User Manual
MacSpeech Dictate™ License Agreement 5. U.S. Government Restricted Rights The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is provided with Restricted Rights. Use, duplication or disclosure by or to the United States Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 and/or subparagraphs (c)(1) and (2) of the Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights at 48 CFR 52.227-19, as applicable. Manufacturer is MacSpeech, Inc.
Credits MacSpeech Engineering: Jeff Ganyard Chris Hardy …and the rest of MacSpeech: Sheila Ganyard Craig Nesbitt Eric Hon-Anderson Stephane Gauthier Nathan Nesbitt Jim Kelley Jay Gonzales Anne Schwing Fernando Lins T. Patrick Henebry Michael Schwing Robert Stuller Carla Hernandez Brenda Shiepe Andrew Taylor Sara Jennings Jack Simonton Colin Taylor Donald MacCormick Carly Taylor Chad Weider Dominique Maltais Paul Herzog Jonathan Wight Special Thanks To: Apple Inc.
Table of Contents MacSpeech® Dictate License Agreement 2 Credits 3 Chapter 1: Introduction 5 Chapter 2: Installation 9 Chapter 3: Getting Started 10 Chapter 4: Training 14 Chapter 5: Dictation 20 Chapter 6: Controlling Your Mac 32 Chapter 7: Reference 38 Index 47 Table of Contents 4 MacSpeech Dictate
Chapter 1: Introduction What Is MacSpeech Dictate? Will MacSpeech Dictate Replace My Mouse And Keyboard? MacSpeech Dictate is a new way to interact with your Mac. Instead of typing your input, and clicking your mouse for commands, now you can dictate your input and speak your commands. Speech is a useful addition to the way you work with your computer, but it isn’t a replacement. Some tasks will still be efficiently performed using your mouse or keyboard.
may be small, but it packs a surprising amount of information, as shown in Figure 1-1. Microphones MacSpeech Dictate supports microphones which connect to the Macintosh through the USB port, either directly or through a USB adapter. Although today’s Macintosh computers appear to have a port for sound input, this only works with devices that provide a LINE IN signal, which is different from the signal produced by a microphone.
Each time you do this will activate the Phrase Training feature which helps Dictate continually learn more about your speech. Speech Mode Indicator The speech mode indicator text in the top right of the status window tells you MacSpeech Dictate’s current mode. It will say either “Dictation”, “Command”, “Spelling” or “Asleep.
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.
Chapter 2: Installation Insert the CD titled “Application Disc”. A window like the one in Figure 2-1 should appear. If it does not, double-click the CD image on your desktop. Drag the MacSpeech Dictate icon shown over to the picture of your Applications folder. This will copy MacSpeech Dictate and its documentation to the Applications folder. Data DVD During the initial installation, set-up and training, MacSpeech Dictate will ask for the Data DVD (in most versions titled “MacSpeech English Data Disc”).
Chapter 3: Getting Started The first step is to get MacSpeech Dictate used to your voice. You begin by setting up your microphone, and creating your first Profile. MacSpeech Dictate requires you Enable access for assistive devices in the Mac OS X Universal Access in your System Preferences. If this option is not turned on you will see the following panel: Enable access for assistive devices is on, you may close the Universal Access System Preferences window and click the Continue button.
marked with a dot or the word “Talk”) is pointing towards your mouth. When the microphone is connected and positioned, click OK to close the Connecting a Microphone panel. Creating a Profile Now it is time to create a profile that will let MacSpeech Dictate learn about your voice and your microphone. You will see a blank Profiles Window (Figure 3-4). TIP: The “Microphone” pull-down menu may list something like “AK5370,” “C-Media USB Headset” or “VXI 7.0.2.” That’s OK.
resonances from the bones in our head. Recordings lack these extra resonances, so they sound different than we expect. (If you don’t hear anything during the playback, check to make sure your volume is not muted.) Listen for static, excess noise, a hum, or any other odd sound. If you hear any these of things, check your microphone’s connections. If the connections seem OK, the microphone may be faulty. To hear the voice sample again, click the Play button.
