11.5

Dictating and editing in Microsoft Excel

You can use Dragon to dictate and edit content into Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Many Excel-specific

commands are built into the higher editions; the Dragon Sidebar window shows some, and the Command

Browser lets you discover the full set. In addition, the Help describes commands usable in Excel to fill or hide

rows or columns, sort, sum or average values, widen columns, and more (see Help example below.)

Remember that the Natural Language Commands for Excel may be disabled or enabled from the Options dialog.

In this lesson, sample steps guide you to practice tasks such as entering text, moving between cells, editing

existing cells, and correcting recognition errors inside cells.

IMPORTANT: If you want to mention a cell in a command (such as “move to cell D5”, or “select cell B3

through cell H3”), be sure to say the word “cell”. Note that, instead of the letters, you can say alpha, bravo,

Charlie, etc.

There are two editing modes in Excel: Quick and Full. Make sure you are familiar with how your version of

Excel functions, especially for editing content in cells; notice when the Status Bar (bottom left corner)

indicates “Edit” and when it indicates “Enter” -- as well as when the mouse pointer changes.

 Quick Edit: To enter new content into a cell, overwrite the current content of a cell, or format the

entire content of a cell. When you select a cell and begin dictating, a yellow background appears; if

the cell currently contains text, the dictated text will overwrite it.

 Full Edit: To edit the existing contents of a cell. Select the cell and say "Edit Cell" or "Press F2" to open

the cell for editing; the insertion point is automatically placed at the end of the cell. As you dictate,

the background changes to blue. Commands such as "New Line" operate within the cell.

TIP: To quickly enter a predictable series of values, such as days or months, you can use commands such as

“Monday through Friday across” or “July through December down.”