User manual NUANCE VIAVOICE 10 - PRO USB EDITION

IBM® ViaVoice® for Windows® Pro USB Edition User's Guide Release 10 Note Before using this information and the product it supports, be sure to read the information in Appendix B, "Notices" on page 139. First Edition (2003) This edition applies to version 1, release 10, modification 0 of IBM ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition US/UK English (program number 5724-C96) and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions. SSFT PART NUMBER: 50-G91A-10095 When you send information to IBM, you grant IBM a nonexclusive right to use or distribute the information in any way it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you. © Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 1998, 2003. All rights reserved. US Government Users Restricted Rights ­ Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp. Contents Welcome to ViaVoice . . . . . . . . vii US English and UK English are both described in this book . . . . . . . . . ix Conventions in this book . . . . . . . . x Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system . 1 Installing the ViaVoice software . . . . . . 2 Setting up your microphone and audio system 6 Creating a voice model. . . . . . . . . 8 Analyzing your voice . . . . . . . . . 10 Analyzing your documents . . . . . . . 12 Troubleshooting setup problems . . . . . 13 Unable to install ViaVoice . . . . . . 13 Problems with audio setup . . . . . . 13 Poor recognition . . . . . . . . . 14 Chapter 2. The magic of dictating with ViaVoice . . . . . . . . . . . . . Practice dictating . . . . . . . . . . Finding recognition errors . . . . . . . Correcting errors . . . . . . . . . . Try re-dictating your text before correction Correcting misrecognized words . . . . Removing inserted words . . . . . . Correcting capitalization errors. . . . . Next steps after correction . . . . . . . Analyzing My Documents . . . . . . . Troubleshooting dictation problems . . . . Dictating numbers in the UK English version of ViaVoice . . . . . . . . . . . Currency . . . . . . . . . . . Dates . . . . . . . . . . . . Decimals . . . . . . . . . . . Ordinals . . . . . . . . . . . Long numbers . . . . . . . . . Time of day . . . . . . . . . . Dictating numbers in number mode . . . Spelling words in spell mode . . . . . Saying commands while dictating. . . . Inline dictation commands . . . . . "Scratch that" command . . . . . . Text-editing commands . . . . . . Bullet lists. . . . . . . . . . . Just say their names . . . . . . . Commands recognized as text . . . . Dictating e-mail user IDs and URLs . . . Transferring your dictation to another application . . . . . . . . . . . Saving your dictation in SpeakPad . . . Saving a speech session . . . . . . Saving your dictation as text . . . . Finding new words in your document . . Chapter 5. Dictating into Microsoft Word Installing Word Program Support . . . . Try your first dictation into Word . . . . ViaVoice menus and buttons in Word . . General hints and tips. . . . . . . . Dictating numbers in the US English version of ViaVoice . . . . . . . . . . . Currency . . . . . . . . . . . Dates . . . . . . . . . . . . Decimals . . . . . . . . . . . Ordinals . . . . . . . . . . . Long numbers . . . . . . . . . Time of day . . . . . . . . . . Dictating numbers in the UK English version of ViaVoice . . . . . . . . . . . Currency . . . . . . . . . . . Dates . . . . . . . . . . . . Decimals . . . . . . . . . . . Ordinals . . . . . . . . . . . Long numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 37 37 38 38 38 38 38 38 39 39 39 40 40 40 40 42 43 44 44 44 45 47 47 48 50 52 53 53 53 53 53 54 54 54 54 54 54 54 54 17 18 20 21 21 21 22 22 23 24 24 Chapter 3. Introducing VoiceCenter . . . 27 VoiceCenter components . . . . . . . . 28 ViaVoice menu . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Chapter 4. Dictating into SpeakPad . . SpeakPad menus and buttons . . . . . General hints and tips. . . . . . . . Dictating numbers in the US English version of ViaVoice . . . . . . . . . . . Currency . . . . . . . . . . . Dates . . . . . . . . . . . . Decimals . . . . . . . . . . . Ordinals . . . . . . . . . . . Long numbers . . . . . . . . . Time of day . . . . . . . . . . . 33 . 34 . 36 . . . . . . . 37 37 37 37 37 37 37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . © Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 iii Time of day . . . . . . . . Dictating numbers in number mode . Spelling words in spell mode . . . Saying commands while dictating. . Inline dictation commands . . . "Scratch that" command . . . . Text-editing commands . . . . Bullet lists. . . . . . . . . Just say their names . . . . . Commands recognized as text . . Dictating e-mail user IDs and URLs . Saving your dictation . . . . . . Saving a speech session . . . . Saving your dictation as text . . Finding new words in your document Creating ViaVoice Documents . . . Creating ViaVoice Templates . . . Using ViaVoice Bookmarks . . . . Chapter 6. Correcting your dictation Using the Correction window . . . Correcting by voice . . . . . . Correcting words by