Dragon NaturallySpeaking Quick Start Guide Independent Living Resource Centre Adaptive Technology Program The ILRC is a resource centre designed by people with disabilities for people with disabilities. The resources, supports and opportunities found at the ILRC can help consumers stay in control of their lives. The ILRC also shares information and resources with other community organizations, students and teachers, government departments, agencies, businesses, and anyone who is interested in disability issues. Some services that the ILRC offers are: * Information & Networking * Individual Advocacy * Volunteer Services / Peer Support * Career Development * Adaptive Technology * CAP Site – Community Access Program * Research & Development * Independent Living Internship Adaptive Technology at the ILRC Adaptive Technology (AT) has become very popular at the ILRC. People who use it are able to overcome obstacles that would otherwise prevent them from using a computer or accessing the Internet. The Adaptive Technology Program is funded through the provincial Department of Human Resources, Labour & Employment (www.hrle.gov.nl.ca/hrle/), with additional supports received through Industry Canada & Human Resource Social Development – Youth Employment Services. In the ILRC CAP (Community Access Program) site, we have a wide range of computer hardware and software all in a fully accessible environment. Anyone can come in and try out any piece of equipment to see what works best for them. Our AT Coordinator – Donna Greene – is here to help people use the equipment and find ways to own it themselves. We currently have a whole bunch of exciting Adaptive Technology for you to check out. So if you are curious and want to explore more, feel free to stop by the ILRC for more information. Community Access Program – Innovation Fund 2008-09 As part of our participation with the Community Access Program (CAP), in 2008-09 we were able to take advantage of new funding through the Innovation Fund. Thanks to this funding we were able create quick-start training manuals that help people learn specific Adaptive Technology software programs. The purpose of these manuals was to give consumers the necessary information to get them started with using the programs, and to do so in a way that was practical and easy to understand. We produced six manuals in total: - Dragon NaturallySpeaking v9.0 Preferred - Kurzweil 3000 - WordQ/SpeakQ - JAWS 10 - Key to Access - ZoomText v9.0 Please note that these manuals are meant as an introduction to the program only. For further details about any of the information contained in these manuals, please consult the manufacturer’s user guides. Independent Living Resource Centre 4 Escasoni Place St. John’s, NL A1A 3R6 Ph: (709) 722-4031 | Fax: (709) 722-0147 TTY: (709) 722-7998 | Toll Free: 1-866-722-4031 Email: adaptech@ilrc-nl.ca Website: www.ilrc-nl.ca ------------ Table of Contents About Dragon NaturallySpeaking Training DragonBar NaturallySpeaking Menu Managing User Files Tools Menu Accuracy Centre Words Menu Sound Menu Help Menu Sample Commands Dictating Editing your Dictation Command Browser Navigating your Desktop Dragon and the Internet Transcribing from a Digital Recorder Practice Exercises Customizing Voice Commands Online Resources About Dragon NaturallySpeaking ------------ About Dragon NaturallySpeaking Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a voice input software program that allows you to dictate and issue commands using voice controls. This means that by speaking into a microphone, you are able to do the following things: * start programs and open menus, * compose email messages, * create reports, * draft letters, * edit proposals, * open and navigate internet pages, * and much more. In this manual, you will learn about the Dragon NaturallySpeaking v.9 Preferred edition. There are several other editions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking that may be of interest. To find out more about these other versions you can visit the manufacturer’s website (www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/). Note 1: This manual assumes that you already have Dragon NaturallySpeaking installed and ready to go on your system. Note 2: Throughout the manual we provide some quick exercises to help you practice what you’ve learned. For more practice exercises and information, you might like to review some of the manufacturer’s User Documentation. In particular, there is a User Workbook that has lots of great information to help you get started with Dragon. (Dragon NaturallySpeaking website: http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/additional/user-guides.asp). Let’s get started by talking about training! ------------ Training Before you begin dictating, you have to train Dragon to recognize your voice. To begin training, Dragon will take you through a series of steps which include: 1. Positioning of your microphone. 2. A sound quality and volume check of the microphone. 