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35 MacSpeech DictateChapter 6 — Controlling Your Mac
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.
2. Choose “Commands…” from the Tools menu. The
Commands window opens (Figure 6-3). Individual
command sets are listed in the left sidebar. For
this example, we will create a new global com-
mand in the Global command set.
3. In the Commands window, select the command
set into which you want the command to be
stored from the “Context” menu.
4. Click the Plus Sign, or select “New Command”
from the File menu. A new command is created
and is ready to be edited, as shown in Figure 6-4.
5. Select the type of command you want to add from
the “Type” pop-down menu, as shown in Figure
6-5.
6. Edit the command so it does what you want when
its name is spoken.
Figure 6-5
Types of Commands - More Details
The Command window will look slightly different depending
on what type of command you are creating. This section
will provide additional information to assist you in creating
different types of commands. Refer to Figure 6-5 for an
illustration of how to select the different types of commands
in the Command window.
AppleScript
Anything that can be written as an AppleScript can be made
into a voice command. MacSpeech Dictate includes a full
AppleScript Script Editor. Enter the code for the AppleScript
into the Source field. Press the Compile button to verify the
script will compile, and the Stop or Run buttons to stop or
run the script.
To see the result of running a script, click the Result button.
Keyboard Shortcut
Any keystroke combination can be recorded as a Keyboard
Shortcut command. After you create and name a new com-
mand, select the Type as “AppleScript”. Click on the gray
button titled “Click to record shortcut” at the bottom of the
window. Then type in the keystroke combination.
Application
Application commands are for opening applications that can
be seen by your computer. By default, MacSpeech Dictate
already knows how to open all the applications in your
Application folder. You would only need to create this type of
command if you wanted to open an application that is outside
your Applications folder, such as on an external hard drive or
network server.
Bookmark
The quickest way to create a Bookmark command is to
simply drag a URL to the Automatic area of the Command
window, as discussed earlier in this chapter. If you want to
manually create a Bookmark command simply type the web
address, including the “http://” into the URL field, then give the
command a name and description.
File or Folder
A File or Folder command allows you to use your voice to
open any file or folder you could normally open in the Finder.
As with Bookmarks, the quickest way to create a command
of this type is to simply drag a file or folder’s icon into the
Automatic area of a new Command window and name the
command.
If you want to manually create a File or Folder command, t ype
the path to the item, or click the Browse button and navigate to
it, then give the command a name and description.
Menu Item
A Menu Item command allows you to use your voice to
choose an item from the menu of an application, as though
you were selecting that menu item with the mouse or key-
board shortcut. After you create and name a new command,
select the Type as “Menu Item”. To manually create a Menu