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| CALL TOLL-FREE 1- 866-359-7137 (In NJ, 908-359-7137) (for tech support, 908- 359-5182) |
VoxScripta
| TIPS FOR USING DRAGON® SUCCESSFULLY |
Sometimes it's surprising to find that people go out and spend a lot of money on software, then don't do the things that will
make it work well. Here are a few tips from the support calls we've gotten that are likely to improve your experience with Dragon.
1. If you are purchasing Dragon for business use, get training! Yes, we know: you talk, you see your words appear, you think it's easy
to use. Half right. Easy to use, not so easy to use well - and that's where your real return-on-investment comes from. Remember how
your mom or dad took you out when you were 14 or so and let you drive the car around a parking lot? You could steer it, make it go
forwards and backwards, stop it -- but did that mean you could drive? Of course not. Same with Dragon.
2. You have a full user guide on the DVD. Take a look at it. You can browse to it and print it out if you like, or just keep it for reference.
It shows you how to improve your accuracy, as well as a host of other things.
3. Make sure you've chosen the right microphone setup in the New User Wizard. The default setting is "Microphone plugged into the
mic-in jack," and if you're using the microphone that came with your software, this is correct. But if you've purchased a USB
microphone (a Philips SpeechMike, say), or even just added a USB adaptor to your plug-in mic, you're not using the mic-in jack
anymore. If you're just starting out, be sure to drop the "Dictation Source" droplist on the first screen of the New User Wizard and
choose "USB microphone." If you're switching over after having already completed the New User Wizard, you have to click the "Source"
button in the "Open User" dialog (under "Dragon" or "NaturallySpeaking," depending on which edition you have) and choose "New."
Select "USB microphone" from the dropdown list. Do the same thing for any other new dictation source you add, like recorders.
When you're dictating, the source you're actually using will show up after your name on the Extended Tool Bar. If you're using a USB
adaptor and the Extended Tool Bar says "Mary (Mic-In)," you're likely to have problems. (If your name is Ed, you have different
problems.) It's as if you told Dragon you'd be talking into the front door of the house, so Dragon goes there and presses its ear up to
the front door, and meanwhile you've decided to talk in the back door upstairs.
4. MAKE CORRECTIONS ! ! ! This is one of the two biggest things you can do to improve accuracy. Dragon has a rather average
picture of your voice following enrollment - you have to teach it the idiosyncrasies. If you don't correct misrecognitions, it will be making
the same mistakes six months from now that it's making on the first day. Making corrections does not mean taking your mouse and
crossing out something and typing in the right word. It means saying "Correct <word>" and using either the Spell dialog or the
Correction menu. Doing this improves the software: Dragon is "smart" software, and if you correct it when it gets things wrong, it gets
better and better. If you don't, it won't. Just resign yourself to making a lot of them for the first week or two, and if you do, you won't have
to correct much after that.
5. Add words to your vocabulary. Dragon only knows the words in its vocabulary. If you have retained the option (it's checked by
default) that says "Add corrections to vocabulary," correcting an individual word (a name, say) will insert that word into your vocabulary.
If you have not, it won't. And it won't understand it in the future no matter how many times you spell it or train it. So if your partner's
name is an unusual one, and you'll be using it a lot, add it to the vocabulary. The downside to the automatic addition is that your
vocabulary can fill up with a lot of words you might not necessarily want to save - and for every one it adds, it boots another one out the
back door. Clean it out from time to time.
6. Run electronic documents YOU have written through the vocabulary builder. If you go to the Accuracy Center (under Tools) and
choose "Add words from documents," you will be given the opportunity to have Dragon analyze your documents, pull words out that it
finds that are not in the vocabulary, analyze your writing style. It's a quick and dirty way to add words -- but look the list of proposed
additions over, and don't add commonplace words that are only on the list because they are capitalized as the result of having been
found in a heading, or words that are typos. The more important thing is that Dragon will analyze the way you write -- the frequency
with which you use certain words, for example, and the context in which you use them. For this reason, it's important to choose only
documents that YOU have written -- not your officemate. The analysis is a little like card-counting in blackjack: it sort of stacks the deck
in favor of recognizing that pattern when it confronts it again. It's a small thing to do that many people skip, which is a shame because
it's remarkably effective.
You can also run the Vocabulary Optimizer to achieve the same effect.
7. Don't speak the second you turn on the microphone. The mic needs a couple seconds to initialize - if you don't provide it, you'll
find the first couple words of your dictation cut off every time. You might say something like "Testing" before you start, then wait for the
word "Testing" to appear in your document before proceeding.
