User manual SCANSOFT DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING 6

USER'S GUIDE By Dan Newman For details on ScanSoft Application Solutions Partners near you, please visit: www.ScanSoft.com/NaturallySpeaking/locator/ Learn more about speech recognition at: Training and Customization Professional training and customization services from a ScanSoft-certified Applications Solutions Partner can help you achieve the maximum return on your investment. If you would like to unleash the full potential of Dragon NaturallySpeaking® software, please contact one of our Partners for training, customization, and more. ScanSoft Application Solution Partners are the best in the industry; distinguished by their expertise, experience, and commitment to providing top-level services for Dragon NaturallySpeaking® speech recognition products. For details on ScanSoft Application Solutions Partners near you, please visit: www.ScanSoft.com/NaturallySpeaking/locator/ or call 800-443-7077 About the Author Dan Newman is president of Say I Can, Inc., a leading reseller of speech-recognition products and training services. A computer expert and skilled teacher, Dan is the author of several books about speech recognition, including Talk to Your Computer and The Dragon NaturallySpeaking® Guide. Dan has written for many publications, including PC Magazine and Speech Technology, and has appeared on the PBS television show Computer Chronicles. He recently created his first instructional video presentation, Dragon NaturallySpeaking® 6 Video Guide, which helps people use Dragon NaturallySpeaking® speech-recognition software most effectively. Dan's Video Guide is a CD-ROM-based video presentation that runs on your computer and is designed for both new and experienced users of Dragon NaturallySpeaking® software. In the Video Guide, Dan guides you visually through key Dragon NaturallySpeaking® version 6 topics and skills, demonstrating expert techniques and insider secrets. He shows you how to fix mistakes quickly, automate tedious tasks, browse the Web hands-free, boost accuracy, and more. You can see the complete list of topics covered and download free sample video lessons at www.sayican.com. In addition to the Video Guide, Say I Can offers many other speech- recognition products and services. Their innovative "Web Training" service provides live one-on-one training over the Internet, allowing you to conveniently learn how to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking® software from an expert. Other items available include digital recorders, specialty microphones, and volume licenses of Dragon NaturallySpeaking® software. For more information, please call 1-877-Say-I-Can or visit www.sayican.com. This is a screen shot of the Dragon NaturallySpeaking® 6 Video Guide. For more information, please visit the Say I Can Web site at www.sayican.com. May 2002. Version 6.1 Preferred, Standard, and Essentials editions. This publication may not include some last-minute technical changes and/or revisions to the software. Changes are periodically made to the information described here. Future versions of this manual will incorporate these changes. ScanSoft, Inc., 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 such patents. The software is subject to one or more of the following U.S. patents, among others: 5,027,406; 5,202,952; 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; 5,909,666; 5,915,236; 5,920,836; 5,949,886; 5,960,394; 6,064,959; 6,088,671; 6,092,043; 6,092,044; 6,101,468; 6,151,575; 6,163,768; 6,167,377; 6,212,498. 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 ScanSoft, Inc. All rights reserved. Portions copyright © 1999­2001 Dan Newman. All rights reserved. Used with permission. ScanSoft, the ScanSoft logo, L&H, the L&H logo, the Dragon logo, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, NaturallySpeaking, NaturallyMobile, RealSpeak, Nothing But Speech "NBS," Natural Language Technology, Select-and-Say, BestMatch, MouseGrid, and Vocabulary Editor are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. All other names and trademarks referenced herein are trademarks of ScanSoft or their respective owners. 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 ScanSoft is aware of the trademark, the designation is printed with a trademark (TM) or registered trademark (®) symbol. 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. Microsoft, Outlook, Windows, Windows NT, Visual Basic, and PowerPoint are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Netscape and Netscape Navigator are registered trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation. Say I Can and the Say I Can logo are trademarks of Say I Can, Inc. Voice It, the Voice It logo, and Voice It Link are trademarks or registered trademarks of VXI Corporation. AMD is a trademark of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Sound Blaster is a registered trademark of Creative Technology Ltd. America Online is a registered trademark of America Online, Inc., a division of AOL Time Warner. QUALCOMM and Eudora Pro are registered trademarks of QUALCOMM, Incorporated. Yahoo! is a registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc. Dave Barry in Cyberspace, © Copyright 1996 by Dave Barry, published by Crown Publishers. 3001: The Final Odyssey, © Copyright 1997 by Arthur C. Clarke, published by HarperCollins Publishers. 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. 120-D150-61 Contents CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1 About this guide 1 What's new in version 6? 3 What should I expect from Dragon NaturallySpeaking? 6 Installing and Training 7 System requirements 7 Plug in the microphone 8 Plug in the speakers 9 Install the software 9 Create a new user 13 Audio Setup 16 New user training 19 Training problems and solutions 22 Starting to Dictate 25 Turning the microphone on and off 28 Sleeping and waking up 28 Online Help 29 The DragonBar 30 Correcting and Editing 35 The Correction menu 36 Selecting text by voice 40 Moving around in a document 43 Copying, cutting, and pasting text 46 Copying text to other programs 46 Deleting text 47 Keyboard editing shortcuts 49 Spelling as you dictate 50 Formatting 53 Capitalizing text 54 Formatting text 56 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide v Contents CHAPTER 6 Numbers and Punctuation 61 Dictating numbers 61 Punctuation 69 Dictating hyphenated words 70 Dictating compound words 71 Dictating names 72 Dictating abbreviations and acronyms 73 Dictating e-mail and Web addresses 74 Dictating special characters 75 Modes 80 Using E-Mail and Microsoft Internet Explorer Working with e-mail 83 Working with Microsoft Internet Explorer 87 Using Natural Language Commands 95 Available Natural Language Commands 95 The Sample Commands window 96 The