Dragon NaturallySpeaking For Dummies, 4th Edition

Dragon NaturallySpeaking For Dummies, 4th Edition

by Stephanie Diamond
Released November 2014
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9781118961544

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

Master the latest version of Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking

This new edition of Dragon NaturallySpeaking For Dummies has been updated to cover all the newest updates to Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 13, giving readers plain-English access to the technology that ignites new levels of productivity. It enables people to interact with and command their laptop or PC, cruise through email, update Facebook, surf the web, and create reports just by speaking! Inside, you'll find everything you need to get started with this advanced voice recognition software right away.

Touted as being three times faster than typing, Dragon NaturallySpeaking software boasts 99% speech accuracy out of the box. Plus, although it is primarily used as voice recognition software, programmers and developers have begun using it as a programming language for app development because the voice recognition makes use of custom tools that can be used to automate programming tasks. It's making waves in the tech world—and you can get in on the action with this hands-on, friendly guide.

  • Includes the most up-to-date information on the latest version of the software

  • Shows you how to launch your Dragon software

  • Includes time-and-sanity-saving tips to make your experience with Dragon NaturallySpeaking headache-free

  • Outlines common mistakes to avoid and unprecedented Dragon tricks

    • If you're a new or inexperienced user who wants to get up to date quickly on all that Dragon NaturallySpeaking can do, this approachable, step-by-step guide has you covered.

