Tips for Dictating

Tips for Dictating

-
Pronounce each word clearly
-
even short words

-
Say
commands

without pausing between the words (“NewParagraph”)

-
Commands require a pause before and after the command (“Select last 3 words” (pause) “Bold that”
)

-
Pretend you are talking
to another person (prop up a photo of a friend by the monitor to remind you)

-
Speak all of your thoughts at once THEN go back and edit. Do not try to edit as you go

-
Try

not
to
look at the screen as you speak, it
may

be
distract
ing

-
Click “Save speech file
s” at least once per computer session

-
Try

not
to
talk to the computer or complain or curse at it. Dragon will think that you are dictating and it will negatively
impact your speech recognition

-
to turn the microphone on or off you can press the [+] key
on the number pad (use this before answering the phone)

-
The program learns your voice through the correction process. If you speak a word and the computer spells it incorrectly,
say “correct that” and tell the computer the correct spelling. If YOU make a
mistake and want to change your wording,
say, “select [word(s) you want to change]” and then speak what you actually want to say. Don’t use the correction
window to fix coughs or incomplete words

-
if you run into problems or would like tutoring in how to u
se Dragon, c
ontact Maria Ortado, Assistive T
echnology
Specialist
mortado@cfcc.edu

(preferred) or 910
-
362
-
7098.


“Say everything inside the quotes”

To get this result:

MOVING AROUND THE C
URSOR:

“insert before
/after

<word>”




Puts cursor before
OR after
that word

“move forward/backward <number> word”


Moves cursor to that location


“Go to end
/beginning
”





Sends cursor to the end
/beginning

of the text

“
move left/right <number> words
”



moves cursor to that location

SELECTING TEXT:

“select <word>”








“select the third paragraph”




|

Selects those things

“select <word> through <word>”



|
-
>You can also say “unselect”

“select <word
> to <word>”




|

“select all”







“Say everything inside the quotes”

To get this result:

MODIFYING SELECTIONS:

“
Put Brackets around <text>
”




Puts [

and ] around selection

“
Put parens around <text>
”




P
uts ( and

) around selection

“
Put quotes around <text>
”




Puts “ and “ around selection

“bold that”






makes the selected text bold

“italicize that”






slants the selected text

“underline that”





underlines the selected text

“set font” OR “format that”




to change font, size or style

(in that order)

“set size” OR “format that size”




change size of text (4
-
120)

“restore that”






returns text to plain style


EDIT
ING
AND FORMATING:

“Cut/Copy that”





Cut or copy the
current
selection

“delete that”






D
eletes selection

“backspace”







deletes 1 character

“backspace 5”






deletes last 5 characters

“undo/redo that”


Undo OR redo previous action

“left align that”, ”format that left alig
n”



make paragraph flush left

“right align th
at”, ”format that right align”


make paragraph flush right

“center

that”, ”format that centered”



make paragraph centered

“format that bullet style”




make paragraph bulleted; to remove bullets, repeat comman
d

“compound that
”, “format that without spaces”


take out spaces between words

“hyphenate tha
t”, “format that with hyphens”


add hyphens between words

“paste from clipboard”





paste into Dragon

“tab key”






same as pressing tab

“Say everything inside the quotes”

To get this result:

CAPITALIZATION:

“all cap <text>”






Before each word that should be in all caps

“cap <text>”






Before word with 1
st

letter in caps

“capitalize <word> through/to <word
>”




Capitalizes a series of words previously written in all lowercase

“cap that”






capitalize the 1
st

letter

“forma
t that cap”, “format that caps”




capitalize 1
st

letter of all words except small words

“format that capita
ls”, format that initial cap
s”


capitalize 1
st

letter of all words except small words

“all caps that”, “format that all
caps”, “format that uppercase”


change to all uppercase

“all caps on/ all caps off”




start and stop capslock

“no caps that”, “format that no caps”, “format that
lowercase”



change to all lowercase

“caps on cape f
ear community college caps off”



Cape Fear Community College

“
Caps on the all ca
ps catcher in the rye caps
off
”


The
CATCHER in the Rye


LISTENING:

“play that back”







Play

back the audio associated with the selected text

“read <word>”







Will read your words in an automated voice

“read <word> through/to <word>”



reads a phrase in an automated voice


Etc:

“new line”






moves down to next line

“New paragraph”





Starts

new paragraph





“Say everything inside the quotes”

To get this result:

NUMBERS:

If you want to change a number (spelled or numerals):

“format that number”





change words to digits

“format that spelled out”




change digit
s to words

“roman <five>”






<
V> say “roman” before a number, it will give roman numeral

CORRECTING ERRORS:

REMEMBER: ONLY USE THE CORRECTION TOOL IF DRAGON MAKES A MISTAKE. IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE OR CHANGE
YOUR MIND, DO NOT USE THE CORRECTION TOOL, SIMPLY SELECT THE TEXT AND RESTATE.

“correct <word>”





Selects the word and give correction options

“correct <wo
rd> through/to <word>



Selects the phrase and gives correction options

“choose #”






Pick which correction option you want

SPELLING:

-
You can spell out words using letters (A
-
Z) or the Radio Alphabet:

A

lpha

B

ravo

C

harlie

D

elta

E

cho

F

oxtrot

G

olf

H

otel

I

ndia

J

uliet

K

ilo

L

ima

M

ike

N

ovember

O

scar

P

apa

Q

uebec

R

omeo

S

ierra

T

ango

U

niform

V

ictor

W

hisky

X

ray

Y

ankee

Z

ulu


-
When you have two of the same letters in a row, you can say “double” then the letter. For

example:

-
Spelling “balloon”:


“B
-
A
-
DOUBLE
-
L
-
DOUBLE
-
O
-
N”


OR


“BRAVO
-
ALPHA
-
DOUBLE
-
LIMA
-
DOUBLE
-
OSCAR
-
NOVEMBER”

P
UNCTUATION
:

[,]


“comma”

[space]


“space”

[.]


“period”, “dot”, “point”

[?]


“question mark”

[!]

“exclamation

point” or “exclamation mark”

[
-
]


“hyphen”

[
--
]


“dash”

[‘]


“apostrophe”

[‘s]


“apostrophe
-
ess”

[/]


“slash”

[
\
]


“backslash”

[“]


“open quote”, “close quote”

[‘]


“open single quote”, “close single
quote”

[ ( ]


“open paren”, “left paren”

[ ) ]



“close paren”, “right paren”

[&]


“ampersand”, “and sign”

[*]


“asterisk”

[@]


“at sign”

[^]


“caret”

( [ )


“open bracket”, “left bracket”

( ] )


“close bracket”, “right bracket”

[ { ]


“open brace”, “left brace”

[ } ]


“close brace”, “right brace”

[<]


“less than”, “open angle bracket”

[>]


“greater than”, “close angle bracket”

[:]


“colon”

[;]


“semi
-
colon”

[$]


“dollar sign”

[…]


“ellipse”

[=]


“equal sign”

[#]


“number sign”, “pound sign”

[%]


“percentage sign”

[~]


“tilde”

[ _ ]


“underscore”

[ |

]


“vertical bar”









Updated
4
/
1
/13