Command Browser 96 Sample Commands 98 Hands-Free Computing 101 Starting programs 102 Opening documents and folders 103 Switching between open windows 103 Copying text to other programs 104 Opening and closing menus 105 Selecting buttons, tabs, and options 106 Selecting icons on the desktop 107 Resizing and closing windows 108 Scrolling in windows and list boxes 109 Pressing keyboard keys 109 Activating commands by saying key names 113 Moving the mouse pointer and clicking the mouse Hands-free tips 121 83 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 115 CHAPTER 10 Automate Your Work 123 Viewing or editing commands 123 Searching commands 124 Creating new commands (Preferred edition only) 125 Deleting custom commands (Preferred edition only) 129 Renaming Text and Graphics commands 130 vi Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide Contents CHAPTER 11 Workflow 133 Dictate first, correct later (Preferred edition only) Ways to correct your dictation 136 Speaking and Dictating Composing 146 143 133 CHAPTER 12 CHAPTER 13 Improving Accuracy 151 The Accuracy Center 152 Tools to improve your vocabulary 156 The ideal system for best accuracy 168 Some practical ways to improve accuracy 169 Healthy Computing 175 Ergonomics and posture 175 Maintaining good vocal health 176 Using a Handheld Recorder (Preferred edition only) 179 Installing recorder software 180 Creating a user adapted to your recorded speech 181 Dictating into your recorder 185 Transcribing recorded dictation 187 Correcting mistakes 193 Using the Dragon NaturallyMobile recorder as a microphone 194 Better accuracy with a recorder 194 Customizing Dragon NaturallySpeaking 197 The Options dialog box 197 Troubleshooting 211 Testing your sound system 211 Other problems and solutions 213 Commands List 251 217 CHAPTER 14 CHAPTER 15 CHAPTER 16 CHAPTER 17 APPENDIX INDEX Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide vii CHAPTER 1 Introduction W s s s elcome to Dragon NaturallySpeaking®--the software that lets you talk to your computer instead of typing. As you speak, your words appear swiftly on-screen just as if you had typed them. You can talk ("dictate") into many programs, including Microsoft® Word, Corel® WordPerfect®, e-mail programs, personal information organizers, and more. For example, you can use Dragon NaturallySpeaking® to: Compose letters, memos, and e-mail messages. 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. Work on the Web. You can search the Web, access information, and navigate Web pages by speaking URLs and links. You can also move text around within your document ("cut and paste"), revise and format text, and control your computer by voice. You can start programs, open menus, and send e-mails by voice. After you become comfortable talking to your computer, you may want to take the convenience of dictating a step further by using a handheld recorder with Dragon NaturallySpeaking®. (Available in Preferred edition only.) With a handheld recorder, you can dictate while away from your computer. When you return to your computer, Dragon NaturallySpeaking® will type out ("transcribe") what you said. About this guide This guide provides detailed information that will help you get the most out of using Dragon NaturallySpeaking®. It will help you get up and running with the software, show you how to dictate, edit, and format Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction your text, and discuss the best ways to work for maximum efficiency and accuracy. While this guide presents all the important features of Dragon NaturallySpeaking®, it is not intended to be a complete reference to each feature and function. More extensive information about using Dragon NaturallySpeaking® is available in the program's online Help. This guide covers the Dragon NaturallySpeaking® Preferred, Essentials, and Standard editions. Most of the information presented in this guide is applicable to all these editions. When information applies to certain editions only, this is noted. 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." Some procedures also include sample text for you to dictate. Sample text appears in a different typeface, with punctuation in square brackets. For example: US/Canada: When talking to a computer [comma] try to say every word clearly without trailing off at the end of a sentence [period] Other Dialects: When talking to a computer [comma] try to say every word clearly without trailing off at the end of a sentence [full stop] 2 3 This guide applies to the five English dialects that ship with Dragon NaturallySpeaking®: s s s s s 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. 2 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 1 Introduction 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: s You can also correct a longer phrase by saying "Correct [text] Through [text]" (US/Canada) or "Correct [text] To [text]" (Other Dialects). This guide uses US spelling and punctuation for consistency. 4 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. 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 6? Dragon NaturallySpeaking® version 6 brings together the best ScanSoftTM and Dragon NaturallySpeaking® speech-recognition and text-to-speech technology to create more accurate, powerful, and userfriendly speech-recognition software. (Text-to-speech is available only in the Preferred edition.) In addition to assisting users to operate a computer hands-free, the software contains many new features and general improvements. Tools for greater accuracy Accuracy Center The Accuracy Center offers one-stop shopping for all the tools available to improve recognition accuracy: audio settings, additional training, adding words to the vocabulary, and the new Acoustic Optimizer can all be found in this central location. (Some features of the Accuracy Center are available only in Standard and higher editions.) See page 152. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 3 CHAPTER 1 Introduction The Accuracy Assistant, which is part of the Accuracy Center, guides the user in selecting the right tool for improving accuracy. See page 152. Acoustic Optimizer After you have used Dragon NaturallySpeaking® for a while and some recognition errors may have occurred, the Acoustic Optimizer is a tool that lets Dragon NaturallySpeaking® process all the recorded data it has collected during training and while corrections have been made. It learns from this data in one sweep, which is much more powerful than gradual adaptation from each correction. Start the optimizer before you leave for a meeting and come back to improved recognition. See page 153. Add contact names and vocabulary Add the contact names from your address book to your vocabulary file (Available only in Standard and higher editions.) You can also scan your sent e-mail to teach Dragon NaturallySpeaking® the words you use. See page 160. Nothing But Speech ("NBS")TM The Nothing But Speech technology filters out some of the fillers between dictation, such as "uhms" and "ahs," to help avoid insertion of unwanted words. Easier to use Faster, easier correction A new, streamlined correction interface makes it easier than ever to proofread and correct your work. The improved Correction menu is now available wherever you can select text by voice. See page 36. Correct whichever way you want--by voice, by mouse and keyboard, or using any combination of these. Dragon NaturallySpeaking® will still learn from your corrections, even if you just type them over the words you've selected. The new correction workflow lets you dictate your entire document and then quickly move along and correct phrase by phrase as needed. See "Ways to correct your dictation" on page 136. 