3. Voice recognition through a simple reading exercise. There are different reading exercises with levels that range from easy to difficult. You can choose the exercise that best suits you. Even at this early stage, you will be able to begin dictating. Keep in mind though that when you start using Dragon, it will not be very accurate at recognizing all your words. However, as you use Dragon more, it will become more familiar with your voice and the way you speak, and your dictations will become more accurate. Once you have completed your training you will notice that Dragon attaches its toolbar (the Dragon Bar) to the top of your screen (see image below). The Dragon Bar holds all the controls you need to operate the program the way you want to. We will step through each of the sections of the DragonBar now and briefly outline what each menu includes. ------------ The DragonBar This first icon which is located on the far left of the DragonBar is your main control for closing the program and setting the location of the DragonBar. You can change the position of the DragonBar to suit your needs. For example, you can have it at the top of the window, or “floating” so you can move it wherever you want it to be. There are a number of other options as well. Exercise: Try moving the DragonBar to different locations to see which one you like best. 1. Click on the Dragon icon 2. Select one of the different positions – start with “Docked to Bottom Mode”. This should move the DragonBar to the bottom of the page. 3. Now click on the Dragon icon again and select “Docked to Top Mode”. This should move the DragonBar back to the top of the page. Microphone This control allows you to turn the microphone on and off. You can also turn the microphone off by using your voice (say “microphone off”). When the microphone is off, the icon is red (as shown on the diagram to the left). When the microphone is on and ready for use, the icon will be green. Sometimes you may not want to turn your microphone off but just to pause it for a little while. For example, if you were in the middle of a sentence and you were thinking about what to say next, you can just say “Go to Sleep”. When you are ready to continue speaking, you can simply say “Wake Up” or “Listen to me”. It’s a good idea to pause before and after saying the “Go to Sleep” or “Wake Up” command to ensure that Dragon recognizes the command properly. Note: For the purposes of this manual, we assume that you already have your microphone plugged in and everything is in good working order. Volume Meter When the microphone is in use and Dragon is listening to you, the volume meter becomes active. To see how this works, we can try a little exercise. Exercise: 1. Turn the microphone on by clicking on the microphone icon – it should turn green. 2. Now say a few words or sentences and watch the activity within the volume meter. 3. When everything is working properly, you should see yellow and green lines moving back and forth. ------------ NaturallySpeaking Menu The NaturallySpeaking menu allows you to manage users, save any changes you make to a user file, exit the program, and more. A Note about User Profiles Multiple users can work from the same Dragon license, so it is important to make sure that you are using your own user file. If you use another person’s file, Dragon will not recognize your voice. ------------ Managing User Files If you select Manage Users from the NaturallySpeaking menu, you will be presented with a number of options for handing user accounts. This is where you can create a new account or delete an existing account. You can also import, export, backup or restore your user file by clicking on the Advanced button. If there are more user files than your own on your copy of Dragon, it will be important to keep your file safe. You can backup your user file to another location on the computer, or to a portable drive (such as a USB flash drive). If you use Dragon at more than one location, such as at home and at work, you have the option to carry your user file with you. This way any changes you make to your profile won’t be lost when you switch from one computer to another. This can be done by importing and exporting your file. ------------ Tools This menu allows you to access Dragon’s word processing program, Dragon Pad. The Tools menu also allows you to change options, browse commands, add new commands, as well as work on the accuracy of your voice using the Accuracy Center. We will pay special attention to the Accuracy Center. ------------ Accuracy Center When you are at the beginning stages of learning to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking, your accuracy will likely not be perfect. The Accuracy Center has tools that can help improve how Dragon understands what you say. You may find it beneficial to become acquainted with these tools. This guide will look at some of the tools in the Accuracy Centre. For information on others, please use the Dragon Help File or consult the manufacturer’s documentation. ------------ Selecting the Best Tool The main screen of the Accuracy Center presents a wide variety of topics to choose from. If you’re not quite sure which option you need, you could start by selecting the link to “Which tool should I use?” In here, Dragon presents a number of options for you to choose from to help increase your accuracy. For example, if you tell the computer to do something and it doesn’t do the right thing, the Accuracy Center will take you through some steps to help fix the problem. ------------ General Training The Accuracy Center also provides you with an option to “Perform General Training”. If you select this option, you can train Dragon to recognize your voice better through a reading exercise. General training helps to improve the voice recognition accuracy for Dragon. Remember, the more training and practice you do, the better your accuracy will become! ------------ Adding a Single Word While you work in the Accuracy Center, you can also improve your vocabulary. One way to do this is to “add a single word to your vocabulary”. The steps to do this are given below: 1. Go to the Tools menu, select Tools and then select Accuracy Center. 