Quick Start NaturallySpeaking Essentials Dragon TM 03-101-40-01 August 1999. Version 4.0. Dragon Systems® may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter in this document. The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents. The software is subject to one or more of these U.S. patents: 4,783,803; 4,803,729; 4,805,218; 4,805,219; 4,829,576; 4,829,578; 4,837,831; 4,866,778; 4,903,305; 4,914,703; 5,027,406; 5,202,952; 5,428,707; 5,526,463; 5,680,511; 5,715,367; 5,754,972; 5,765,132; 5,794,189; 5,799,279; 5,809,453; 5,818,423; 5,822,730; 5,850,627; 5,903,864; 5,909,666; 5,915,236; 5,920,836; 5,920,837. © Copyright 1999 Dragon Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this manual or software may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without the express written consent of Dragon Systems, Inc. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and where Dragon Systems is aware of the trademark, the first occurrence of the designation is printed with a trademark (TM) or registered trademark (®) symbol. Dragon Systems, the Dragon Systems logo, and NaturallySpeaking are registered trademarks and BestMatch, Select-and-Say, Vocabulary Builder, and Vocabulary Editor are trademarks of Dragon Systems, Inc. Corel and WordPerfect are registered trademarks of Corel Corporation. GoldMine is a registered trademark of GoldMine Software Corporation. Lotus and Lotus Notes are registered trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks and Outlook is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. 03-101-40-01 Contents Starting Dragon NaturallySpeaking the first time Welcome 2 Creating a user 2 Adjusting your microphone 4 Training Dragon NaturallySpeaking 6 Starting to Dictate 7 Preparing to dictate 7 Dictating 9 What is that small yellow box? 10 How do I add punctuation? 10 How do I start a new paragraph or line? 11 How do I erase the last thing I said? 11 How do I correct mistakes? 12 How do I revise text? 18 How do I undo an unwanted change? 18 How do I capitalize a word? 19 How do I copy text to another program? 19 How do I exit the program? 20 How do I become an expert? 21 1 Dragon NaturallySpeaking Essentials iii QUICK START Dragon NaturallySpeaking® lets you talk to almost any Windows® program instead of typing. Use your mouse to click in any window or text box, and then speak. Your words are transcribed onto your screen and into your document. If the program makes a mistake, you can correct it with a voice command, or just edit your work later with the mouse and keyboard. With Dragon NaturallySpeaking, you can: s Starting Dragon NaturallySpeaking the first time Start Dragon NaturallySpeaking from the Windows Start menu. Compose memos and e-mail messages. Just think about what you want to say, and then say it into the microphone. Write a report or article. Brainstorm out loud and capture your thoughts on screen. "Type up" notes from a meeting. When you get back to your desk, simply read your notes into the microphone. v The name of your specific product edition (NaturallySpeaking Essentials) appears on your Start menu. The NaturallySpeaking menu may contain other items not pictured here. s s Dragon NaturallySpeaking does more than type for you. You can also start programs, open menus, and click buttons by using your voice. See your Quick Reference card for details. If you use Internet Explorer to browse the Web, you can use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to follow links and go to favorite sites by voice. See the online Help for details. The first time you start Dragon NaturallySpeaking, you need to create a "user" before you can begin talking to the computer. A user stores information the program needs to recognize your speech (for example, information about how you pronounce different words). Dragon NaturallySpeaking Essentials 1 QUICK START Welcome The New User Wizard guides you through the steps of creating a user. You may be able to complete these steps without difficulty, but if you have trouble you can find answers to common questions in the following sections. Creating a user On the Create User page, enter a name for your user speech files and choose a speech model and vocabulary. v The "Select user type" step appears only in Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred and Professional. Your speech files store all the information Dragon NaturallySpeaking gathers about you, such as how you pronounce different words and which words you use most frequently. Q: I don't know which "speech model" to choose. A speech model provides Dragon NaturallySpeaking with acoustical data about the sound patterns that make up different words. The wizard chooses a speech model for you based on your computer's speed and available memory (RAM). The "BestMatchTM" speech models can make the product more accurate but require more computer memory and a faster processor. We recommend that you accept the speech model the program chooses; however, if you're age 9 to 15 (or have a high voice), you should select the "Student" version of the recommended speech model. Student models are designed for recognizing higher-pitched voices. Q: How long does it take to create a "user"? Completing the New User Wizard usually takes about 45 minutes. The step in which you "train" Dragon NaturallySpeaking for your voice may take only a few minutes or up to 30 minutes, depending on the speed of your computer. While completing the wizard, you can take as many breaks as you want. Just leave the wizard running (and click the Pause button if you're training the program) and continue when you're ready. 2 Dragon NaturallySpeaking Essentials QUICK START Q: I don't know which "vocabulary" to choose. A vocabulary consists of the words the program will recognize when you say them and data about how often different words are used. The wizard chooses a vocabulary for you based on your computer's speed and available memory (RAM). The "BestMatch" vocabularies can make the product more accurate but require more computer memory and a faster processor. We recommend that you accept the vocabulary the program chooses; however, if you're age 9 to 15, you should select the "Student" version of the recommended vocabulary. Student vocabularies contain more of the words younger speakers use and different statistics about how often words are used. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Essentials 3 QUICK START Adjusting your microphone The Audio Setup Wizard shows you how to position your microphone and tests that your voice can be heard loud and clear. Q: How should I hold my handheld microphone? If you're using a handheld microphone, here are some tips for positioning it correctly: s s Hold the microphone one to three inches from your mouth. Point the microphone at the side of your mouth, not at the front (so it won't pick up the sounds of your breathing). If the volume meter (in the Results box on the screen) turns red, try holding the microphone slightly farther from your mouth. s The next section provides tips for positioning a headset microphone. Your software package may include a headset microphone or a handheld microphone. The Audio Setup Wizard prompts you to select the type of microphone you'll be using. NOTE If you switch to a different microphone, you should run the Audio Setup Wizard again to recalibrate the computer's audio settings. (On the Dragon NaturallySpeaking Tools menu, click Audio Setup Wizard.) 4 Dragon NaturallySpeaking Essentials QUICK START Q: How should I position my headset microphone? The pictures below show how to position a headset microphone. Whenever you talk to your computer, start by making sure your microphone is in the right position. If the microphone is out of place, the program won't be able to hear you as clearly and may make more mistakes. The side of the microphone that you should speak into may be marked with a colored dot or the word "Talk." 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. Position the microphone in front of your mouth and a little off to the side. The microphone should not touch your mouth, but it can be almost touching (about a half inch from your lips). Dragon NaturallySpeaking Essentials 5 QUICK START Training Dragon NaturallySpeaking No two people sound exactly alike, so you have to spend some time training Dragon NaturallySpeaking to understand your pronunciation. You do this by reading part of a book or a story aloud into your microphone (you can choose from several texts). As you read, the program learns how you pronounce different sounds and saves this information in your speech files. Q: I've read the same word three times, but the yellow arrow keeps pointing to it. If you keep reading the same words, and the yellow arrow won't advance, just click Skip Word. Q: I can't get beyond the first screen ("Welcome to the world of continuous speech recognition"). To advance through the first two screens, you must say the sentences without pausing. For the rest of the screens, it's okay to pause in the middle of a sentence. If you still cannot advance, you can try running the Audio Setup Wizard again. Click Cancel to close the training dialog box (and click "Yes" to close without saving changes), and then click Back to return to the Adjust Microphone page. After running the Audio Setup Wizard again, click Next to return to the training program. TIP You can take breaks while you're training the computer. Just click Pause. v A yellow arrow shows you where to start reading. Q: I made a mistake. What should I do? Don't worry. You should try to read exactly what you see on the screen, but it's okay if you read something incorrectly. The computer will either ignore the mistake or display the yellow arrow so you can read the text again. You can also click Back Up to reread something you misread, but this is not required. 6 Dragon NaturallySpeaking Essentials Starting to Dictate I f you're new to Dragon NaturallySpeaking, read this section to learn the basics. Dragon NaturallySpeaking can help you write more efficiently, but making it work well requires some effort from you. Dragon NaturallySpeaking actually learns about your voice and pronunciation as you use it. When you use words the program doesn't know, it will make mistakes, and you'll have to stop and correct them. It may take a while (perhaps even a few weeks) before you feel comfortable and productive using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Preparing to dictate Follow the steps in this section whenever you want to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking: 1 Start Dragon NaturallySpeaking from the Windows Start menu, if it's not already running. If there's more than one Dragon NaturallySpeaking user on the computer, the Open User dialog box appears so that you can choose your user name. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Essentials 7 QUICK START The microphone icon appears on the taskbar. Microphone icon on the taskbar v The microphone icon is the only thing on the screen that shows you Dragon NaturallySpeaking is running. Right-click the microphone icon to open the online Help and other menus. NOTE If this is the first time you have started the program, you'll need to create a user. Follow the directions on the screen and see "Starting Dragon NaturallySpeaking the first time" on page 1. 2 Position your microphone correctly. (For tips, see "Adjusting your microphone" on page 4.) Start the program you want to talk to. When Dragon NaturallySpeaking is running, you can start any program that appears on your Windows Start menu or desktop by voice. (You can't start Dragon NaturallySpeaking by voice, because the program has to be running before it can hear you.) Just say "Start" and then the name of the program exactly as it appears on the Start menu. Try it now by saying "Start WordPad." 3 4 Turn the microphone on. (If you're using a handheld microphone, make sure it's switched on.) There are two ways to turn the microphone on: s s Click the red microphone icon on the taskbar. Press the plus (+) key on the numeric keypad. Notice that the microphone icon points upward when the microphone is on. The computer is now "listening." When you have finished talking, turn the microphone off by clicking the microphone icon again (or pressing the plus key again). 8 Dragon NaturallySpeaking Essentials QUICK START NOTE You can change the keyboard shortcut for turning the microphone on and off. If you're using a portable computer, you may want to change the key to something more convenient, such as a Function key. (On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Hotkeys tab to change the ...