4 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 1 Introduction Find commands easily with Sample Commands and Command Browser Can't remember a command? A Sample Commands window displays voice commands for the most popular applications alongside your work. See "Sample Commands" on page 98. The new Command Browser lets you search for commands by application, making it easy to find what you need. It also allows you to train or modify your commands. See "The Command Browser" on page 96. Create your own commands Text and Graphics commands Create a letter closing and include your signature as a bitmap. You can add this to any document with one simple voice command. This is just one example of how Text and Graphics commands let you automate common tasks. (Available in Preferred edition only.) See "Automate Your Work" on page 123. More powerful and versatile Easily edit by voice in more applications Select-and-Say® functionality, which enables you to make text changes easily by voice, is now available in the Open and Save dialogs in many applications, in the Windows® Find dialog box, and in many other places. Award-winning ScanSoftTM RealSpeakTM text-to-speech engine Let the computer read text to you, such as an incoming e-mail, in the most human-sounding voice available. (Available in Preferred edition only.) See page 141. More extensive mouse control commands You can now control the mouse by voice in a variety of ways, for example, by simply saying "Move Mouse Upper Left." See page 119. Natural Language Commands In addition to the commands that worked in version 5, you can now also use Natural Language Commands in your favorite programs. There is no need to learn a specific command--Natural Language Commands let you say what you want in many different ways and still get the software to do just the right thing. See "Using Natural Language Commands" on page 95. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 5 CHAPTER 1 Introduction Improved hands-free capabilities Improvements in the user interface of version 6 make it possible to complete almost every task by voice, for users who prefer to work handsfree. See "Hands-Free Computing" on page 101. What should I expect from Dragon NaturallySpeaking? One reason to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking® is to create letters, reports, and other documents by voice. Another is to speed up routine tasks, such as entering data, launching applications, sending e-mail, filling in forms, and working on the Web. Or maybe you need or prefer to work on the computer with little or no use of your hands. 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. To get the best results, you'll need to correct the mistakes so that the program can learn from its mistakes and 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. Feel free to use a combination of voice, mouse, and keyboard to get your work done--experiment to find methods that work best for you. If using a mouse and keyboard is not an option, pay special attention to "Hands-Free Computing." on page 101. 6 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training I f you haven't yet set up Dragon NaturallySpeaking®, this chapter will guide you through each step of the process, from plugging in the microphone to training the computer to recognize your voice. It also covers dictating your first sentence and explains the Dragon NaturallySpeaking® controls, buttons, and menus that appear on-screen as you work. System requirements The recommended system requirements to run Dragon NaturallySpeaking® are: s s s s s s s s s Intel® Pentium® II 400 MHz processor (or equivalent AMDTM processor)* 128 MB RAM 300 MB free hard disk space Microsoft® Windows® XP, Millennium, 2000, 98, 95C, or Windows® NT® 4.0 (with SP-6 or greater) Creative® Labs Sound Blaster® 16 or equivalent sound card supporting 16-bit recording Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 5 or higher (free download available at www.microsoft.com CD-ROM drive (required for installation) ScanSoft-approved noise-canceling headset microphone (included) Speakers (required for playback of recorded speech and text-tospeech features available in Preferred edition only). Dragon NaturallySpeaking® 6 has been optimized for a variety of popular processors, including the Intel® Pentium® 4, Pentium® III, Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 7 CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training Pentium® II, Pentium® with MMXTM, Intel Celeron®, AMDTM K6®-2, AMDTM K6-III with 3DNow!TM, AMDTM AthlonTM, and more. *For optimal performance, in combination with other applications running on your system, a 500 MHz processor or faster and 256 MB RAM are recommended. Plug in the microphone Here's how to set up your regular (non-USB) microphone. (If you have a USB microphone, follow the instructions that came with it instead of this description.) Find the microphone plug at the end of the wire attached to the microphone. If the wire ends in just one plug, that is the microphone plug. If the wire ends in two plugs, one is the microphone plug and the other is for the speaker in the microphone's earpiece. Check the instructions included with your microphone to figure out which is which. The microphone plug sometimes has a small picture of a microphone imprinted in the plastic base of the plug. If the two plugs are different colors, the brightly colored one is usually the microphone plug. Next, find the microphone jack in the sound card of your computer. On desktop computers, this small, round opening is almost always on the back of your computer. There will be one, two, or three similar-sized jacks next to it (all are part of your computer's sound hardware). Each jack should be labeled with words (MIC, LINE IN, SPKR) or pictures. Choose the jack with the word MIC or the picture of a microphone. The labels can be difficult to spot. They may be engraved into the metal plate the jacks are set into or imprinted on the plastic case of the computer. (On many computers the microphone jack has a red circle around it.) On laptops, the microphone jack may be on the side or front instead of the back of the computer. 