Troubleshooting Sound Input If MacSpeech Dictate doesn’t respond to your voice or doesn’t seem to be working at all, check your sound input. The problem can either be with the hardware (your microphone or computer) or with software (the Macintosh sound input settings). Checking Your Microphone Make sure the USB adapter is plugged into an open USB port on your Macintosh. You may want to unplug it and plug it back in to make sure, then try the following: 1). Quit MacSpeech Dictate if it is running. 2).
Chapter 4: Training This chapter covers two methods of training MacSpeech Dictate to recognize your voice, Voice Training and Vocabulary Training. Along the way, we will share some insight into how MacSpeech Dictate works, as well as tips for better recognition. We will also explain how to manage multiple profiles. tend to pepper your speech with lots of “ums,” “uhs,” “likes,” and “you knows” MacSpeech Dictate will dutifully type what it thinks you said.
The text you read turns green as it is recognized (Figure 4-2). After a bit of processing (Figure 4-3), MacSpeech Dictate will indicate when you are at the end of the training section. Figure 4-2 Figure 4-3 MacSpeech Dictate automatically moves to the next panel as you read. If you make a mistake, don’t worry; if MacSpeech Dictate doesn’t understand you, the text will turn red (Figure 4-2). Adapting your voice samples is a time-consuming process. Be patient; your computer just needs a little time.
Vocabulary Training MacSpeech Dictate will learn more about your voice as you use it for dictation. The process of Phrase Training through the Recognition window (see Chapter 5) will help the program pick up your speech patterns. But you also can have MacSpeech Dictate concentrate on learning your communication style and new words by analyzing existing text. One way to do this is to use the Vocabulary Training menu item to “feed” the program text documents.
To review: For most people the microphone should be one to two fingertips from the corner of the mouth. It should be out of the breath stream from your mouth or from your nostrils. An easy way to tell if the microphone is in your breath stream is to place a finger over it and see if you can feel anything when you exhale normally. Once you have the microphone positioned properly, make sure it is placed there every time you dictate.
A Note For Users Of Backup Utilities To use an automated backup program, such as Apple’s Backup, Time Machine, or Retrospect from Dantz Development, allow it to back up the folder where you save profiles for MacSpeech Dictate. Adding Profiles To create a new profile, follow these steps: 1. Choose “Profiles” from the Tools menu to open the Profiles window, as shown in figure 4-9. Figure 4-8 The stories you have already read are indicated with a MacSpeech Dictate icon to the left of its name.
need to create a second profile before deleting the first one. The program will also not delete an active profile. To delete an active profile you must first switch to (or create) another profile. Troubleshooting Training Most problems with achieving an acceptable level of accuracy with MacSpeech Dictate can usually be traced to improper setup. Below are a few tips that will help achieve the best results. 1.
Chapter 5: Dictation This chapter covers using MacSpeech Dictate for dictation. We will explore how to dictate words and phrases, as well as special cases such as punctuation, numbers, and capitalization. This chapter also covers using the Recognition window to review your dictation, correct your text and enable Phrase Training to improve your profile’s accuracy. We will also discuss basic options and advanced considerations for editing your dictation.
To dictate text, you may follow these steps: Handling Misrecognized words No matter how good MacSpeech Dictate is — or how carefully you speak — there will be words recognized as something you didn’t intend. When that happens, there are some special commands available to assist. 1. Switch to the application into which you want to dictate, or use MacSpeech Dictate’s Note Pad (see Figure 5-2). 2. If necessary, create a new document, or open an existing document to which you will add text.
TIP: If you are navigating a document by voice, you can use either of the commands Go to End or Move to End of Document to return to the end of where you left off dictating. Here is a list of useful commands for editing and navigating while in dictating: Dictation Commands What You Say What Happens Capitalize the Word[s] “text” [through/to “text”] Capitalizes the instance of the word or phrase spoken that is closest to the insertion point.
“text” to move the insertion point before or after a range of words. This can be very helpful as it allows you to zero in on exactly where you want the insertion point to go, especially when there are multiple occurrences of a word or phrase in a document. The Transparency slider lets you set whether you want the Recognition window to be transparent, or opaque. For example, suppose you just dictated the following: Here’s how to use Recognition window during dictation.
window to train your profile to better recognize what was said. This is called Phrase Training and it is the best way to improve your accuracy. Depending upon how unique a new word or phrase is, it may take more than one effort. TIP: What about Editing the Text? Using Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo/Redo It is recommended that you do not try to mix dictation and typing at the same time. To help you remember this, there is the saying, “If you are talking, talk. If you are typing, type.