2. In the Accuracy Centre Box that Appears, select “Add a single word to your vocabulary”. 3. You will get a dialog box that reads “Add Individual Word”. In this box, you can either spell the word or type in the word you want to add to your vocabulary. Select Add. 4. A new dialog box appears and it will ask you to train the word. Select Go and once you train in the word, select Done. This will add the new word to your vocabulary. ------------ Words Menu This menu helps you improve your vocabulary. You can add and train new words, edit words, import words and more. Exercise: Train in a new word in Dragon. Dictate a name using DragonPad. Does Dragon recognize it properly? If not, use the Train tool to tell Dragon how it should spell your name when you say it. If your name works fine, try another. 1. Select the Tools menu and from the menu select DragonPad. 2. Turn on your Microphone. 3. Dictate your name. Does Dragon recognize it properly? If Dragon recognizes it, try a different name such as “Jacinta”. Does Dragon recognize it properly? 4. If not, select the Words menu and from that menu select Train. 5. You will get a little box asking you to type the word you want to train. Type in “Jacinta” and then select Train. 6. You should get another box asking you to say the name in order to train it in. When you are finished training select Done. 7. This name should now be trained in and Dragon should be able to recognize it if you dictate it now. ------------ Sound The Sound menu offers options to have Dragon read back what you have dictated, read a word/phrase/sentence/etc, or transcribe from a digital recording. (We will talk more about recording and transcription in a later section.) The read back feature can be very beneficial for checking your work. For example, if you dictate into your digital recorder in the morning, then transcribe it later in the day; you may want to ensure that what Dragon typed is accurate. Having it read back is a good way to do that! You also have the option to control how text is read to you. For example, you can change the voice, speed, pitch and more. To do this, go to the Tools menu, then select Options, and then click on the Text-to-Speech tab. ------------ Help The Help menu in Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a great tool to assist you with using the program. It comes complete with tutorials, Tips of the Day, and a comprehensive section of help topics that touches on everything you’ll need to know to use the program the way you want. The Help menu also provides another point of entry to the Accuracy Centre. Performance Assistant brings you into the help index and categorizes help topics so that you may find what you’re looking for more quickly. ------------ Sample Commands Sample Commands is a great way to get quick access to commands that are relevant to the application you are using. If you are working on a document using Microsoft Word and you open the Sample Commands window (from the DragonBar Help menu), then Dragon will present a list of frequently used commands for Microsoft Word. If you switch to Internet Explorer, then the Sample Commands window will automatically change to display commands used in Internet Explorer. Below is an image that shows the sample commands window that would open if you were working in Microsoft Word. The Help menu is also the place to go if you are looking for program updates for Dragon. You will need an internet connection in order to access these updates. ------------ Dictating To start dictating, you can use Dragon’s built in word processing software called DragonPad. To open DragonPad, go to the Tools menu on the DragonBar, and select it. From here, you can begin dictating. You can also use most word processing programs and other programs to dictate. ------------ Commands Commands tell a program to do something. You will use different commands in Dragon while you are dictating. Turning your Microphone On In order to start dictating, you need to turn the microphone on by clicking on the microphone icon. You need to make sure that it appears green as shown by the diagram below: If you need to turn the microphone off, you can just say “Microphone Off”. If you want to pause for a little while without turning your microphone off, you can say “Go to Sleep”. To continue speaking, you can then simply say “Wake up”. Remember, you should pause before and after saying the “Go to Sleep” or “Wake Up” command. ------------ Dictating When you are dictating, there are a few things to always keep in mind: 1. Speak clearly so that Dragon can recognize what you are saying. 