8 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training Plug in the speakers If you hear chimes or other sounds when Microsoft® Windows® starts up, your speakers are already plugged in correctly. If Windows® is silent, find the sound card jack labeled SPKR (or imprinted with a picture of a speaker), and plug in the speakers. This step is not necessary for laptops, which have internal speakers. If your microphone has a speaker plug, you can listen to the computer's sound through the earphone on your headset microphone. If you'd rather hear the computer's sounds through your speakers than the earphone, simply leave the speaker plug unplugged. Install the software Before installing Dragon NaturallySpeaking®, close all open applications. Also, turn off or disable any antivirus software that is running. Sometimes installation can trigger a false virus report. NOTE To install or uninstall Dragon NaturallySpeaking® on Windows® NT® and Windows® 2000, you must have Administrator rights. After a user has been created, however, Administrator rights are not required to use the software after installation. This also applies for an upgrade installation. Installing Dragon NaturallySpeaking® is similar to installing other Windows® applications. Insert the Dragon NaturallySpeaking® CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive. In most cases, the installation program will start automatically. NOTE If the installation does not start automatically on your computer, follow these steps: From the Windows® Start menu, choose Run. The Run dialog box will open. Type Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 9 CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training E:\setup.exe and click OK. (If your CD-ROM drive is not drive E, use the correct CD-ROM drive letter.) Upgrading from version 5: s Upgrading from English version 5 editions: If you are upgrading from any edition of Dragon NaturallySpeaking® version 5 to version 6, your user files and vocabularies will migrate automatically to version 6. After the upgrade, version 5 will no longer be available. NOTE: For non-English or multilingual users of version 5: Installing Dragon NaturallySpeaking® version 6 will delete all user files in non-English languages. Multilingual editions of version 5 will no longer be available after you upgrade to this English version 6 of Dragon NaturallySpeaking®. s Setup Type The setup program gives you the option of choosing a Typical Installation, Complete Installation, or Custom Installation of Dragon NaturallySpeaking®. v US users: choose "Typical Installation." Non-US users: choose "Custom Installation." 10 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training Most users in the US should choose "Typical Installation" (as shown) and click Next. This installs Dragon NaturallySpeaking® with the US (American) English user files. To install non-US English user files, choose "Custom Installation" and follow the instructions below, "Installing non-US user files." Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 11 CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training Installing non-US user files To install user files for UK (British) English, Australian English, Indian English, or Southeast Asian English, choose "Custom Installation" from the setup screen shown above, then click Next. A dialog box appears to let you choose which components to install. Select the user file for the dialect you want and click Next to continue installation. The user files for each region contain both spellings and pronunciations specific to that region. The vocabulary installed with the Indian user file, for example, is designed for people speaking English in India and includes spellings and punctuation for that region. It is not possible to install, for example, US English spellings with Indian or Indian-accented pronunciations. All users who wish to dictate US English spellings--including users with accents-- should install the US (American) English user files. If you speak with an accent different from the user files you install, your accuracy will be improved by performing additional training as soon as possible after creating a trained user. See "Perform additional training," on page 154 for more information. 12 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training NOTE If you decide not to install some Dragon NaturallySpeaking® components by selecting a Custom installation, you can install them later by running the Setup program again and choosing Modify. Continue following the on-screen instructions. The setup program will copy the files for Dragon NaturallySpeaking® to your computer. It is recommended that you register when prompted during the installation process, so that we can notify you of product upgrades and other offers. The program may ask you to reboot your computer once installation is complete. After rebooting, click on the Dragon NaturallySpeaking® icon on your desktop to start Dragon NaturallySpeaking®. Create a new user After installation is complete and you launch the software for the first time, the New User Wizard will ask you to choose a user name. Type your name. The software automatically picks the best speech model and vocabulary settings for your system. If you are using a USB microphone, choose the USB Microphone from the "Dictation source" drop-down list. If you are using an array microphone or handheld recorder (with Preferred edition only), you will also need to change the "Dictation source" setting to match your microphone or recorder. NOTE For special purposes, you can create a vocabulary that contains only commands. To do this, choose "Commands Only" from the Vocabulary list in the New User dialog box. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 13 CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training If this user file will be used with a USB microphone, array microphone, or handheld recorder*, choose the appropriate option from the Dictation source list. (*Works in Preferred edition only.) v Type your name. Change the "Dictation source" and "Vocabulary" settings if you need to. Then click Next. About vocabularies A vocabulary in Dragon NaturallySpeaking® is a body of information that includes a word list and a language model. The word list includes information about all the words that the program can recognize. The language model contains usage information about those words. Dragon NaturallySpeaking® uses a vocabulary to recognize words correctly based not only on the sound of the words, but on their context. When you create a new user, you select the vocabulary on which to base the user. When you create a new user or new vocabulary for an existing user, you select the vocabulary on which to base the vocabulary you create. Vocabulary You can select from among the following vocabularies: s s General: A large vocabulary providing excellent recognition accuracy for general, business, and professional dictation. Commands Only: A limited vocabulary containing only command words and phrases. Choose this vocabulary if you want to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking® only for command and control of programs and not for dictation. 