Wake Up or Turn Microphone On. When MacSpeech Dictate is asleep, the Status window will look like Figure 5-5: Capitalization Commands What You Say Figure 5-5 If you will be away from the computer for an extended period of time, use the Microphone Off command instead. This ensures MacSpeech Dictate can’t accidentally interpret room noise or speech from a conversation as a Wake Up command.
Compound words and No Space commands The No Space commands are useful when you want to type words without spaces in between them: “No Space” Commands Figure 5-7 AllCaps On - Capitalizes every letter of the words dictated, until you say “All Caps Off”. For example, if you say, “This is the title of the book” it will be dictated as “THIS IS THE TITLE OF THE BOOK”. The top indicator light in the Status Window will turn green and show the text “ABC” (Figure 5-8).
Punctuation Examples What You Say Punctuation Examples What You Say What Happens Ampersand & Apostrophe ‘ Apostrophe ess ‘s Asterisk * At Sign What Happens Open Bracket (US Only) Open Square Bracket (All Dialects) [ Open Euro Quote « @ Open Parenthesis (All Dialects) Open Bracket (Non-US Dialects) ( Back Slash \ Open Quote “ (open curly quote) Back Quote / Backtick ‘ Open Single Quote ‘ (open single quote) Caret ^ Percent Sign % Cents Sign ¢ Period (US only) .
to type a number instead of typing the words for the number, say Numeral before saying the number. Fraction Examples What You Say MacSpeech Dictate has the ability to properly format numbers as they are spoken.
UK and Canadian Postal Code Examples What You Say US Telephone Number Examples What Happens What You Say What Happens Postcode N G Three Two H X NG3 2HX Postcode E Ten Seven B D E10 7BD One Eight Hundred Five Five Five One Two One Two 1-800-555-1212 OPEN PARENTHESIS Six Zero Three CLOSE PARENTHESIS Three Five Zero Zero Nine Zero Three (603) 350-0903 One Two One Two Five Five Five Twelve Twelve 1-212-555-1212 Postcode E C Two Y Four L K EC2Y 4LK Postal Code K One A Zero M Five K1A 0M5 Post
These commands do NOT work in Spelling Mode: Caps On/Off, AllCaps On/Off, NoCaps On/Off, New Line, New Paragraph. Tips for Spelling Mode: • Remember that you are not in Dictation mode. So, don’t try to speak full words. Spelling mode is mainly for printing individual characters. You may need to jump back and forth between Spelling and Dictation mode, but this can be done quickly with voice commands.
is a free flow of air. When slumped in your chair, you work harder to speak. Text Editing Commands What You Say Don’t forget to breathe It is easy to get into the bad habit of squeezing or blasting out a phrase at a time, with insufficient breath to power your voice. Try breathing from your diaphragm, not the upper chest or throat. Relax If you are sitting tense and too rigid in your chair, chances are your voice and vocal cords will be tense too.
Chapter 6: Controlling Your Mac In this chapter, we will look at some ways MacSpeech Dictate can control a Macintosh. It can open files or applications, type keyboard commands, and press buttons. MacSpeech Dictate is not likely to replace your keyboard and mouse completely. Think of MacSpeech Dictate as a “third hand” to click a button without raising your hands from the keyboard, or to open a file without digging through folders.
want the program to launch when you start your Macintosh, do one of the following: - Control-click or hold down the mouse button on the MacSpeech Dictate icon in the Dock. Select “Open at Login” from the menu. - Drag the MacSpeech Dictate icon into the Login Items section of the Accounts panel in System Preferences. Controlling Buttons MacSpeech Dictate can operate most buttons that appear in dialog boxes regardless of the mode it is in.
this if there is an application on your hard drive stored outside the Applications folder that you would like to open by voice. • Bookmark: A Bookmark command opens a web page when it is spoken. • File or Folder: A File or Folder command will open a File or Folder when it is spoken. • Menu Item: Chooses an item from the designated application’s various menus. • Shell Script: You use this to run Shell Scripts by voice. Shell Scripts are scripts created to run in Mac OS X’s Terminal application.