2. Speak naturally! That is, speak in full sentences or phrases rather than saying one word at a time. For example say “I am going to the garden” rather than breaking that statement to “I – am – going – to –the – garden.” It may help to think through what you want to say before actually saying it. 3. Say each punctuation mark where you would like it to appear. For example, you can say period or comma or question mark. NOTE: Dragon can automatically insert commas and periods for you. In order to do this, you have to turn on Natural Punctuation. To turn on Natural Punctuation, you would say “Auto punctuation on”. If you want to turn it off, you can say “Auto punctuation off”. You will still have to insert the question marks and some other punctuation yourself. Now we can put what we have just learned about dictating to practice by doing the following exercise: Exercise: Read the following text exactly as it appears below. Where you see extra spaces between words, pause your reading. My name is Joe period This is my first time using Dragon period Dragon is a dictation program that allows me to type without using my hands comma and I like it period What comes up on the screen should look like this: My name is Joe. This is my first time using Dragon. Dragon is a dictation program that allows me to type without using my hands, and I like it. Now, what happens if you make a mistake, or if you want to start a new line or a new paragraph? Well keep reading and find out! :) Starting a New Line or a New Paragraph If you want to start a new line you can say “New Line” or you can say “New Paragraph” to start a new paragraph. It’s as simple as that! Exercise: Read the following text exactly as it appears below. Where you see extra spaces between words, pause your reading. My name is Mary period I am very happy to be using Dragon period New line I like to learn new things about computers period What comes up on the screen should look like this: My name is Mary. I am very happy to be using Dragon. I like to learn new things about computers. ------------ Editing Your Dictation In order to correct an error in your dictation, you first need to select the particular word or phrase that’s incorrect. You can learn how to do this through a series of exercises described below: Exercise: 1. Dictate the following sentence: “I am very happy to be learning about Dragon NaturallySpeaking”. 2. In order to select the word happy, say “Select happy”. This will highlight the word “happy”. Correcting a Word We will now continue using the example just given above. If you want to change the word “happy” to “excited”, there are a couple of quick and easy things you can do: a) Select the word “happy” and then say “Spell that”. You can then spell the word “excited” or you can type the word “excited”. b) If you select the word “happy”, you should get a Quick Correct List. If the word you want is on the list, say “Choose” followed by the number that is next to the word you want. For example if excited was number 3 you would say “Choose 3”. Let’s try this in an exercise. Exercise: Read the following text exactly as it appears below. Where you see extra spaces between words, pause your reading. I am very happy to be learning about Dragon NaturallySpeaking period Select happy Spell that (e x c i t e d) This should change the word “happy” to “excited” Deleting a Word If you want to delete a word or words in a sentence, you select the word or words and say “Scratch that”. If you want to delete words that you JUST dictated, you would simply pause and say scratch that and the last words you typed will be deleted. Exercise: Read the following text exactly as it appears below. Where you see extra spaces between words, pause your reading. Dear Jane comma Thank you for letting me know about your weekend plans period I think I will be able to join you for lunch at 1 period However comma can we meet at the mall Scratch that can we meet downtown instead question mark New Line New Line from Mary period What comes up on the screen should look like this: Dear Jane, Thank you for letting me know about your weekend plans. I think I will be able to join you for lunch at 1. However, can we meet downtown instead? From Mary. Improving Accuracy while Correcting your Dictation If you correct mistakes that Dragon makes while you dictate, you can improve the accuracy of the program. This is because Dragon can learn from the mistakes it makes. However, if you use the backspace key and re-type a word, or if you simply say “Scratch that”, Dragon will not be able to learn. There are two main ways of correcting mistakes that allows Dragon to improve its recognition accuracy and they are described below: I. Correcting text with the keyboard a. Place your cursor at the beginning of the word or phrase that you would like to correct. b. Now, press the minus (-) key on the number keypad/numeric keypad. This is the correction hot key on your keyboard and when you press it you will get a correction menu. c. You can pick one of the suggested corrections by using the down arrow to highlight that choice, and then press Enter to select it. If there is no right suggestion on the correction menu, you can type it or say the correct word or phrase. II. Correcting text using voice commands a. You can select the incorrect word or phrase and then say “Correct that” .The correction menu should appear with a number of suggestions. b. If one of the suggested word or phrases is correct then you say “Choose” and then the number of that suggestion. c. If none