14 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training s Teens (US English only): A large vocabulary containing words selected for a student population and providing excellent recognition accuracy for higher-pitched voices, for example ages 11 through 18. 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. Experienced users may want to click the Advanced button to specify a different vocabulary size from among the following choices: s s s s s Extra Small: designed for computers with less than 64 MB of RAM. Small: designed for computers with between 64 and 96 MB of RAM. Medium: designed for computers with between 96 and 128 MB of RAM. Large: designed for computers with at least 150 MB of RAM. Empty Dictation: a vocabulary with a language model but without any words. This vocabulary is designed for experienced users or value-added resellers who want to create highly specialized vocabularies. Multiple users on one computer Dragon NaturallySpeaking® is licensed on a "per individual" basis. Individuals are permitted to install the software on more than one computer (for example, on a desktop and a laptop computer, or a work computer and a home computer) and permitted to create multiple user files, so long as the software is only being used by that individual. NOTE: There is an exception for educational settings, including primary schools, secondary schools, or colleges. Dragon NaturallySpeaking® may be installed on a single computer for use by multiple users in a classroom, school library, or other shared computing facility in an educational setting. If you wish to allow more than one person to use one copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking®, you need a license for each user. Volume license agreements are available. For information on Dragon NaturallySpeaking® sales, see page 259. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 15 CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training Audio Setup Now that you've chosen your user name, click Next to have the New User Wizard lead you through setting up your microphone. Positioning your microphone First, the New User Wizard explains how to position your microphone. Click Next to continue. The following sections provide detailed information on positioning the microphone. Once you have correctly positioned the microphone, click Next to continue. Position the microphone Put the microphone on your head so that the headband goes across the top of your head. Adjust the headband so that it is comfortable and feels like it will stay in place. For additional comfort, most microphones can be adjusted so that the boom extends down from either the left ear or the right ear, as you prefer. 16 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training Next, bend or adjust the boom so that the foam windscreen, which shields the microphone element from excess noise, is near your mouth. Correct positioning is crucial for recognition accuracy. Start with the microphone at the corner of your mouth, about a thumb's width away. At the corner of your mouth If the microphone is too close to the center of your mouth, it may pick up breathing sounds, which Dragon NaturallySpeaking® may mistake for "the," "a," or other small words. In this case, move it closer to the corner of your mouth. The right distance away The windscreen should not touch your face, hair, or beard. The proper distance from your mouth to the microphone is roughly between onehalf and one inch--about the width of the thick part of your thumb. Place your thumb between the microphone and your mouth. One side of your thumb should be touching your mouth, the other should be just brushing the windscreen. Checking this distance with your thumb is a good way to get a feel for proper microphone positioning. While you work, the microphone may shift, degrading recognition accuracy. Doing a quick "thumb check" ensures that the microphone is where it should be. Pointing toward your mouth To pick up the best sound, the microphone element should be pointed toward your mouth. The microphone element, covered by the foam windscreen, is the electronic part that actually hears your voice. On most microphones a small dot just outside the windscreen indicates the direction in which the microphone hears best. Be sure that dot is pointed toward your mouth. (On some microphones you may need to partially Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 17 CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training remove the windscreen to find the dot. Other microphones have a flat edge near the microphone element rather than a dot--point the flat edge toward your mouth.) Positioned consistently Consistent microphone placement is vital for accurate speech recognition. Position the microphone exactly the same way each time you use the software. If the microphone drifts, your voice will sound different to the computer and your dictation might come out garbled. Adjust Your Volume From the screen "Adjust Your Volume" (shown below), click the Start Volume Check button and read the text that appears. After Dragon NaturallySpeaking® adjusts your volume setting, click Next to continue. 