    Table of contents

      1. Introduction
        1. About This Book
        2. Conventions Used in This Book
        3. Foolish Assumptions
        4. Icons Used in This Book
        5. Beyond the Book
        6. Where to Go from Here
      2. Part I: Getting Started with Dragon NaturallySpeaking
        1. Chapter 1: Knowing What to Expect
          1. Clarifying What NaturallySpeaking Can Do for You
          2. Figuring Out What NaturallySpeaking Can’t Do
          3. Selecting the Right NaturallySpeaking Product
            1. Expanding the use of speech recognition
            2. The latest generation of the NaturallySpeaking family
          4. Understanding Speech Recognition in NaturallySpeaking
            1. What’s so hard about recognizing speech, anyway?
            2. What’s a computer to do?
            3. Onward to Customizing!
        2. Chapter 2: Installing Dragon and Starting Basic Training
          1. Installing Dragon NaturallySpeaking on Your Computer
          2. Creating a User Profile
        3. Chapter 3: Launching and Controlling Dragon
          1. Launching NaturallySpeaking
          2. Choosing or Switching Users
          3. Meeting the Face of Your NaturallySpeaking Assistant
            1. A closer look at the DragonBar
            2. Choosing options
          4. Why Use the NaturallySpeaking DragonPad?
            1. Using the word-processor features of the NaturallySpeaking DragonPad
            2. Choosing from the menu bar and toolbar
            3. Editing: Cut, paste, and the usual suspects
            4. Formatting: Fonts, indentations, alignments, bullets, and tabs
            5. Saving and opening documents
            6. Customizing the window
          5. Tools and When to Use Them
      3. Part II: Creating Documents and Spreadsheets
        1. Chapter 4: Simply Dictating
          1. Dictating 101: How to Dictate
          2. Distinguishing between Text and Commands
          3. Controlling Your (Cough! Sneeze!) Microphone
          4. Tips for Talking
          5. Punctuating and Capitalizing
            1. Punctuating your remarks
            2. Discovering Natural Punctuation
            3. Capitalizing on your text
          6. Taking Up Space
            1. Controlling paragraph spacing
            2. Controlling spaces and tabs
          7. Entering Different Numbers and Dates
          8. Making Quick Corrections
            1. Scratching your bloopers
            2. Resuming dictation with an earlier word
            3. Correcting a NaturallySpeaking error
          9. Tackling Common Dictation Problems
        2. Chapter 5: Selecting, Editing, and Correcting in DragonPad
          1. Moving Around in a Document
            1. Giving the cursor directions and distances
            2. Going to the head of the line
            3. Specifying a destination by quoting text
          2. Editing by Voice
            1. Selecting text
            2. Deleting text
            3. Sharp tongues: Cutting and pasting by voice
            4. Just undo it
          3. Fixing NaturallySpeaking’s Mistakes
            1. Correcting a NaturallySpeaking recognition error
            2. Casting a spell
            3. Recurring errors
            4. Playing back an error
        3. Chapter 6: Basic Formatting in Text-Editing Applications
          1. Knowing the Short Formatting Commands
          2. Left, Right, and Center: Getting into Alignment
          3. Using Bullets and Numbered Lists
          4. Changing Font
            1. Changing your style: Bold, italic, and underlined text
            2. Changing font size
            3. Changing font family
            4. Changing everything at once
          5. Understanding Smart Formatting
        4. Chapter 7: Proofreading and Listening to Your Text
          1. Using Voice Commands for Playback
          2. Proofreading and Correcting with Playback
          3. Using the Text-to-Speech Feature
        5. Chapter 8: Dictating into Other Applications
          1. Finding Levels of Control
          2. Getting Started
            1. Dictating your first words
            2. Turning the microphone on and off
            3. Knowing which capabilities you have in any application
          3. Creating Documents with the Dictation Box
            1. Using the Dictation Box
            2. Moving around in a document
            3. Making corrections
          4. Using Full Text Control Applications
          5. Ordering from the Menu
          6. Extending Posts to Facebook and Twitter
        6. Chapter 9: Dipping into Word Processing
          1. Saying the Right Thing
            1. Creating, opening, and closing documents
            2. Employing the “Playback” and “Read” commands
          2. Natural Language Commands for Word
            1. Understanding Natural Language Commands
            2. Dictating text
            3. Editing with familiar commands
            4. Inserting
            5. Laying out pages
            6. Printing
            7. Setting up page margins
            8. Natural Language Commands for formatting
            9. Editing and formatting text
            10. Checking spelling and grammar
            11. Inserting tables
            12. Adjusting and viewing windows within Word
          3. Choosing OpenOffice.org Writer
        7. Chapter 10: Working with Excel
          1. Doing Excel-lent Works with Spreadsheets
            1. Getting in the mode
            2. Having a look around
            3. Selecting cells
            4. Filling you in
            5. Using the cursor
            6. Inputting and formatting data
          2. Improving Your Vocal Functions
        8. Chapter 11: Using Recorded Speech
          1. Why Record?
          2. Setting Up to Use a Portable Recorder
            1. Figuring out your connection
            2. Adding a dictation source to your current profile
            3. Getting better sound quality from portable recorders
          3. Recording Your Dictation
          4. Transferring Files from a Digital Recorder
          5. Transcribing Your Recording
          6. Correcting Your Transcription
      4. Part III: Communicating Online
        1. Chapter 12: Sending and Receiving E-Mail
          1. Creating and Managing E-Mails
          2. Interacting with Microsoft Outlook
            1. Using the three-panel e-mail application window
            2. Dictating messages
            3. Getting your mail read to you
            4. Keeping track of appointments
            5. Listing new contacts
            6. Making notes
          3. Enhancing E-Mail
            1. Aggregating e-mail accounts with Thunderbird
            2. Choosing Gmail
        2. Chapter 13: Working the Web
          1. Browsing the Web
            1. Getting started
            2. Choosing Firefox or Chrome as your browser
            3. Giving orders to Internet Explorer
          2. Going Places on the Web
            1. Linking from one web page to another