of the suggested words or phrases is correct, then you can say “Spell that” and then spell the correct word(s) into the Spell dialog box. Say “OK” when you are done. Exercise: Try this out yourself to see how it works. Dictate a few lines of text. If you see a mistake, try correcting it in either one of the two ways just described. ------------ Command Browser One of the things that you will also find under the Tools menu is the Command Browser. It provides a built-in list of voice commands that Dragon NaturallySpeaking recognizes. There are different commands that you can use for different applications. So far we have just looked at some of the main commands for dictating straight text (such as “New Line”, “Select That” and “Correct That”). It is possible to do more with Dragon besides dictating text. As mentioned earlier, you can open different programs like Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office applications; you can also open different files that are located on your desktop. We will now focus on using Dragon on your desktop to do some of the following things: * Starting a program from the Start menu. * Opening documents and folders from the Start menu. * Opening and closing menus * Resizing windows and closing windows ------------ Navigating your Desktop [Please note that this section of the guide is based on Windows XP.] Starting a Program from the Start Menu If you wanted to start a program from the start menu, you would say “Start” and then say the name of the program in the exact way it appears on the start menu or sub-menu. For example, if you wanted to open Microsoft Word, you would say “Start Microsoft Office Word 2003”. (If you are using the 2007 version then you would say 2007 instead of 2003) Exercise: You will open a few programs or folders from the Start menu and Desktop 1. Open Microsoft Word a. Turn on your microphone b. Say “Start Microsoft Office Word 2003” c. Start dictating! :) 2. Open Internet Explorer a. Turn on your microphone b. Say “Start Internet Explorer” c. Now you should be able to start surfing the Internet! Opening Documents and Folders from the Start Menu To open a document or folder from the start menu, you say “Start” and then the name of the document or folder exactly as it appears on the menu. If you wanted to open a document that was named cake recipes.doc you would say “Start Cake Recipes dot doc. Opening Documents and Folders from the Desktop If you wanted to open a document or folder on your desktop, you say “Start” and then the name below the icon/picture. For example if you wanted to open a folder called “Work Stuff”, you would say “Start Work Stuff”. Opening and Closing Menus You can open any menu by just saying the menu name. For example you can open a menu in Microsoft Word in order to save a document or you could open a menu in order to view a picture in your Pictures folder. If you wanted to close a menu, you would say “Close” followed by the name of the file. We will practice opening menus and some of the other commands mentioned above in the following exercises. Exercise: 1. Open Microsoft Office Word by saying “Start Microsoft Office Word 2003”. 2. Dictate a few lines – say “The quick brown fox jumped over the slow lazy dog period” 3. The sentence will look like this: The quick brown fox jumped over the slow lazy dog. 4. Now say the name of the menu you want to open. For this exercise say “File”. 5. The file menu should now be open. Say “Save As”. 6. Choose a file name; you can say “Test 1”. 7. Say “Save”. Now your document is saved! Exercise: 1. Open the My Documents folder by saying “Start My Documents”. 2. When this is open, say “My Pictures”. This will select/highlight the My Pictures Folder. 3. Now say “File” to open the file menu. 4. When the File menu is open, say “Open”. This will open the My Pictures folder. 5. When the My Pictures folder is open, say “Sample Pictures” to open this folder. 6. There are usually four sample pictures which include blue hills, sunset, water lilies and winter. You can say “Sunset” or any of the other names to select/highlight the Sunset picture. 7. Now say “File” and then from the file menu say “Preview”. This should open the picture of the sunset! 8. Practice these steps with other pictures or files from your computer. Closing a Document or Folder and Exiting a Program To close an open program, you simply say “Close window” or you can open the file menu and then select exit from that menu. So you would say “File” and then say “Exit”. Changing the Size of a Window If you want to increase the size of your window, you can say “Maximize Window”. If you want to minimize the active window, then you can say “Minimize Window”. If you want to restore the window to its original size, then you can say “Restore Window”. Switching Between Open Windows If you have a number of windows open, you can switch between them by saying one of the following commands: “Switch to Previous Window” or “Switch to Next Window” or You can say “Switch to” and then say the name of the program or document. For example, you could say “Switch to Microsoft Word”. Now you know how to navigate the desktop as well as dictate using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. The next part of this manual will focus on using Dragon NaturallySpeaking to navigate the internet. Let’s get