1.2

21 MacSpeech DictateChapter 5 — Dictation
To dictate text, you may follow these steps:
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.
Figure 5-2
3. Click the microphone button in the Status window,
or press a keyboard shortcut that corresponds to
the Microphone On/Off. The microphone button
will change from a red stop sign to a microphone
withagreencirclebehindit,asingure5-3.
Figure 5-3
4. Speak into your microphone. There will be a
short delay while MacSpeech Dictate interprets
your speech, after which text will appear in the
document window.
5. Whenyounishdictating,turnyourmicrophone
off by speaking the command Microphone Off,
or Go to Sleep. You may also use your mouse to
click the microphone button in the Status window.
Dictation Sessions
If you are dictating into the active text area of an application,
and you open a second document in that application or
another application, MacSpeech Dictate starts a new dictation
session for the new window. This allows MacSpeech Dictate
to keep track of words and punctuation for each window.
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.
Scratch That or Forget That
Scratch That and Forget That perform the same action.
They delete the last utterance, which is what you said from
the last time you paused, or to the left of where you insert the
cursor in dictated text.
Scratch Word or Forget Word
If Scratch That or Forget That deletes too much, try using
Scratch Word or Forget Word instead. This will erase only
the last word you spoke, or to the left of where you insert the
cursor in dictated text.
These commands can be spoken repeatedly to delete several
recently dictated phrases.
IMPORTANT: The commands Scratch That, Forget That,
Scratch Word, and Forget Word are NOT the equivalent
of the Undo menu command (Cmd-Z) in many Mac OS X
applications. The Scratch/Forget commands will delete the
last phrase dictated, or the text to the left of where you insert
the cursor by voice, even if it was a correction of a previously
dictated word.
TIP:
If Scratch That or Forget That deletes too much, say
Scratch Word or Forget Word instead to delete only
the last word you spoke, or the last dictated word to
the left of where you inserted the cursor using spoken
commands.
Editing Your Document
There are some special rules for editing and navigating your
documents when using MacSpeech Dictate. You can use the
Scratch That, Forget That, Scratch Word and Forget Word
commands we already told you about, but there are many
other commands at your disposal.
Moving Around Documents By Voice
Just because you can’t use the keyboard or mouse before
you are finished editing doesn’t mean you can’t get around. In
fact, once you get used to how to do it, you may prefer moving
around by voice in documents.