            2. Dictating to the Address box
            3. Using the Favorites menu
            4. Pinning websites or pages to the Start menu
          3. Moving around a Web Page
            1. Entering information on a web page
            2. Using shortcuts created for the web
        3. Chapter 14: Dictating the Mobile Way
          1. Dictating with Apple Mobile Devices
            1. Discovering Dragon Dictation
            2. Correcting what you say
            3. Finding your way around with Dragon Search
          2. Having Fun with Dragon Go!
          3. Dictating Wirelessly with the Dragon Remote Microphone Application
          4. Dictating with Android Devices
            1. Dragon Mobile Assistant
            2. Swype for Android
      5. Part IV: Working Smarter
        1. Chapter 15: Controlling Your Desktop and Windows by Voice
          1. Ya Wanna Start Something?
            1. Operating tips for Windows 8
            2. Starting applications by voice
            3. Using the Start menu in Windows 7 or earlier
          2. Does It Do Windows?
            1. Listing all applications
            2. Opening Computer and other folder windows
            3. Giving orders to Windows Explorer
            4. Switching from one application to another
          3. Do Mice Understand English?
            1. Telling your mouse where to go
            2. Clicking right and left
            3. Dragging until you drop
          4. Dialoging with a Box
            1. Moving the cursor around a dialog box
            2. Dealing with dialog box features
            3. Looking at a few of the most useful dialog boxes
        2. Chapter 16: Speaking More Clearly
          1. Do You Need to Speak Better?
          2. How Do You Do It?
          3. Shouldn’t NaturallySpeaking Meet You Halfway?
        3. Chapter 17: Additional Training for Accuracy
          1. Using the Accuracy Center
          2. Personalizing Your Vocabulary
            1. Vocabulary editing
            2. Adding a new word or phrase
            3. Adding shortcuts in the Vocabulary Editor
            4. Creating different ways to say the same thing
            5. Import a list of words or phrases
            6. Learning from specific documents
            7. Adding words from somebody else’s documents
            8. Learning from sent e-mails
          3. Setting Options and Formatting
            1. Opening the Options dialog box
            2. Opening the Auto-Formatting dialog box
          4. Adjusting Your Acoustics
            1. Checking your microphone
            2. Launching Accuracy Tuning
            3. Reading text to train Dragon to your voice
          5. Finding or Training Commands
          6. Getting More Information
        4. Chapter 18: Improving Audio Input
          1. Figuring Out Whether You Have an Audio Input Problem
            1. Running the microphone check
            2. Checking your microphone
            3. Getting a USB microphone
            4. Playing your best card
          2. Ensuring a Quiet Environment
        5. Chapter 19: Having Multiple Computers or Users
          1. Creating and Managing Users
            1. One person, different users
            2. Adding a new user
            3. Adding an old user to a different computer
            4. Transferring your User Profiles to a new computer
          2. Managing User Files
            1. Deleting a user
            2. Backing up and restoring User Profiles
        6. Chapter 20: Creating Your Own Commands
          1. Creating Commands That Insert Text and Graphics
            1. Creating a new command
            2. Adding text to your new command
            3. Creating commands for new applications
          2. Introducing the Command Browser
            1. Locating commands using the Keyword Filter
            2. Cloning a command to create another
            3. Inserting graphics into commands
            4. Deleting commands
        7. Chapter 21: Getting Help from Your Desktop and Online
          1. Getting Help from the DragonBar
          2. Getting Help from Nuance
            1. Asking your first question on the Customer Service & Support portal
            2. Talking to tech support on the phone
            3. Searching the Nuance Knowledgebase
          3. Dipping into Product Resources
          4. Enhancing Community
            1. Dragon Discussion Forum
            2. Facebook
            3. Twitter
            4. LinkedIn
            5. Nuance on YouTube
      6. Part V: The Part of Tens
        1. Chapter 22: Ten Common Problems
          1. Dictating but Nothing Happens
          2. Dealing with Incorrect Results
          3. Speaking Commands That Get Typed as Text
          4. Failing to Control Text with Full Text Control
          5. Discovering That NaturallySpeaking Inserts Extra Little Words
          6. Dealing with Slow Dictation
          7. Uncovering Menu Commands That Don’t Work
          8. Tracking Down Natural Language Commands That Don’t Work
          9. Ascertaining That Undo Doesn’t Undo
          10. Realizing That Start Doesn’t Start
        2. Chapter 23: Ten Time-and-Sanity-Saving Tips
          1. Using Hotkeys in Dialog Boxes
          2. Positioning the Microphone the Same Way Every Time
          3. Changing Your Mouse Habits
          4. Drinking with a Straw
          5. Turning Off Automatic Spell Checking in Word Processors
          6. Working on Small Pieces of Large Documents
          7. Using Dictation Shortcuts
          8. Turning the Microphone Off When You Stop Dictating
          9. Selecting or Correcting Longer Phrases
          10. Using the Physical Mouse and Keyboard
        3. Chapter 24: Ten Mistakes to Avoid
          1. Running a Lot of Other Programs and NaturallySpeaking Simultaneously
          2. Telling NaturallySpeaking to Shut Down the Computer
          3. Correcting What You Ought to Edit
          4. Editing What You Ought to Correct
          5. Cutting Corners on Training
          6. Forgetting to Run Microphone Check Again When the Environment Changes
          7. Using Somebody Else’s Username
          8. Speaking into the Backside of the Microphone
          9. Creating Shortcuts or Macros That Sound Like Single Common Words
          10. Forgetting to Proofread
        4. Chapter 25: Ten Stupid Dragon Tricks
          1. Dictating Jabberwocky
          2. Dictating The Gettysburg Address
          3. Dictating Shakespeare
          4. Dictating Proverbs
          5. Dictating Limericks
          6. Dictating “Mairzy Doats”
          7. Turning NaturallySpeaking into an Oracle
          8. Singing
          9. Dictating in Foreign Languages
          10. Using Playback to Say Silly or Embarrassing Things
      7. About the Author
      8. Cheat Sheet

    Product information

    • Title: Dragon NaturallySpeaking For Dummies, 4th Edition
    • Author(s): Stephanie Diamond
    • Release date: November 2014
    • Publisher(s): For Dummies
    • ISBN: 9781118961544