right into it! ------------ Dragon NaturallySpeaking and the Internet There are commands for Dragon NaturallySpeaking that can allow you to navigate a webpage or work online using Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. If you want to start Internet Explorer, you can say “Start Internet Explorer”. This will open an Internet Explorer webpage. The next thing you may want to do is to go to a specific website and so you need to enter the web address. To move the mouse to the address bar, you can say “Go To Address Bar”. You can then type in the website address or dictate the web address. Once the web address is entered, you can go to the web address by saying “Click Go” or “Go There”. This should take you to the website that you chose. Now you can try this in a little exercise. Exercise: You will open Internet Explorer and go to the Google webpage using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. 1. Open Internet Explorer by saying “Start Internet Explorer”. 2. Now say “Go To Address Bar” to go to the address box. 3. Type in www.google.com which is the web address for Google or say “www dot google dot com” 4. You can then go to the web page by saying “Click Go” or you can say “Go There”. Now that you know how to open Internet Explorer and visit a webpage, you can learn about other things that you can do on the Internet using Dragon. Following a Link or Clicking a Button If you visit a webpage, you can go to the different links or click on the buttons that are there. You can do this using Dragon. The best way to learn how to do this is through an exercise. Exercise: You will visit the Independent Living Resources Centre website and use Dragon to visit different sections of this website. 1. Open Internet Explorer by saying “Start Internet Explorer”. 2. Now go to the address box by saying “Go To Address Bar”. 3. Enter www.ilrc-nl.ca in the address bar which is the ILRC website by typing or dictating 4. Now go to the website by saying “Go There” or “Click Go”. 5. You should be at the ILRC website now. The first thing you will do is to find out a little more about the ILRC so go to the “About ILRC” link/button. To do this, say “About ILRC” or you can say “Click About ILRC”. 6. You should now be at a webpage with some information about the ILRC. 7. Next we shall find out a little about Independent Living by following the Independent Living link. Say “Independent Living” or you can say “Click Independent Living”. 8. You should now be on a page with some information about what it means to live independently. Note: You can choose to simply say the name of the link/button or you can say “Click” and then the name of the button/ link. Using the above exercise as an example, for step number 7, you could choose to say “Click Independent Living” instead of just saying “Independent Living”. Moving Between Web Pages If you are working in Internet Explorer and you have visited a number of web pages, you can go back to a previously visited webpage. If you want to do this, you can say “Go Back”. If you want to move to the next page, then you would say “Go Forward”. Going to your Homepage Something that you can also do is go to your homepage. The homepage is the website that automatically loads on your computer when you open an Internet Web browser. So if you want to go to your homepage, you simply say “Go Home”. Refreshing a web page Sometimes when you are on the Internet, it may take a while to load a page. You can refresh a web page by saying “Refresh” or “Reload”. Stop Loading a Web page If you start loading a web page and decide not to, you can stop that page from loading by saying “Stop Loading”. Moving Around a Webpage So far we have looked at how to navigate the web in general. The next thing you may want to learn is how to move around a web page. Moving up or down a web page You can move the page you are reading up or down. There are different levels you can move the page. You can move a page down by a line or move a bigger part of it. To move the page down by a screen, you say “Page Down” and to move the page up, you say “Page Up”. If you want to move the page down or up line by line, you can say “Line Down” or you can say “Line Up”. Scrolling up and down a web page You can also use Dragon to scroll up and down a web page. To start automatic downward or upward scrolling, you would say “Start Scrolling Up” or “Start Scrolling Down”. If you want to increase or decrease the speed of scrolling, you can say “Speed Up” or “Slow Down” depending on what you want. Lastly, if you want to stop the scrolling you can simply say “Stop Scrolling”. You can try an exercise now to practice the things about moving around a web page. Exercise: 1. Turn on your microphone and the say “Start Internet Explorer”. 2. Go to the address bar by saying “Go To Address Bar”. 3. In the address bar, type in www.ilrc-nl.ca 4. You should now be on the website for the Independent Living Resource Center. 5. Now move the page down by a screen by saying “Page Down”, this should move the page down a little. 6. Move the page up by saying “Page Up” and see your page move up. 7. You can also move the page down line by line so say “Line Down”. Try this out about five times. 8. Try moving the page up line by line by saying “Line Up”. 9. To start scrolling the page down, say “Start Scrolling Down”. The page should now scroll down automatically. 