8. Make every word you dictate a complete word. You can speak very quickly with Dragon, but it has to be clear. Dragon doesn't
understand "implied" words. Implied words are like when you start out a sentence "The patient came in today....", but instead of saying
that, you say "[Th] PAtient," thinking that Dragon will know that because you inserted your tongue between your teeth and breathed a
little, you meant the word "the." It won't. That sort of dictation will produce "Patient came in today..."
9. Make yourself some macros. The half-hour you spend to make a few macros to automate the things you say ten times a day will
repay you that half-hour a thousand times over. Aside from Advanced Scripting, macros can be made by anyone with the IQ of a piece
of celery.
10. Use playback as a diagnostic tool. If Dragon seems to misrecognize a lot, use the playback feature to hear what Dragon is
hearing, especially if the "voicebar" (the bar next to the microphone icon that is alternately green and yellow) shows a lot of red.
Highlight some text and say (or click, under Sound), "Play that back." You'll hear your own voice dictating, but listen to see if there's a lot
of static, humming, or other sound problems. Those can really interfere with Dragon's ability to understand you. You might have a bad
microphone (they don't last forever), or a lot of internal noise in the machine (laptops can be susceptible to this). But you won't know
unless you listen.
11. Use the Results box the same way. The Results box is that little box that floats around in which you see all your words appear
before they get plunked onto the page. It can be used quite successfully as a tool to see what's going on inside Dragon. If you say a
command, and see the words "select shoes" appear in the Results box, but the box is not outlined in dark blue, you know that it heard
you correctly but is not recognizing what you said as a command. That can be one tof a couple different problems. If you look at the
Results box and don't see "select shoes" in it, but you do see words you said 30 seconds ago in it, that means that Dragon - which
processes all the audio in order - hasn't gotten to your command yet in the audio stream, so saying it again won't help - you just have to
wait. If you say "select shoes" and you see "and and and the and" (or similar gibberish) in the Results box, you very likely have a
corrupted voicefile.
12, Learn how to restore your voicefiles. Voicefiles can become corrupted - turning off your computer before you shut down Dragon
is a good way to do that. If you see gibberish (and hear gibberish on playback), or see a message that "an internal recognizer error
has occurred," or a message that "the selected vocabulary is not compatible" (even though you used it fine yesterday), or a message
that "a COM error has occurred," you have corrupted voicefiles. In that case, go to Dragon (or NaturallySpeaking) > Manage Users > the
Advanced button > Restore user. Do not keep opening and closing Dragon and saving your voicefiles each time - after 5 saves, you
will start saving the bad over the good in the backup folder.
make it work well. Here are a few tips from the support calls we've gotten that are likely to improve your experience with Dragon.
1. If you are purchasing Dragon for business use, get training! Yes, we know: you talk, you see your words appear, you think it's easy
to use. Half right. Easy to use, not so easy to use well - and that's where your real return-on-investment comes from. Remember how
your mom or dad took you out when you were 14 or so and let you drive the car around a parking lot? You could steer it, make it go
forwards and backwards, stop it -- but did that mean you could drive? Of course not. Same with Dragon.
2. You have a full user guide on the DVD. Take a look at it. You can browse to it and print it out if you like, or just keep it for reference.
It shows you how to improve your accuracy, as well as a host of other things.
3. Make sure you've chosen the right microphone setup in the New User Wizard. The default setting is "Microphone plugged into the
mic-in jack," and if you're using the microphone that came with your software, this is correct. But if you've purchased a USB
microphone (a Philips SpeechMike, say), or even just added a USB adaptor to your plug-in mic, you're not using the mic-in jack
anymore. If you're just starting out, be sure to drop the "Dictation Source" droplist on the first screen of the New User Wizard and
choose "USB microphone." If you're switching over after having already completed the New User Wizard, you have to click the "Source"
button in the "Open User" dialog (under "Dragon" or "NaturallySpeaking," depending on which edition you have) and choose "New."
Select "USB microphone" from the dropdown list. Do the same thing for any other new dictation source you add, like recorders.
When you're dictating, the source you're actually using will show up after your name on the Extended Tool Bar. If you're using a USB
adaptor and the Extended Tool Bar says "Mary (Mic-In)," you're likely to have problems. (If your name is Ed, you have different
problems.) It's as if you told Dragon you'd be talking into the front door of the house, so Dragon goes there and presses its ear up to
the front door, and meanwhile you've decided to talk in the back door upstairs.
4. MAKE CORRECTIONS ! ! ! This is one of the two biggest things you can do to improve accuracy. Dragon has a rather average
picture of your voice following enrollment - you have to teach it the idiosyncrasies. If you don't correct misrecognitions, it will be making
the same mistakes six months from now that it's making on the first day. Making corrections does not mean taking your mouse and
crossing out something and typing in the right word. It means saying "Correct <word>" and using either the Spell dialog or the
Correction menu. Doing this improves the software: Dragon is "smart" software, and if you correct it when it gets things wrong, it gets
better and better. If you don't, it won't. Just resign yourself to making a lot of them for the first week or two, and if you do, you won't have
to correct much after that.
5. Add words to your vocabulary. Dragon only knows the words in its vocabulary. If you have retained the option (it's checked by
default) that says "Add corrections to vocabulary," correcting an individual word (a name, say) will insert that word into your vocabulary.
If you have not, it won't. And it won't understand it in the future no matter how many times you spell it or train it. So if your partner's
name is an unusual one, and you'll be using it a lot, add it to the vocabulary. The downside to the automatic addition is that your
vocabulary can fill up with a lot of words you might not necessarily want to save - and for every one it adds, it boots another one out the
back door. Clean it out from time to time.
6. Run electronic documents YOU have written through the vocabulary builder. If you go to the Accuracy Center (under Tools) and
choose "Add words from documents," you will be given the opportunity to have Dragon analyze your documents, pull words out that it
finds that are not in the vocabulary, analyze your writing style. It's a quick and dirty way to add words -- but look the list of proposed
additions over, and don't add commonplace words that are only on the list because they are capitalized as the result of having been
found in a heading, or words that are typos. The more important thing is that Dragon will analyze the way you write -- the frequency
with which you use certain words, for example, and the context in which you use them. For this reason, it's important to choose only
documents that YOU have written -- not your officemate. The analysis is a little like card-counting in blackjack: it sort of stacks the deck
in favor of recognizing that pattern when it confronts it again. It's a small thing to do that many people skip, which is a shame because
it's remarkably effective.
You can also run the Vocabulary Optimizer to achieve the same effect.
7. Don't speak the second you turn on the microphone. The mic needs a couple seconds to initialize - if you don't provide it, you'll
find the first couple words of your dictation cut off every time. You might say something like "Testing" before you start, then wait for the
word "Testing" to appear in your document before proceeding.
8. Make every word you dictate a complete word. You can speak very quickly with Dragon, but it has to be clear. Dragon doesn't
understand "implied" words. Implied words are like when you start out a sentence "The patient came in today....", but instead of saying
that, you say "[Th] PAtient," thinking that Dragon will know that because you inserted your tongue between your teeth and breathed a
little, you meant the word "the." It won't. That sort of dictation will produce "Patient came in today..."
9. Make yourself some macros. The half-hour you spend to make a few macros to automate the things you say ten times a day will
repay you that half-hour a thousand times over. Aside from Advanced Scripting, macros can be made by anyone with the IQ of a piece
of celery.
10. Use playback as a diagnostic tool. If Dragon seems to misrecognize a lot, use the playback feature to hear what Dragon is
hearing, especially if the "voicebar" (the bar next to the microphone icon that is alternately green and yellow) shows a lot of red.
Highlight some text and say (or click, under Sound), "Play that back." You'll hear your own voice dictating, but listen to see if there's a lot
of static, humming, or other sound problems. Those can really interfere with Dragon's ability to understand you. You might have a bad
microphone (they don't last forever), or a lot of internal noise in the machine (laptops can be susceptible to this). But you won't know
unless you listen.
11. Use the Results box the same way. The Results box is that little box that floats around in which you see all your words appear
before they get plunked onto the page. It can be used quite successfully as a tool to see what's going on inside Dragon. If you say a
command, and see the words "select shoes" appear in the Results box, but the box is not outlined in dark blue, you know that it heard
you correctly but is not recognizing what you said as a command. That can be one tof a couple different problems. If you look at the
Results box and don't see "select shoes" in it, but you do see words you said 30 seconds ago in it, that means that Dragon - which
processes all the audio in order - hasn't gotten to your command yet in the audio stream, so saying it again won't help - you just have to
wait. If you say "select shoes" and you see "and and and the and" (or similar gibberish) in the Results box, you very likely have a
corrupted voicefile.
12, Learn how to restore your voicefiles. Voicefiles can become corrupted - turning off your computer before you shut down Dragon
is a good way to do that. If you see gibberish (and hear gibberish on playback), or see a message that "an internal recognizer error
has occurred," or a message that "the selected vocabulary is not compatible" (even though you used it fine yesterday), or a message
that "a COM error has occurred," you have corrupted voicefiles. In that case, go to Dragon (or NaturallySpeaking) > Manage Users > the
Advanced button > Restore user. Do not keep opening and closing Dragon and saving your voicefiles each time - after 5 saves, you
will start saving the bad over the good in the backup folder.
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