Creating Commands Manually You can also create a command manually. Use this method when you don’t have pre-existing content that will work with MacSpeech Dictate’s ability to automatically create a command. To create a command manually, follow these steps: 1. Switch to MacSpeech Dictate by clicking the MacSpeech Dictate icon in the Status window, or using the Dock. Turn off the microphone. AppleScript Anything that can be written as an AppleScript can be made into a voice command.
Item command, type the path to the item in the “Menu Path” field (such as “Finder->View->Keep Arranged By->Name”). 6. Enter text in the “Text” area that is to be typed when the name of the command is spoken (you can also paste or dictate into this field). Shell Script A Shell Script is a text file that contains a sequence of commands for your computer to execute.
Window”. This will display a list of commands that can be spoken at that time. If the command you are trying to execute is in the list, double-click its name. If you don’t see the command in the Available Commands window, then it is not available to be spoken. Duplicating Commands To duplicate a command, do the following: 1. In the side bar, click the command set to which the command you want duplicated belongs. 2. Highlight the command you want to duplicate in the command list. 3.
Chapter 7: Reference This chapter provides a quick reference to menus and windows. Getting Technical Support Via the World Wide Web MacSpeech’s web site provides access to technical support resources 24 hours a day. Go to http:/www.macspeech.com/support_center for answers to many questions. This is where you should go first for help. Startup Mode This controls the state MacSpeech Dictate is in when it is launched.
Recognition Moving the slider towards Faster makes text appear more quickly, but may sacrifice accuracy. Moving the slider towards More Accurate makes the program try harder to understand you, which could slow it down. By default, the slider is set to balance the two factors. Feel free to experiment to see what setting works best for you. 2. Recognition Preferences Recognition Preferences (Figure 7-2b) allows you to adjust how the Recognition Window is shown and/or hidden.
Dictate Menu (continued) Visit MacSpeech’s Web Site Launches your browser and takes you to MacSpeech’s Web site (Internet connection required). Check for Updates… Checks for to see if there are any software version updates available for MacSpeech Dictate (Internet connection required). Services Provides access to Mac OS X’s Services. Figure 7-6 Hide MacSpeech Dictate (Cmd-H) Hides MacSpeech Dictate Show All Shows all hidden applications.
Command Import Allows importing sets of commands. Spelling Choosing this puts MacSpeech Dictate into Spelling mode. Command Export Exports designated sets of commands. Sleep Choosing this puts MacSpeech Dictate to Sleep. When in Sleep mode, the microphone will remain on but the program will ignore everything you say until you say Wake Up. ScriptPak Import… Imports commands that have been exported from iListen. For more assistance with this, please consult the iListen User Guide.
Figure 7-12 Microphone Setup… Use this if accuracy seems to be decreasing. Microphone Setup will help if you change the microphone’s position, if the noise level in the environment has changed, or adjust your profile if the characteristics of your voice change. Figure 7-14 Vocabulary Training… Vocabulary Training allows you to have MacSpeech Dictate analyze documents you have written and discover words you commonly use which are not in MacSpeech Dictate’s extensive vocabulary.
Format Menu Items in the Format Menu change the look of text in a Note Pad document. There are two menu items: Fonts and Text. Fonts The items in the Font menu (Figure 7-16) control how text is formatted. Figure 7-18 Copy Style (Cmd-Opt-C) This copies the style of the selection. Figure 7-16 Paste Style (Cmd-Opt-V) Show Fonts (Cmd-T ) This menu item displays the Font palette, as shown in Figure 7-17. This applies the style information from the clipboard to the selection.
Status Window Zoom Zooms the active window to its full size. The Status window displays information about the microphone, sound input, certain commands, recognition options, and the current profile. Bring All To Front Brings all MacSpeech Dictate windows to the front. Show or Hide Status Window Shows or hides the Status window. Show or Hide Available Commands Shows or hides the Available Commands window. At the bottom of this menu is a list of all currently open MacSpeech Dictate windows.
Figure 7-24 Speech Mode Indicator The upper right corner of the Status window indicates the current mode for MacSpeech Dictate. This will be either Command, Dictation, Spelling, or Asleep. Command, Dictation and Spelling modes will be indicated no matter whether the microphone is on or off. If the program is in Sleep mode, it will indicate Asleep instead of one of the active modes. MacSpeech Dictate returns to the last mode used when awakened from Sleep mode.
