Optimizing Your Computer For Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Version 6 & 7

(For different versions of NatSpeak, the general procedure is similar; if you have problems or another version, please contact us)

1. Before you load NatSpeak, you should back up all important files, because the installation of any new program can corrupt your system registry, programs and/or files.

2. You should close all unnecessary programs in order to maximize system resources. Sometimes these are called TSR's. The only thing that needs to be running before you start installing NatSpeak is Explorer and SysTray.

3. Disable all screen savers and anti-virus programs.  This is important as the installation or training of NatSpeak may stop if these are running. Upon completion of General Training, you should reactivate your anti-virus. Screen Savers are known to hog system resources and may cause your computer to lock up or crash, so leaving your screen saver off permanently is a good choice.

4. Open CONTROL PANEL, go to SYSTEM, PERFORMANCE.  If your system resources are 80% or higher, proceed with the installation.  If below 80%, you should try to find out which resources are leaking and fix the problem.  Re-booting the computer may free up resources "stolen" by word processors or other programs. If this doesn't work, consult your reseller or a computer technician.

5. Run all Microsoft Office Updates http://office.microsoft.com

6. Run all Windows Updates http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

7. Note that NatSpeak 3.52 (and earlier versions) do not work well with young children.  Version 4.0 (and above) works with those 11 and older, according to Dragon Systems. (Some children younger than 11 have successfully learned to use the program.) NaturallySpeaking for TEENS is now integrated with the regular vocabularies, but must be activated for a teen user.

What to do if NatSpeak Stops Processing Your General Training:

1. After you have finished reading a selection in General Training, the computer takes about 5 minutes to process what you have said and compare it to a generic speech file.  If this hangs (stops), the reason may be that there is another window open behind the active window.  You must move the active window out of the way, and close the window that is lurking behind.  The computer should then proceed with processing your General Training. (If you did not disable your anti-virus program and screen saver, as advised above, this can also cause the computer to hang.)

Optimizing Your Sound Card and Microphone Settings:

1. Set the Master Volume Control (usually the farthest to the left) to its maximum setting.  Click on OPTIONS, PROPERTIES.  Click the button that sets the volume for RECORDING.  This will activate the microphone button and bring up a new window that displays the microphone slider.  Set MICROPHONE volume to its highest setting. Make sure the microphone is NOT muted. The Microphone must be "selected".

2. Set the volume controls to their highest. Under Options, set the volume for Recording to display the microphone volume slider--set it to its highest level.)

3. If these settings turn out to be too high, the Audio Setup Wizard will automatically reduce them to the proper levels.  But if these settings are in the OFF position, the Wizard cannot bring them up. With some sound cards the microphone defaults to "off" unexpectedly--this does not happen with the SoundBlaster series.

4. Make sure that the sound card you are using is displayed under PREFERRED DEVICE. If you have more than one sound card in your computer, disable all but the best one for speech recognition. Contact us for a list of approved sound cards.

5. Now you are ready to install NatSpeak. Place the CD in the CD-ROM player and follow the on-screen prompts to install NatSpeak.

6. When Audio Setup Wizard comes up, you will read aloud for about 1 minute. Do not place the microphone directly in front of your mouth or the program may pick up your exhaled breath and put unwanted small words at the end of utterances. Place the mic below or to the side of your mouth. If below, twist the mic until the active element is pointing toward your mouth (on some mic's this is indicated by a red or blue dot).

7. After you hear a beep, click NEXT. If the sound quality is acceptable, proceed to General Training. If the sound quality is unacceptable, and you have faithfully followed the above instructions, contact your reseller or NatSpeak Tech Support. If the sound level is unacceptable, either you haven’t followed the above instructions, your mic is too far from your mouth or pointed the wrong direction, you are speaking too faintly, or you have a defective mic. (Having sold thousands of units of NatSpeak I have yet to find more than three defective mic's, and two of those had been damaged by jerking on the mic cord and breaking the solder joint in the jack.).

8. Upon completion of General Training, the program will automatically save your speech files to improve recognition accuracy

9. If you have a specialized vocabulary, e.g. podiatry, property appraising, technical writing, etc. you should use Vocabulary Builder and follow the prompts. The computer will automatically search previous documents you have created, documents that others have created that relate to your field, downloads from the WEB, specialized dictionaries you have bought or created, and then have the program automatically search through all these documents for new words not in the backup dictionary. DO NOT USE the ADD WORDS feature built into NatSpeak. Use vocbldr.exe

10. Next, follow the prompts. If words appear merely by virtue of being capitalized (or misspelled), DO NOT SELECT THEM.

11. Once you run Vocabulary Builder, you can train each new word.

12. Once you have saved your speech files as outlined above, you are ready for dictation.

Switching Between DragonDictate and Dragon NaturallySpeaking (if you have NatSpeak Ver 4 or later, you rarely need DragonDictate for complete hands-free operation.)