typing . . . . Delayed correction . . . . . . . Delegated correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 55 55 56 56 56 56 57 57 57 59 60 60 60 61 62 63 64 Chapter 10. Using the Internet and E-mail Internet Explorer . . . . . . . . . Working with e-mail . . . . . . . . Composing e-mail . . . . . . . . Checking for e-mail . . . . . . . America Online (AOL) . . . . . . . Navigating . . . . . . . . . . Dictating e-mail . . . . . . . . . Dictating in a chat room . . . . . . Sending messages with Instant Messenger (sm). . . . . . . . . . . . . Chapter 11. Navigating with your voice Desktop commands . . . . . . . Navigate the active program . . . . Just say their name. . . . . . . Say what you can't see . . . . . Say letters and numbers . . . . . When you see 'Pardon me' . . . . Text editing . . . . . . . . . Selecting keys with your voice . . Voice Mouse . . . . . . . . . Positioning the pointer . . . . . Stopping and fine-tuning the pointer Clicking the mouse buttons . . . . . . . . . . . 91 91 92 92 93 94 94 94 95 . 95 . . . 65 . . . 66 . . . 68 . . . 69 . . . 70 . . . 71 73 . 73 . 74 . 74 . . . . . . . . . 75 76 78 78 78 79 79 79 79 81 . . 97 . . 98 . . 98 . . 98 . . 98 . . 99 . . 99 . . 100 . . 100 . . 100 . . 101 . . 101 . . 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 103 103 104 104 104 104 104 105 106 106 108 109 109 110 111 111 113 114 115 116 Chapter 7. Dictating to your applications Dictating directly . . . . . . . . . Using Auto-start dictation . . . . . . Dictating directly into a spreadsheet . . . Chapter 8. What Can I Say . . . . . Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . Interacting with What Can I Say . . . . Expanding or collapsing a view . . . Commands with words in angle brackets Changing views. . . . . . . . . Creating notes for What Can I Say . . Printing the commands in a view . . . Using an Attention word with commands . Training a command . . . . . . . . Chapter 9. Using natural commands . . . 83 General guidelines . . . . . . . . . . 83 Using commands that have variables. . . 85 Correcting errors . . . . . . . . . 85 Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Excel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Entering data into a spreadsheet . . . . 87 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Chapter 12. Customizing ViaVoice . . Changing VoiceCenter's appearance. . . Appearance tab . . . . . . . . General tab . . . . . . . . . . Taskbar tab . . . . . . . . . . Docked tab . . . . . . . . . . Agent tab . . . . . . . . . . Floating tab . . . . . . . . . . Changing the microphone's startup state . Creating additional voice models . . . Selecting a vocabulary or topic . . . . Changing the active vocabulary to improve performance (UK English version only) . Adding a user . . . . . . . . . . Making a user name the current user . . Backing up and restoring user data . . . Deleting a user name or voice model . . Setting dictation options . . . . . . Changing the appearance of the Correction window . . . . . . . . . . . . Enabling command sets . . . . . . . Setting Text-To-Speech options . . . . Adjusting recognition sensitivity . . . . iv ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition Chapter 13. Creating macros . . . . . 117 Creating a dictation macro . . . . . . . 117 Creating a macro template . . . . . . . 119 Before you start . . . . . . . . . 119 Creating the template form. . . . . . 119 Creating navigation macros . . . . . . 122 Always Active macro . . . . . . . 123 Application macro . . . . . . . . 123 Cross Program macro . . . . . . . 125 Creating ViaVoice Marks . . . . . . 126 Importing and exporting . . . . . . 127 Chapter 14. Getting help . . . . . . . 129 Information Central . . . . . . . . . 129 Getting context-sensitive help . . . . . . 130 Question Button Help . . . . . . . 130 What's This Help . . . . . . . . . 130 Printing help . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Using Teach Me commands . . . . . . 130 How do I troubleshoot a problem? . . . . 131 Appendix A. Frequently used commands in dictation . . . . . . . . . . Formatting and spacing . . . . . . . Punctuation in dictation. . . . . . . Symbols and characters in dictation . . . Symbols and characters in number mode Symbols and characters in spell mode . . . . . . 133 133 133 134 135 . 136 Appendix B. Notices . . . . . . . . 139 Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Other attributions . . . . . . . . . . 141 Glossary . Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 . 