Notes: Chapter 7 — Reference 46 MacSpeech Dictate
Index A About MacSpeech Dictate 38 About MacSpeech Dictate menu 38 accuracy 6, 10, 14, 16, 17, 19, 23, 30, 39, 42 percentage, how to gauge 19 Recognition slider 38 adapter, microphone 10, 11, 13 adapting voice samples 15, 16, 21, 22, 34 AllCaps 26 All Caps commands 25 All Caps Off 25 All Caps On 25 AllCaps On 26 Ampersand command 27 Apostrophe command 27 Apostrophe ess command 27 AppleScript 8, 33, 34 AppleScript commands 35 Source field 35 applications commands to open 34, 35 Hide Others command 40 launchi
Close Bracket command 27 Close Euro Quote command 27 Close menu 40 Close Parenthesis command 27 Close Quote command 27 Close Single Quote command 27 Close Square Bracket command 27 Colon command 27 Comma command 27 command editor window 40, 42 exporting 41 generation at startup preference 39 list window 33 menu 41 mode 7, 32, 37, 39, 45 startup preference 38 switching to 32 preferences 39 preferences window 39 sets 33, 33–37 creating 34–37 duplicating 37 modifying 37 types.
Dollar Sign command 27 Dot command 27 drinking water 30 duplicating commands 37 E Edit 23, 24 editing text 20 Editing Your Document 21 Edit menu 41 Ellipsis command 27 Em Dash command 27 Enable access for assistive devices 10 Enable Command Grouping preferences 39 En Dash command 27 enunciate 17 Equals Sign command 27 Euro Sign command 27 Exclamation Mark command 27 Exclamation Point command 27 Export exporting commands 41 F Feedback Palette 6 Feedback preference 38 File menu 40 Find the (vocal) middle gr
New Command 40 New Note Pad 40 Open 40 Save 40 Save As 40 Format 43 Font Bigger 43 Bold 43 Copy Style 43 Paste Style 43 Show Colors 43 Show Fonts 43 Smaller 43 Underline 43 Text Align Left 43 Align Right 43 Center 43 Justify 43 Speech 41 Command 41 Dictation 41 Microphone On/Off 41 Sleep 41 Tools Commands 33, 41 Microphone Setup 41 Profiles 18, 41 Train Vocabulary from Selection 41 vocabulary training 19 Vocabulary Training 41 Voice Training 14, 41 Window Bring All to Front 43 Mimimize 43 Show/Hide Availabl
Point command 27 Postal Codes Canadian 28 UK 28 US ZIP 28 posture 30 Pound Sign command 27 Pound Sterling Sign command 27 PowerSecretary 5 preferences Available Commands Window 39 Disable at Startup 39 Command Available Commands Window 39 Command Generation at Startup 39 Enable Command Grouping 39 Show all Global Commands in One Group 39 Show Global Commands at Top 39 Command Generation at Startup 39 Generate Application Launch Commands 39 Generate Email Commands 39 Command Preferences 39 Feedback 38 Recogn
Show Status Window menu 44 signal meter 6 Skip Word 15 Slash command 27 Sleep menu 41 Sleep mode 8, 44, 45 startup preference 38 Smaller menu 43 Smiley Face command 27 Sound Input Level 6 Space Bar command 27 speaker dependent 14 Speech menu 8, 41 Speech Mode Indicator 7, 45 Spelling 7 Spelling mode 29, 30 Tips for 30 Startup Actions preference 38 Startup Mode preference 38 Status window 6, 25, 44 Current Profile 7 “I Heard” Indicator 44 MacSpeech Dictate Icon 6 Microphone Asleep 44 Microphone Off 44 Microp
Welcome document 44 Window menu 43 windows automatic commands 34 available commands 7, 32 command editor 40, 42 type pop-down menu 35 command list 33 command preferences 39 connection 11 create a new profile 10 finish training 15 general preferences 38 green text 15 microphone setup 42 new profile information 11 Note Pad 40 preferences shortcuts 8 profiles 18, 41 recording quality 12 registration 9 shortcuts preferences 39 show universal access settings 10 startup screen 21 status 6, 20, 21, 23, 24 Universa
