This explains that you should not combine the use of keyboard and mouse with dictation when editing a document. Towards the end is a section entitled “The Cache and the Golden Rule”. I was not offered the word “for” on its own.ĭragon Dictate 4 was rescued from a terrible review when I studied the manual. I selected it, but Dragon then entered “for example example” in the text. I said "correct one” and the recognition window appeared offering "for example" as one of the choices. No problem: Dragon has a Recognition Window which lists alternatives when you say “correct” followed by the word you want to amend. For example, if I put the cursor in between two words and dictated a word to insert, sometimes the word appeared elsewhere in the text.Īnother odd thing: I dictated "for example", and Dragon recognised it as "one example”. Using Microsoft Word 2011, I experienced unexpected behaviour. In fact my attempts to make corrections all too often ended up with more and more errors as a correction went wrong and I would be trying to correct the correction, getting increasingly frustrated. The problems were not with recognition but rather with navigating and correcting existing text, which I found harder than in Dragon NaturallySpeaking on Windows. My initial experience with Dragon Dictate 4 was not too good. If Dragon is in Sleep Mode, you can say “Wake up”. Switching mode is easy: just speak the mode you want. Sleep Mode puts Dragon in a resting state, so for example you can take a telephone call without Dragon trying to transcribe it.For example, if you are reviewing Dragon Dictate and want to type “Command Mode”, you can say “Command Mode” and get what you want.
#Dragon dictate for mac reviews manual#
The manual suggests that you use unnatural pauses for this. The advantage of Command Mode is that Dragon will not misinterpret your commands as text input but there is no way to configure Dictation Mode to prevent it interpreting speech intended as text as commands. However, commands also work in Dictation Mode.
#Dragon dictate for mac reviews software#
Setting up Dragon Dictate involves installing the software and then letting it create a profile and doing some training so that Dragon can learn the characteristics of your voice. Over time you can build up a custom vocabulary, but recognition will never be 100%, so a dictation system has to handle corrections as well as original input. Similarly, “pull request” became “full request”. Some recognition problems are just very difficult and the software is bound to make mistakes especially in specialist fields – mine is programming and a specialist phrase like “JIT compiler” is bound to cause an error (Dragon thinks I want “Jet compiler”). The accuracy is superb though you still have to be realistic. It is not a port of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, but rather has its own distinctive features, though it is less comprehensive, and a glance at the Nuance forums suggests that Mac users feel a bit neglected.ĭoes Dragon Dictate 4 change that? The good news is that the voice recognition engine in Dragon Dictate appears to be just as good as the one in Dragon naturally speaking. But what about Mac users? For them, Nuance provides Dragon Dictate, which has recently been updated to version 4.
Nuance has the best voice recognition system available as far as I can tell, though my experience is mainly with Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking on Windows. I do not often use dictation for controlling a computer, as opposed to entering and editing text, but this is also a key feature. I use dictation for transcribing interviews and for rapid text input generally.
Some conditions including RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) may make dictation a necessity. Voice control means you can sit back, easily refer to books or papers, and input text more quickly and naturally than is possible using a keyboard. There is something liberating about working without a keyboard – and I do not mean stabbing hopefully at a touch screen.
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