145 Contents v vi ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition Welcome to ViaVoice IBM ViaVoice will change the way you use your computer. You can now dictate text and control your computer by voice. Imagine yourself sitting at your computer, composing a letter to a friend. Say "Dictate to SpeakPad". ViaVoice's word processor opens, and you dictate the letter using normal speech. You can do this with ViaVoice--you talk, it types! The computer translates your words and phrases into actions that carry out commands or create text. Imagine the simplicity of working at your computer just by speaking. With ViaVoice, say goodbye to the drudgery of typing. ViaVoice is probably not like any software you have ever used! To get the most from ViaVoice and become a great user--even if you have already used a speech-recognition product--we recommend that you go through this book following these sign posts. Install the software and set up your speech system. Start by following the instructions in Chapter 1 to install ViaVoice and prepare your sound system so that ViaVoice can understand you. You must set up your speech system as described in Chapter 1 before you can work satisfactorily with ViaVoice. Get comfortable by practicing dictation. Having installed ViaVoice and set up your speech system, you will then probably want to practice dictating. Chapter 2 shows you how to dictate into SpeakPad. We recommend that you practice with the material in this chapter, and become comfortable speaking to SpeakPad, before exploring other parts of ViaVoice. Learn how to use the VoiceCenter. Once you are comfortable with speaking to your computer, familiarize yourself with VoiceCenter, the heart of your speech system. VoiceCenter controls your spoken interactions with your computer. Chapter 3 describes the functions available through VoiceCenter. Once you have mastered the material in the first three chapters, explore the other ViaVoice functions to become even more productive: © Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 vii v Use SpeakPad, described in Chapter 4, to dictate your documents and letters. A word of advice: make sure you've gone through Chapter 2, mentioned above, before turning to this chapter. v Do you prefer using Microsoft® Word? Chapter 5 gives you the complete picture on dictating into Word 97, Word 2000, or Word 2002. v Your dictation is not finished until you have corrected the recognition errors in the text. Correcting these errors is one of the most important ways to help ViaVoice learn what you say. Do not close your dictation sessions until you have corrected them as described in Chapter 6. v What do you want to do? You can see all the commands for controlling your computer in the What Can I Say window, described in Chapter 8. If you are primarily interested in dictating documents rather than speaking commands, you can skip this chapter. v If you are not comfortable with the mouse and keyboard, no problem! Issue commands and control your computer by speaking. See Chapter 11 for information on navigating by voice. v Once you are comfortable with your system, personalize ViaVoice. Chapter 12 describes the features for extending the usefulness of your system and gives you suggestions for tailoring it for your needs. v ViaVoice is loaded with information like online help and printable online material. Chapter 14 describes all the information available at your fingertips. viii ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition US English and UK English are both described in this book This book contains information on using ViaVoice in both UK English and US English. You will select one of these languages to install on your computer. Make sure you use the appropriate information in this book for the installed language. Keep in mind that these languages have many differences, and each language version of ViaVoice is specifically tailored to understand what speakers of that language will probably say. For example, if you are using US English and say 'analyze my voice' during a dictation, that is what you will see in your text. However, the same words spoken for UK English will result in 'analyse my voice'. Other differences include the following: v The words for some punctuation marks and symbols differ between the two languages. In US English, the words "pound sign" result in "#"; in UK English, the same words result in "£". The punctuation at the end of a normal declarative sentence is "period" in US English and "full stop" in UK English. See Appendix A, "Frequently used commands in dictation" on page 133, where these differences are highlighted. v Numbers and number formatting are handled differently between the two languages. See "Dictating numbers in the US English version of ViaVoice" on page 37 and "Dictating numbers in the UK English version of ViaVoice" on page 37 for usage and examples. v Folder names, window titles, program components and voice commands are referred to using their US English names throughout this book. In the UK English language version of ViaVoice some of these items appear in a slightly different form, e.g.: VoiceCenter/VoiceCentre, Capitalize this/Capitalise this, IBM ViaVoice/IBM ViaVoice UK English. The text in this book uses the US English orthography. All pictures of windows and panels are taken from the US English language version. Welcome to ViaVoice ix Conventions in this book Please note the following textual and graphical conventions used in this book. Commands and words that you say to your computer are shown in bold within double quotation marks. Say "Capitalize this". Say "What Can I Say for Desktop". NEWPARAGRAPH Some multiple-word commands are shown NEWLINE as