18 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training Sound quality check Click the Start Quality Check button and read aloud the text shown on the screen. As you read, the computer is evaluating your sound setup. After about half a minute, Dragon NaturallySpeaking® will display a "Speech-toNoise ratio," which indicates the clarity of your sound system. If Dragon NaturallySpeaking® labels this measurement "PASSED," you're ready to go on--click the Next button to continue. If not, see "Testing your sound system" on page 211. New user training Follow the on-screen prompts to begin the process of training Dragon NaturallySpeaking® to recognize your voice. Training takes place in two parts. For most microphone users, the first part consists of reading two sentences aloud (see illustration). Click Go to turn on the microphone and then read the sentences shown in the Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 19 CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training successive screens. The Demo button gives you an example of how to read aloud during training. Next, the software will ask you to choose a training text to read. Select the text you prefer and click OK. 20 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training For the next few minutes you'll read passages that appear on-screen. You can take a break at any time by pressing the Pause button. Press Go to resume. You'll be reading for about five minutes. As you speak, the words you say turn from blue to black, showing that Dragon NaturallySpeaking® hears them. If you stop speaking, a yellow arrow will show you where to begin speaking again. Occasionally, you'll read a sentence or paragraph but the yellow arrow will point you back again to the start of what you already read. This indicates that something in the passage you read did not match what Dragon NaturallySpeaking® expected to hear. Read the passage again, pausing after each sentence. If you cannot get past a particular word after saying it three times, click the Skip button to continue. NOTE During training, dictating punctuation is not necessary. Also, if you happen to misspeak or mispronounce a word during training, don't worry about it--just continue reading. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 21 CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training When you've read enough, this message will appear: Click OK to adapt your user files. Depending on your computer, this will take from one to five minutes or more. When adaptation is complete, follow the on-screen instructions to finish setting up your user files. The DragonBar will appear at the top of your computer screen, waiting for you to start talking. Congratulations--you're ready to dictate! TIP For best accuracy, be sure to complete a second session of general training as soon as possible. Do this by clicking on the Tools menu on the DragonBar, then clicking Accuracy Center.After the Accuracy Center window opens, click "Perform additional training." This second training session will take a bit longer than the first, but the improvement in accuracy will be well worth the additional time spent. Training problems and solutions Symptom: Nothing changes on the screen as you speak and the yellow volume bar never turns green. Cause: Dragon NaturallySpeaking® is not hearing your voice. Solution: Check that the microphone is plugged in correctly. If the volume bar still does not move as you speak, test your microphone by recording a wave file using your Windows® Sound Recorder and playing it back. Symptom: The yellow volume bar changes to red as you talk. Cause: The sound signal is too loud. Solution: Make sure you are speaking at the same volume as you were during the Audio Setup Wizard and that your microphone is still positioned correctly. 22 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 2 Installing and Training Symptom: You are not able to complete the first two enrollment screens (the first two sentences that Dragon NaturallySpeaking® asks you to read). This may be because you are not able to speak continuously, due to a disability or other reason. Solution: Have another person read these two sentences to Dragon NaturallySpeaking® so that the program can progress to the next part of training. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 23 CHAPTER 3 Starting to Dictate N ow that you've installed your software and created and trained your user files, you're ready to dictate your first sentence. First, start your word processor, such as Microsoft® Word or Corel® WordPerfect®, and begin a new document. The text insertion point should be at the start of your new document, as if you were going to begin typing. DragonPad If you don't have a word processor installed or if you'd prefer not to use it, you can use the DragonPad, a simple word processor included with Dragon NaturallySpeaking®. To open the DragonPad, from the Tools menu on the DragonBar, click DragonPad. For Dragon NaturallySpeaking® to recognize your voice, you need to turn on the microphone. The microphone on/off control is located on the DragonBar, the horizontal bar that appears on-screen whenever you are using Dragon NaturallySpeaking®. Microphone NOTE The Sound menu is available only in the Preferred edition. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 25 CHAPTER 3 Starting to Dictate Click the microphone button to turn the microphone on. The button and the volume meter next to it change to show if the microphone is off or on. v Off--the computer can't hear you. v On--the computer is listening. It will type whatever it hears. Dictate a sentence about the weather. Or read this: I am now able to talk to my computer! (Say "exclamation point" for "!"). Did it work? If no words appear, check that the microphone is plugged in correctly and is turned on (by pressing the microphone button on the DragonBar, as described above). If only one or two words appear, your microphone may be set up incorrectly or your sound settings may need to be changed. See page 211 for instructions on how to test your sound system. If words did appear, but many are not what you said, that's okay. Dragon NaturallySpeaking® will improve as you use it. Go ahead and dictate whatever you like. Remember to say punctuation. Here is what to say for the most common punctuation marks. (For a complete list of punctuation, see page 240.) TO E N TE R SA Y ( US / C ana da ) SAY ( O t her D i al ec t s) , . ! comma period exclamation point or exclamation mark comma full stop exclamation mark 26 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 3 Starting to Dictate TO E N TE R SA Y ( US / C ana da ) SAY ( O t her D i al ec t s) ? : question mark hyphen colon question mark hyphen colon For a new paragraph, say "New Paragraph" run together as one word, with no pause after "new." For a new line, say "New Line." After dictating a paragraph or two, go back and correct any recognition errors with the keyboard and mouse, just as you would usually correct errors in a word-processed document. You'll learn to correct by voice in chapter 4, "Correcting and Editing." Key tips for dictating s s s Pronounce each word clearly--even short words. Speak all punctuation ("comma," "period," and so on). Say commands without pausing between the individual words of the command (as if you were saying "NewParagraph"). Do not pause while saying the command. Do pause, however, before and after saying the command. Commands require a pause before and after the command ("This is a test [pause] Select Last 3 Words [pause] Bold That"). The pauses enable Dragon NaturallySpeaking® to separate commands from words to be typed (dictation). Although talking to a computer is not like talking to a person, speech with lively inflection tends to be processed more accurately than speech in a