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 ...