joined words or hyphenated words. NO-SPACE Spelling a word is shown with a hyphen separating each letter in the word. The names of buttons, fields and check boxes appear in bold. Dictate "r-e-c-o-g-n-i-t-i-o-n". Click OK to accept the name in the User Name field. A series of items that you click with the mouse to start a function appear in bold Select Start > Programs > IBM ViaVoice > and are separated by angle brackets. In VoiceCenter. this example, the first item to click is the Start button, and the last is the function to open VoiceCenter. This symbol identifies information that is particularly important. In addition, navigation and some commands are available only when ViaVoice is installed on Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Me, or Windows XP Home and Professional Edition. This symbol alerts you to information about this limitation. Woodrow, the ViaVoice agent, points out a helpful hint or tip. x ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system This chapter describes how to install ViaVoice on your computer and then set up your sound system. You should allow 30­45 minutes to complete the procedures in this chapter: v Install ViaVoice from the CD-ROM that comes in your package. v Set up your audio system. The User Wizard will assist you! v Record a story and let ViaVoice create a model of your voice. v Optionally, if you already have documents that reflect the style and words (lexicon) that you plan to dictate, you can have ViaVoice analyze those documents. The computer on which you will set up your speech system should be in the location where you plan to dictate. During setup, background noises should be like those you will hear during future dictation sessions. If there is unusual background noise (for example, street repairs being done outside an open window) or if you plan to dictate in a noisy location which is now quiet, wait until the acoustics return to normal before setting up your speech system. First check the following points before installing this program. 1. Refer to the side of the box to ensure your computer meets the minimum requirements for installing this program. 2. Ensure that the disk drive where you plan to install ViaVoice has not been compressed with disk-compression utilities. 3. If you are installing on Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP, your user ID must have administrator authority. 4. If you are installing ViaVoice over an existing IBM speech product or have IBM speech products in more than one language, read the information in the Readme file on the ViaVoice distribution CD before installing ViaVoice. 5. If you plan to use ViaVoice with a digital recorder, read the information in the Readme file on the ViaVoice distribution CD before installing ViaVoice. © Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 1 Installing the ViaVoice software 1. Insert the ViaVoice CD in your CD-ROM drive to start the installation program. If it does not start automatically, do the following: a. Click Start > Run from the Windows taskbar. b. Type d:\setup (where d is your CD-ROM drive). c. Click OK. 2. Follow the instructions on the screen. During installation you will see the following windows. (This section does not show all windows you will see.) Language selection--Choose the language version you want to install and click Next. 2 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition User Information--Type your name and company name, if appropriate. Click Next when you have finished. Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system 3 Installation Options--Select the Installation Options. To clear an option, click on the check mark in the box. Select to install ViaVoice support for Microsoft Office. This option is only available if you have Microsoft Office 97, Office 2000, or Office XP programs installed on your computer. This option includes support for dictation into Word and natural commands1 for Word, Excel and Outlook®. If you choose not to install this support now, you can install it later. Adobe Acrobat Reader--If Adobe Acrobat Reader is not already installed on your computer, you can select this option to have ViaVoice automatically start the Adobe Acrobat Reader installation program. Adobe Acrobat Reader enables you to view the ViaVoice Command Reference and this book. Click Next when you have finished. 1. Natural commands are commands that use a flexible, natural speaking style like "Make the next paragraph bold" and "Select from here to the top". More information can be found in Chapter 9, "Using natural commands" on page 83. 4 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition Setup Complete--This window indicates that you have successfully installed the software. Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system 5 Setting up your microphone and audio system Woodrow appears if you placed VoiceCenter in your StartUp folder. If Woodrow does not appear, start VoiceCenter by clicking Start > Programs > IBM ViaVoice VoiceCenter. Woodrow gives you a short presentation. (To skip this presentation, right-click on Woodrow and then select Hide.) Then, the Audio Setup Wizard starts to help you set up the microphone and audio system so you can get started with ViaVoice. The name in the User Name field is probably the one you typed earlier. Leave it as it is, or type a name by which you want ViaVoice to know you. As you use ViaVoice, words you add and other enhancements you make go into your personal speech files. These files are associated with your user name. You can use any name that contains the letters a to z in both uppercase and lowercase as well as numbers, but it must not contain typographic symbols (like " or /). If other people will use your speech system, add their user names later but before they start ViaVoice for themselves. ("Adding a user" on page 109 describes how to do this.) People using your speech system must have their own user names. 'Sharing' your user name with others will corrupt your personal speech files and cause recognition problems. For now, ignore the other three fields and click Next. 6 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition Audio Setup Wizard--This wizard presents several windows to help you set up your microphone. We recommend that you use the microphone that comes with ViaVoice until you are thoroughly comfortable with your speech system. 1. If you have not already done so, remove the microphone and its equipment from the package: v The microphone itself v One or more plugs and USB adapters2 v Warranty and other material from the manufacturer. The Audio Setup Wizard will prompt you to identify the type of microphone and components you have. 2. With the microphone on, complete all audio tests that the Audio Setup Wizard presents to you. At the window shown below, for example, click Start and then read aloud the text inside the box. Speak the text clearly in your normal voice, pausing naturally between phrases or after punctuation marks. (Imagine you are speaking to someone for whom English is not the native language.) After you have read the sentences, ViaVoice will display the quality of your audio. Should ViaVoice find that the audio quality is poor, click Fixing Poor Audio Quality to learn how to take corrective action. 2. If you are using a USB microphone and do not have the USB port installed, the Windows program for adding this new hardware begins. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the USB device driver. After installing the new hardware and restarting your computer, run VoiceCenter and complete the Audio Setup Wizard. Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system 7 During these tests, the Audio Setup Wizard might display information windows or even start your Web browser to display a ViaVoice-related Web page. Use the information proposed by the wizard to solve any difficulty you might encounter during Audio Setup. ViaVoice needs these tests to be completed successfully to set up your system properly. If you have difficulty completing any test successfully in the Audio Setup Wizard, see "Troubleshooting setup problems" on page 13. Creating a voice model You must give ViaVoice a sample of your voice so that it can understand you. The User Wizard makes it easy for you to do this. When you see this window, click Start, then read aloud the text in the box, speaking in a normal style. As ViaVoice recognizes you, some text will become gray. In the window below, the first sentence and all but the last word of the next sentence have been recognized. If ViaVoice does not recognize what you say, simply say the text again until it is grayed. 8 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition When you have finished reading this text aloud, ViaVoice displays the Analyzing My Voice window. Here you can choose what to do next. Record my voice This is the recommended choice. Recording your voice requires about 10 to 30 minutes and significantly increases the recognition accuracy of ViaVoice. I prefer to do this later If you select this option, the User Wizard presents the Analyze My Documents panel. (See "Analyzing your documents" on page 12 for details.) However, your speech recognition accuracy might not be optimal. To improve your recognition accuracy you can relaunch the User Wizard at any time by selecting Tools > Analyze My Voice from the ViaVoice menu. Chapter 1. Setting up your speech system 9 Analyzing your voice After selecting Record my voice and clicking Next, ViaVoice displays the Choosing a Story window. Select the story that you want to read aloud for analyzing your voice. If the story you want has two Parts, select Part 1 first. Read the story aloud using your normal speaking voice. When ViaVoice has enough recorded data, you will see the Story Finished window. Click Analyze to have ViaVoice create your voice model. However, if you have a strong regional accent, we recommend that you click Continue Reading so that you can record more sentences, giving ViaVoice more data for analysis. Doing everything you can to give ViaVoice as much information about your voice as possible is one of the best ways to ensure excellent recognition accuracy. 10 ViaVoice for Windows Pro USB Edition