10. Now increase the speed of scrolling by saying “Speed Up”. The page should move much faster now. 11. Now make the page move slower by saying “Slow Down”. 12. Say “Stop Scrolling” to stop the page from scrolling. 13. Say “Start Scrolling Up” to scroll the page up. You should have moved the web page in all the ways possible by now! Try it out again and see how fast you can make the page go! :) ------------ Transcribing from a Digital Recorder Dragon NaturallySpeaking allows you to create recordings away from your computer by using a digital recorder, then plug your recorder into your computer and transcribe what you’ve dictated. This feature can be especially valuable to anyone who travels for work frequently. You can be out of the office and away from your computer, yet still complete that report that’s due tomorrow! Here’s how: 1. In your DragonBar, select the Sound menu and then select Transcribe Recording. 2. You will get a Dialog box that says “Transcribe from…” which will allow you to choose where the recording is coming from. You can select Browse to select the name of the file on your voice recorder. 3. Once you have selected the file you want, select Transcribe. Once the transcription is complete, you can use the same editing commands to correct any mistakes Dragon made during the transcribing. You can also have Dragon read back what it has typed so that you can review the document by listening to it. ------------ Practice What You’ve Just Learned Now that you have a basic working knowledge of how Dragon NaturallySpeaking works, we’ve put together a couple of exercises that you can practice. (Just in case you need a little help, an answer key is included after the exercises.) Exercise 1: Use your voice commands to open Microsoft Word (or your default word processing application) from the Start menu. Create a list of 5 movies as displayed below: 1. Avatar 2. Volcano 3. Phone Booth 4. Fight Club 5. Saw After you have all five of the movies displayed above, change movie 3 from Phone Booth to Earth and movie 5 from Saw to Gone with the Wind. Now your final list will look like the following: 1. Avatar 2. Volcano 3. Earth 4. Fight Club 5. Gone with the Wind If Dragon has misspelled any of your dictation, use what you’ve learned about editing to fix the mistakes. When your list is finished, use Dragon to Save the document to your desktop. Exercise 2: Open your internet browser (FireFox or Internet Explorer) and go to the VOCM website. Use your internet voice commands to read the latest news stories, check the sports section, and then Listen Live. When you’ve finished, close the browser and shut down your computer. ------------ Answer Key Exercise 1: "Open Microsoft Word" "Number This" “Speak Movie number one” "New line" “Speak movie number two” "New line" “Speak movie number three” "New line" “Speak movie number four” "New line" “Speak movie number five” "Go up 2 lines" "Select line" "Backspace" “Speak movie number three” "Save" "Desktop" Exercise 2: "Open Firefox" or "Open Internet Explorer" "Go To Address Bar" "Select all" "Delete" "www dot vocm dot com" "Go there" "Click all stories" "Click Sports" "Click Here to Listen" ------------ Customizing Voice Commands If you want to create a new command, or edit some existing command, you can do that. This is a great way to create “shortcuts”. For example, if you find that the website you dictate is not what Dragon types, there is a way to make that easier. What we’ll do is train Dragon to understand the links you are visiting. Follow the steps below and train your voice for the two links used in the above exercises. * On the DragonBar, go to the Tools menu, then select Add New Command. This opens the MyCommands Editor window. Enter the following information into the Editor: MyCommand Name: VOCM Description: Website – VOCM Content: www.vocm.com MyCommand Name is the name of the command that Dragon will use. Description is for describing the command type. Content is what the command will type when you dictate the MyCommand Name. When you have the information entered, click on the Train button to train your voice for the new command. Clicking on the Train button will give you the following window: To click the GO button speak the word “GO” and the bar will change to yellow as shown below. When the yellow bar is on the screen, speak the word or letter in the text box. Speak the letters “VOCM” without pausing after each letter. When you’ve finished, say or click DONE and you will be taken back to the Add Command window. To finish, say or click Save and Dragon will save your new command. Now it’s time to test it out! Open your internet browser. Go to the location bar and rather than saying “www dot vocm dot com”, just say “VOCM”. Thanks to your new command, Dragon enters ‘www.vocm.com’! If you want a little more practice, perform this quick step to create some more shortcuts for a few of the websites you visit most often. ------------ Dragon Naturally Speaking – Online Resources Manufacturer’s Website: www.nuance.com Dragon for your iPhone: www.dragonmobileapps.com Manufacturer’s Technical Support: www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/support/default.asp Hardware Compatibility List (for headsets, recorders, etc.): http://support.nuance.com/compatibility/