1. You cannot have the same hot key (mic on/off) settings for both DragonDictate and NatSpeak. For example, set the hot key for NatSpeak to F11, and for DragonDictate to F12.
2. The built-in macro provided in DragonDictate, "Switch to NaturallySpeaking," should not be used. You should do the following.
3. First change the Hot Key for DragonDictate and then for Dragon NaturallySpeaking. First, go to DragonDictate for Windows, VOICE MENU, OPTIONS, HOT KEYS and click the button "Set Mic On/Off, and press "F-12". This will set F-12 as your Hot Key for DragonDictate. Then set the hot key in NatSpeak to F-11. You must save your voice files to keep the settings in DragonDictate.
4. In DragonDictate go to VOCABULARY MANAGER, SYSTEM, GLOBAL, WORD, ADD WORD. In the Add Word box, type the name of the macro (enclosed in brackets): [e.g. "switchit"]. The macro will be a "scripting" macro, so check "EXECUTE FOLLOWING SCRIPT." The script is:

   SetMicrophone 0

   Wait 200

   SendSystemKeys "{F11}"

   Be sure to "SAVE USER" after you have done this or your new macro will be dumped.

5. Now turn off the mic (if it is on) in DragonDictate, and manually switch to NatSpeak.

Set NatSpeak so it will switch to DragonDictate

1. In NatSpeak Ver 5, go to CUSTOM COMMANDS, and click on CREATE. Then click on GLOBAL.

   NEXT, type "Switchit", and click NEXT; check RUN A SCRIPT and click NEXT; type in the following script:

   SetMicrophone 0

   Wait 200

   SendSystemKeys "{F12}"

   Click on NEXT, and then click on FINISH.

   Now when you are in NatSpeak and want to go to DragonDictate, you say "Switchit." The NatSpeak microphone will turn off, and the DragonDictate mic will turn on.

   Conversely, when you are in DragonDictate and want to go to NatSpeak, you say "switchit." The DragonDictate microphone will turn off and the NatSpeak mic will turn on.

   Always save your user (speech) files after creating a new macro!

Changing the Speed of Text-to-Speech in NatSpeak

1. In NatSpeak, go to ADVANCED, OPTIONS, TEXT-TO-SPEECH and set the speed slider about 3 clicks from its lowest setting. Then click APPLY, and OK. This will make the speech more easily understandable.

Changing the Voice Characteristics in Dragon Dictate for Windows

See pages 185 and 186 in the DragonDictate for Windows, User’s Guide. You can change:

Playback speed
Type of voice (male-female-child)
0=Peter
1=Sydney
2=Eddie
3=Douglas
4=Biff
5=Amos
6=Melvin (British accent)
7=Alex
8=Wanda
9=Julie
Voice pitch
Volume

Omit reading email headers and other common email separators, e.g. angle brackets

How To Change Default Font In Natspeak 3.01 and Lower

To set the default font style in NatSpeak versions prior to 3.52 (double click as necessary):

1. Go to "Start"

2. "Run"

3. "Regedit"

4. "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE"

5. "Software"

6. "DragonSystems"

7. "NaturallySpeaking"

8. "Professional" (or your version)

9. "Users"

10. "User Name" (select yours)

11. "Settings"

12. Go to "Edit" in Menu Bar

13. "New"

14. "String Value"

15. Double click on that box to bring up a new box ("Edit String")

16. Type in "Default Font xxx" where "xxx" is the font style e.g. Arial

To set the default font size (NatSpeak Versions lower than 3.52):

Repeat steps 1-16 above.

For Step 17 you type "Default Font Size xxx" where xxx is 20 times the desired font size. For example, for 12 point xxx would be 240, 20 point would be 400, etc.

Close Regedit by clicking on the x in the upper right corner of the window.

To set the default font size (NatSpeak Version 5):

Go to Windows Explorer. Open the NatSpeak folder. Go to:

Users, current, user name, options.ini

At the bottom of options.ini, type these lines:

enx Set Default Font=Times New Roman (or whatever you want)

enx Default Font Size=240 (for 12 point, 280 for 14 point, etc. -- 20 times the font size)

Ways to Improve Recognition Accuracy:

1. In "WORDS":

a. "TRAIN WORDS" -- used primarily to train commands

(commands should be capitalized)

b. "Vocabulary Editor" -- used to train new words, phrases, sentences -- up to 128 characters -- with no non-printing characters, e.g. CTRL, ALT, function keys, shift key, etc. But you can put in punctuation e.g. periods, commas, etc.

c. "Vocabulary Builder" -- used to search previously created documents for new vocabulary words -- whether created by typing or voice recognition -- you have the option of speaking each word to train it

d. "General Training" -- choose one of the shorter selections to read -- when first learning NaturallySpeaking you should do this every few hours

e. "Correct that" -- after using this command say "Select xxxx" then "Click Train." This permits you to train words that may sound somewhat alike -- or even un-alike. If you choose "Choose xxxx" the word will go directly into the text and not allow you to train it. 

If you are experiencing the problem that "correct that" doesn't select the selected word, but rather "at" or "that", then do the following: Go to Windows Explorer, NatSpeak, User, Current, Options.ini and insert the following:

Correct That Command=Correct Oops

Then go to File, Save. From now on, say "correct oops" instead of "correct that."

2. After doing any of the above you must say "click user", "save speech files", "click yes." This locks in your corrections and improves your recognition. Failure to save speech files will dump your new work if you close the program without saving speech files.