dull monotone. For more tips on how to dictate, see "Speaking and Dictating" on page 143. Looking at the screen while speaking can be distracting. Try looking away from the computer as you speak, or close your eyes. To maintain your line of thought, dictate a paragraph or two at a time. Then go back and correct with what you said still in mind. Drink lots of water. Sipping it through a straw will help avoid moving the headset and will help keep your microphone in the right position. s s s s s Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 27 CHAPTER 3 Starting to Dictate Turning the microphone on and off Any of these three methods will switch the microphone between on and off: s Press the numeric (+) key on your keyboard. This key is at the far right of most keyboards. (It's not the plus [+] key that appears above the equal [=] sign on your regular keyboard). Click the microphone button on the DragonBar. Click the small microphone icon in the bottom right corner of the screen, next to the clock: s s Saying "Microphone Off" will also turn the microphone off. You cannot, however, turn the microphone on by voice. Whenever you're not using Dragon NaturallySpeaking®, turn off the microphone. This prevents the computer from mistaking background noise for words and filling your screen with useless text. If you have a laptop computer, you may have to press several keys at once to generate a numeric (+) keystroke. You may want to define another key to turn off your microphone. See "Customizing Dragon NaturallySpeaking" on page 197. Sleeping and waking up Saying "Go To Sleep" or "Stop Listening" without pausing will put Dragon NaturallySpeaking® into sleep mode. The program still listens to your speech, but the only phrases it will respond to in this mode are "Wake Up" or "Listen to Me," which turn the microphone on. When in sleep mode: s The volume meter on the DragonBar (next to the microphone button) will show a dark gray volume bar (instead of yellow or green). 28 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 3 Starting to Dictate s The microphone button on the DragonBar and the microphone icon at the bottom corner of the screen will turn yellow and slant to the side: Saying "Go To Sleep" or "Stop Listening" can be useful for taking phone calls or for other short interruptions. If you leave the computer for a longer period of time, turn the microphone all the way off, so that Dragon NaturallySpeaking® does not hear "Wake Up" or "Listen to Me" accidentally. Many people find that pressing the numeric (+) key is the simplest on/ off method. Printing and saving your dictated text Now that the words you said are on the computer's screen in your word processor, you can print and save them, just as if you had typed them. Printing From the File menu of your word processor, use the mouse to choose Print. Or say "Click File," pause, and say "Print." You can also simply say "Print Document" or "Print File" if Natural Language Commands are enabled and available in your edition. See "Using Natural Language Commands" on page 95. Also see "Startup/Shutdown options" on page 200. Saving From the File menu, choose Save. Or say "Click File," pause, and then say "Save." If the Natural Language Commands have been enabled, you can say "Save Document." Online Help To access the online Help for Dragon NaturallySpeaking®, click the Help menu on the DragonBar and choose Help Topics. Alternately, you can say "Give Me Help." You can print individual Help topics with the Print button in the Help window. To open the online Help links, just say their names. The links will be displayed next to the application window Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 29 CHAPTER 3 Starting to Dictate and will give you examples of the most common commands that work in the application you are currently using. "What Can I Say?" Saying "What Can I Say" will bring up some Sample Commands. This information is also summarized in the Appendix. To see additional voice commands that you can use, click Command Browser from the Tools menu of the DragonBar. The Command Browser is described in more detail on page 96. The DragonBar The DragonBar is a narrow horizontal window that allows easy access to Dragon NaturallySpeaking® functions and features. Change position Microphone Menus Status Extras NOTE The Sound menu is available only in the Preferred edition. Changing the DragonBar position To change the position of the DragonBar, click the small red Dragon icon at its far left. A menu will appear, which lets you move the DragonBar to the bottom of the screen, make it a floating window that you can position freely, or make it a "clinging" window, where the DragonBar appears just above whatever window into which you're dictating. You can also hide the DragonBar completely by clicking Tray Icon Only Mode from this menu. NOTE You can also hide the DragonBar by saying "Switch to Tray Icon Only Mode." To make a hidden DragonBar reappear, right-click on the small microphone in the lower right corner of the screen (next to the clock, usually in the Windows® task bar). From the menu that appears, click Restore Previous DragonBar Mode. 30 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 3 Starting to Dictate Microphone button and volume display Click the Microphone button to turn the microphone on and off. When the microphone is on, a colored bar in the Volume Display shows the current sound level. Yellow indicates silence or speech that is too soft, green indicates a proper speech level, and red indicates sound that is too loud to be processed. Extras toolbar (Available in Preferred edition only) Click the Extras button on the far right of the DragonBar to open the Extras toolbar. The Extras toolbar includes buttons for transcribing from a recorder and for proofreading your dictation. Start Playback Stop Playback Skip Forward Correction Fast Playback Skip Back Transcribe To hide the Extras toolbar, click the Extras button Correction again. Clicking the Correction button opens the Correction menu to teach the computer what you said. See chapter 4, "Correcting and Editing." Transcribe (Available in Preferred edition only) Use this button to transcribe your speech from a handheld recorder. See chapter 15, "Using a Handheld Recorder (Preferred edition only)." Start Playback, Fast Playback, and Stop Playback (Available in Preferred edition only) Select a word, sentence, or paragraph, then click the Start Playback button to hear a recording of what you said. A yellow arrow points to the text during playback to show you how the computer interpreted your words. This button is useful for editing when you don't remember what you said. Click the Fast Playback button to play the recording at a faster speed. Click the Start Playback button to return to a normal speed. Click the Stop Playback button to stop the recorded speech playback. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 31 CHAPTER 3 Starting to Dictate Skip Back and Skip Forward These buttons skip backward or forward one utterance. To Dragon NaturallySpeaking®, an utterance is a group of words said together without pausing. The Extras menu items can be displayed in the main DragonBar. See "View options" on page 201. The microphone in the taskbar When Dragon NaturallySpeaking® is running, one of three small graphics will appear next to the clock in the Windows® task bar. You can click on these graphics to switch the microphone on or off. v Microphone is on. v Microphone is off. v Microphone is sleeping. Right-click the microphone icon to access the same menus that are found on the DragonBar, where you can access all Dragon NaturallySpeaking® functions. Also use this menu to make the DragonBar appear if it's hidden (click Restore Previous DragonBar Mode). Results box The Results box is a small yellow window that appears on-screen as you dictate. It looks like this: As you speak, the Results box displays the words that Dragon NaturallySpeaking® thinks you said. These words may change as the program considers different interpretations of the utterance it heard. After Dragon NaturallySpeaking® types the text into your document, the Results box shows what was typed. 32 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 3 Starting to Dictate When Dragon NaturallySpeaking® is recognizing a command, the Results box has a bold blue border, so you can tell that it is recognizing your utterance as a command. A line at the bottom of the Results box changes color from yellow to green as you speak. This line is a volume meter that duplicates the functions of the microphone volume meter on the DragonBar. You can move the Results box anywhere on the screen by dragging it with the mouse. To stop Dragon NaturallySpeaking® in the middle of a recognition process and switch off the microphone, click on the small red circle in the upper-left corner of the Results box. The Results box is useful in three ways. When you notice the volume meter change to green, you know the computer is actually hearing you. When you see the Results box fill with words, you know that Dragon NaturallySpeaking® is processing what you say. And finally, after you finish a command or phrase, the Results box shows you what Dragon NaturallySpeaking® thought you said. You can then determine whether Dragon NaturallySpeaking® recognized your dictation correctly. You can also anchor the Results box permanently in one place. From the Tools menu of the DragonBar, click Options, then click the View tab and enable the respective option. Controlling Dragon NaturallySpeaking® with voice commands You can access the functions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking® with voice commands. For example, to show the Extras toolbar, say "Show Extras Bar."(Available in Preferred edition only.) For a list of other voice commands that control Dragon NaturallySpeaking®, see "Controlling the DragonBar" in the Appendix, page 218. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 33 CHAPTER 4 Correcting and Editing You may have already noticed that the words Dragon NaturallySpeaking® types are not always the words you said. As you correct the program's errors, though, it learns more about how you speak and its accuracy improves. Using the keyboard and mouse, it's easy to correct the mistakes that Dragon NaturallySpeaking® makes. Just edit your text the way you would with any word processor. You don't have to worry about whether you are modifying a mistake made by Dragon NaturallySpeaking®, or fixing some text where you said the wrong word, or revising your document because you changed your mind about what you want to say. Make all these edits just as you normally would, with keyboard and mouse. You must be sure, however, to select a word before typing over it. Using the backspace key and retyping (or saying "Scratch That") will not enable the software to learn from corrections and improve recognition accuracy. For accuracy to improve, you must first select text and then correct it or overwrite it with the words you said. Dragon NaturallySpeaking® keeps track of the corrections you make and adapts (changes) your user files so that the software can recognize your speech more accurately. The program keeps track of all the corrections you make, whether you type, dictate, or use the Correction menu (described later in this chapter). It uses sophisticated techniques to determine when to learn from your editing and when to ignore it. For example, the program takes into account how closely your edits match the sound of the words you dictated. Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide 35 CHAPTER 4 Correcting and Editing New in version 6 If you've used earlier versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking®, this new correction approach in version 6 is a significant change and major improvement. You don't have to figure out whether errors were misrecognized or misspoken, or whether you are correcting a misrecognition or editing your dictation. Whenever you select a word, phrase, or sentence, then type or dictate the correct word or words over it, Dragon NaturallySpeaking® will learn from the correction automatically, while knowing when not to adapt when you rewrite your text. The Correction menu When you select text by voice, or select text by mouse and then press the Correction key, the Correction menu appears. This menu shows the software's best guesses of alternatives to the words you have dictated and selected. To correct a mistake with the Correction menu: 1 Select the word or words you want to correct, then press the Correction key (by default, this is the [-] key on the numeric keypad). Or say "Select" plus the words you want to select. To correct the last words you dictated, simply say "Correct That." The Correction menu appears. 36 Dragon NaturallySpeaking User's Guide CHAPTER 4 Correcting and Editing 2 In the following example, Dragon NaturallySpeaking® heard the word "quick" as "clinic." Say "Choose 2" to replace "clinic" with "quick." You can also say "Spell That" to spell a word or "Cap That" to capitalize it. Correction menu 3 Choose the correct word from the Correction menu by saying "Choose" and the number next to your choice. In this example, say "Choose 2," and "quick" will replace "clinic." TIP You can change the number of choices displayed to you. In the Options dialog box, click the Correction tab and increase the number in "Show no more than n choices." If you want to display your choices without the Correction menu taking up too much space on the screen, select the "Show only the choices" option. See "Correction options" on page 198.