPHONE jack. NOTE If you already have speakers for your computer, you can also use these to playback recorded speech instead of your headphones. Installing the software Before installing, modifying or upgrading Dragon NaturallySpeaking: Close all open applications. Turn off or disable any antivirus software; installation can sometimes trigger a false virus report. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 6 2 Installation and Training NOTE You must have Administrator rights to install or uninstall Dragon NaturallySpeaking on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. For Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional systems with limited user accounts (users with restricted privileges), if the administrator wants to create a Dragon NaturallySpeaking user for a limited user, the administrator must log on as the limited user. If an administrator creates a Dragon NaturallySpeaking user for a limited user account from an administrator account, the limited user account will not be able to access that user. Administrator rights are not required to create a user or use the software after installation. This also applies for an upgrade installation. Upgrading from a previous version Upgrading from Version 6 or 7: You can upgrade from any edition of Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 6 or 7 to Version 8. When upgrading from Version 6 or 7, you can choose to migrate your user files and vocabularies to Version 8. Once V8 is installed, Version 6 or 7 will no longer be functional. Directory Changes For information on changes to the directory structure when upgrading from Version 6 or 7, see "Version 8 File Structure" on page 191 . To install Dragon NaturallySpeaking: 1 Insert the Dragon NaturallySpeaking CD into your CD-ROM drive. If the installation does not start automatically, use the Windows Explorer to find and double-click setup.exe on your CD-ROM drive. Follow the on-screen instructions during installation. 2 Provide your customer information, including the serial number supplied with your Dragon NaturallySpeaking installation. Choose your destination location. If there are no previous version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking on your system, the default directory is: C:\Program Files\ScanSoft\NaturallySpeaking8 If you have Version 6 or 7 on your system, Version 8 will install to the previous version's directory. For a list of directories created by installation, see Appendix A, "Version 8 File Structure" on page 191. 4 Choose your Setup Type (Preferred and higher editions) "Typical/Complete" installs all options and speech files and requires the most Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 7 3 2 Installation and Training disk space. "Custom" lets you select which options and speech files to install and can greatly reduce the disk space required for installation. Click Next to continue. NOTE If you decide not to install some Dragon NaturallySpeaking components by selecting Custom installation, you can install them later by running the Setup program again and choosing Modify. Installing other languages and dialects To install user files for the other languages or dialects supplied with your edition, choose "Custom Installation" from the setup screen and click Next. Select the user file for the dialect you want and click Next to continue installation. The user files for each language or dialect contain both spellings and pronunciations specific to that region. For example, users who wish to dictate US English spellings--including users with accents-- should install the US (American) English user files. 5 You can enable the Dragon NaturallySpeaking QuickStart option. By enabling QuickStart, Dragon NaturallySpeaking launches at system startup time and adds the Dragon NaturallySpeaking QuickStart icon to the Windows task bar. For more information on the QuickStart option, see "Using QuickStart" on page 24. 8 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 2 Installation and Training 6 (Upgrade only) If you are upgrading from Version 6 or 7, the Version 8 installation prompts you to upgrade your users. You may be prompted later to re-train some of your existing users. You can upgrade your V6 or V7 users at a later time by running the User Upgrade Wizard from the Open User dialog box once the product is installed. For more information, see "Upgrading Users" on page 138. Continue following the on-screen instructions. The setup program will copy the files for Dragon NaturallySpeaking to your computer. When prompted, make sure to register your copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Once registered, ScanSoft can notify you of product updates and other offers. Select "Check the Internet for program updates after setup completes." This lets you automatically update Dragon NaturallySpeaking over the Internet when updates are available. Click Finish to complete the installation. The program may ask you to reboot your computer. 7 8 9 Activating Dragon NaturallySpeaking The first time you start Dragon NaturallySpeaking, you will be prompted to activate your copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. If you do not activate the software, Dragon NaturallySpeaking will stop working after starting the product fives times. NOTE You must be connected to the Internet to activate Dragon NaturallySpeaking. The activation process sends only your product serial number and a number that uniquely identifies the machine where Dragon NaturallySpeaking is being installed. No personal information is transmitted to ScanSoft. To activate the Dragon NaturallySpeaking: 1 Start Dragon NaturallySpeaking. This displays the Activation dialog box. If you choose "Activate Later", you will be prompted to activate each time you start Dragon NaturallySpeaking. If you start the program five times without activating, Dragon NaturallySpeaking will be disabled. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 9 2 Installation and Training 2 Click "Activate Now". This displays the Activation Screen: 3 Click Activate Automatically. Clicking Activate Automatically automatically activates the Dragon NaturallySpeaking and requires no further action from you. NOTE ScanSoft strongly recommends that activate automatically. If you choose "Activate Manually", the activation process will direct you to the ScanSoft product activation web site where you will be prompted to complete several steps to activate Dragon Naturally Speaking. Creating a new user When you launch the software for the first time, the New User Wizard starts and leads you through creating a new user. For example: NOTE If you upgraded a single user from a previous version, Dragon NaturallySpeaking loads that user. If you upgraded multiple users, Dragon NaturallySpeaking displays the Open User dialog box. 10 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 2 Installation and Training Creating a user 1 To create a user, you must type a name in the Your Name field. The software automatically picks the best speech model and vocabulary settings for your system. For more information, see "About vocabularies and languages" below. Select your dictation source. If you are using a USB microphone or another type of input device, choose the appropriate option from the "Dictation source" drop-down list. Click Next to continue. 2 3 About vocabularies and languages Languages Some editions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 8 let you to create and train users in multiple languages. If you have purchased an edition with support for more than one language, you can add additional languages by choosing "Custom Install" during Setup. For Preferred and Professional editions, if you didn't select additional languages during Setup, you can also select an additional language when you create a new user. In this instance, you will need the Dragon NaturallySpeaking CD to install the language files before you can create the user. Vocabulary Dragon NaturallySpeaking uses a vocabulary to recognize words correctly based not only on the sound of the words, but on their context. Vocabulary size When you create a set of user files, Dragon NaturallySpeaking recommends the vocabulary that best fits your computer's speed and memory. For most users, this recommendation should be followed. Depending on your edition, you may see an Advanced button. Experienced users may want to click the Advanced button to specify a different vocabulary size: Medium: for computers with 128 MB of RAM. Large: for computers with more than 256 MB of RAM. Empty Dictation: a vocabulary with a language model but without any words. Empty Dictation is designed for experienced users or re-sellers who want to create highly specialized vocabularies. (Professional and higher editions) Speech Model Dragon NaturallySpeaking uses the speech model to adapt to your voice during training. When you create a set of user files, Dragon NaturallySpeaking recommends the speech model that best fits your computer's speed and memory. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 11 2 Installation and Training Setting up your microphone Click Next to have the New User Wizard lead you through setting up your microphone. Positioning your microphone The New User Wizard first explains how to position your microphone: Once you have correctly positioned the microphone, click Next to continue. Position the microphone Positioning the microphone is important. If the microphone is out of place, Dragon NaturallySpeaking may not be able to hear you clearly and may make more mistakes. Consistent position is also important. Make sure that you position the microphone the same way each time you use Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Using a headset microphone Position the microphone about a half-inch (approximately the width of your thumb) from your mouth and a little off to the side. The microphone should not touch your mouth, but it can be almost touching your lips. If you need to move the microphone out of the way, you can lift the "boom" up and over your head, rather than bending it out of position or removing the headset. 12 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide