1.2

7 MacSpeech DictateChapter 1 — Introduction
The Available Commands Window
With its self-explanatory name, the Available Commands
window provides a list of commands that are available to be
spoken at that time. Because what you can do with MacSpeech
Dictate varies depending on what is happening on the screen,
you will see different commands in this window as the context
changes. Typing a word or phrase in the search field will limit
the display to only the commands containing that word or
phrase.
Figure 1-2
User Modes
The specific things you can do using speech vary widely,
but they boil down to two main things: entering text and
controlling your Macintosh. In order to accomplish these
tasks, MacSpeech Dictate provides you with the following
operating modes:
Dictation Mode
You will probably use Dictation mo d e — w hi c h a l l o w s d i c t a t i o n
into virtually any application — the most. In Dictation mode,
MacSpeech Dictate types what you say into a text area in the
active window. That text area can be in a word processing
document, a text field in a dialog box, or even text that
renames icons in the Finder.
All commands available in Command mode are also avail-
able in Dictation mode. In order to execute a command in
Dictation mode pause briefly before and after saying the
command. For Example:
This is a sentence that has been dictated. [pause]
Select All [pause] Copy Selection
The above sequence will type the sentence, then select
everything in the document and copy it to the clipboard.
Command Mode
Command mode is used when you only want to control your
Mac by voice. In Command mode, anything not recognized
as a command will be ignored. The advantage of using
Command mode is that the commands will be more easily
recognized and will be less likely to be confused as something
you want dictated instead.
In Command mode, you can click buttons, control windows,
launch applications, and use speech instead of pressing keys
on the keyboard or using the mouse. Many commands in
MacSpeech Dictate are written in AppleScript, the scripting
language built into Mac OS X. Commands can be global,
meaning they work everywhere, or application specific, which
means they only work in a particular application.
Spelling Mode
Spelling mode will be added in a future version, which will be
a free upgrade for all MacSpeech Dictate 1.0 users.
Sleep Mode
Sleep mode is a special mode where the microphone stays
on, but ignores everything except a command to resume
listening. You say Go to Sleep to put MacSpeech Dictate into
sleep mode, and Wake Up to return it to the last mode used
before putting it to sleep.
Switching Between User Modes
There are several ways of switching between the user
modes:
Speech
Say Command mode, Dictation mode, or Go to Sleep.
Menu
You can also switch modes by bringing MacSpeech Dictate
to the front and selecting the desired mode from MacSpeech
Dictate’s Speech menu.
Hot Keys
You can turn the microphone on or off and cycle between
the three user modes with customizable keyboard shortcuts.
To change your Hot Key preferences, select Preferences
from the Dictate menu and click the Shortcut Keys icon in
the toolbar (figure 1-3). Any key can be used for a hot key,
but you must use at least one modifier (Command, Control,
Option, etc.)