11.5

Note:

These Desktop search shortcuts,

like the Web search shortcuts,

can be disabled or enabled on

the Commands tab of Dragon’s

Options dialog.

Opening and Closing Programs and Windows

You can use your voice to open any item present on your desktop (including files, folders, and shortcuts): just

say open followed by the item’s name. For instance, to open an item called “winter projects”, you could say

open winter projects. (Here too, it’s helpful to have easily recognizable names!) Note: This works at any time,

even if the desktop is not visible.

Similarly, to start a program by voice, you can say start (or open) immediately followed by the name of the

application. For instance, start DragonPad, open Internet Explorer, start Notepad, start Paint, or start

Windows Explorer. Note: This works at any time, even if the Windows Start menu is not open.

TIP Do you need to say "start Word", "start Microsoft Word" or "start Microsoft Office Word 2007"? In the Start

Menu (on your Windows taskbar), look under Programs. Whatever the final submenu is called is the name

Dragon may expect--except for popular applications listed in the Help; for these, shorter names are supported

in Dragon 11. If you find the listed name inconvenient, you can create a shortcut to the application and rename

that shortcut to something easy; once you have done that, you can also use the easier name to open the

application.

To open the Windows Start menu, say click Start or click Start menu. This menu and other menus can be

navigated by voice, as you will see.

To close the active window, you can say click close.

Resizing Windows and Switching Between Them

To minimize an active window, say click minimize or minimize window (the window remains on your screen,

minimized as a taskbar icon). To maximize (enlarge to fit the screen) an active window, say click maximize.

If several windows are open on your computer, you can change which one is active and in the foreground in

several ways: