10.0

TIP By default, some Microsoft applications show only the most-used menu items. For optimal voice usage,

consider changing this default: in the application’s Tools menu, open the Customize dialog, and check the box

“Always show full menus.”

Menu items often open dialog boxes, which may contain controls such as buttons, checkboxes, tabs, and radio

buttons. How do you access these by voice? You guessed it: “say what you see”!

IMPORTANT:

You can choose to have Dragon require the word ‘click’ just before the name of the item: for a button labeled

“Next”, you would say click next. Dragon offers a similar “Require ‘Click’” option for HTML links. (See the

Commands tab of Dragon’s Options dialog.)

This workbook presents several of Dragon’s dialog boxes, which often contain controls labeled Cancel, Next,

Yes, No, or OK; as you follow the step-by-step instructions and perform the exercises in each chapter, take the

opportunity to practice accessing the boxes and their controls by voice.

Exercise 1: Previous lessons introduced you to the Options dialog box; we will use this dialog box to practice

accessing buttons, tabs, and other interface controls.

1. Open Dragon’s Options dialog, then its View tab.

2. Select and unselect the radio buttons and checkboxes for the DragonBar.

3. R

estore the defaults.

“Natural Language Commands” and the Command Browser

Dragon comes with large sets of commands that let you order actions directly, and in a natural manner, instead

of going through menus, submenus, and dialog boxes: for instance, saying “Insert Page Break” in Microsoft

Word instead of opening the “Insert” menu, then choosing the submenu “Break”, then the option “Page

Break”.

Dragon’s “What Can I Say” window contains a sampling of these commands (depending on what application is

currently active, and what edition of Dragon you have.) As you will notice, Dragon’s command names tend to

describe the action, starting with the verb, then the object; since Dragon has so many commands, with many

possible wordings, you can try saying what you want to do, and if you get unexpected results, say "Undo That".

• To read about the commands for a specific application, open the Help (you can say Show Help topics)

and enter that application’s name in the Search field.

• To see all the commands and their variations (optional words, alternate words, etc.), open the

Command Browser and search via its Context list and Filter box, to have the Command Browser display

just the commands that contain a particular word or words.If you see a command that looks

interesting, make sure it’s highlighted in the list, then use the links on the Command Browser’s menu,

such as Refine

or Undo All, to expose its full wordings (for instance, to include all optional words or

expand ellipses.)

IMPORTANT:

If it detected that your computer’s resources would not allow it to perform with both speed and accuracy,

Dragon may have disabled its Natural Language Command sets for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and WordPerfect.

If speed is not a priority for you, and you wish to use Natural Language Commands in one or all of these

applications, you can enable them via the Option dialog’s Commands tab. (See the Natural Language

Commands button near the bottom.)