Options and settings

Setting your input preferences

To change your settings, say open settings or click and select Options; the corresponding dialog box is displayed:

  • General: Select options for the speech focus and voice commands.
  • Text Input: Select options related to recognized text, the Dictation Box and Basic Text Control.
  • Hotkeys: Select options for pressing keyboard shortcuts.
  • Microphone Buttons: Assign actions to microphone buttons.

Click Apply All to apply your settings.

Click Restore Defaults to undo your settings; the original delivery settings are re-applied to all tabs of the dialog box.

Dictation Box

When you are working in an application that Dragon Professional Anywhere does not fully support, the Dictation Box can be used to dictate text using Full Text Control. For more information on how to work with the Dictation Box, see: Creating text in your application.

In the Text Input pane of the Options dialog box, you can make a variety of settings for transferring text to your target application and for the behavior of the Dictation Box.

In the Dictation Box: Text appearance section, you can configure the text formatting in the Dictation Box:

  • Select Plain text and set the font size and style to apply the formatting only in the Dictation Box; the formatting is not kept during transfer to your application.
  • Select Formatted text to format the text directly in the Dictation Box; the formatting is kept during transfer.

Text transfer method

In the Text Input pane in the Options dialog box, the Text transfer method section defines how Dragon Professional Anywhere interacts with the target application. Unless you have serious problems transferring text, do not change the default setting.

Using hotkeys (keyboard shortcuts)

Pressing a combination of keys on your keyboard (instead of clicking the user interface) to initiate an action can speed up tasks.

In the Hotkeys pane of the Options dialog box, click and press one or more modifier keys and a letter/number (for example, Ctrl + Alt + Z or Ctrl + Shift + 3). Alternatively, some keys can be assigned as stand-alone hotkeys (for example, F1 to F12 or numeric keys).

You can also assign hotkeys to microphone buttons; in the Microphone Buttons pane of the Options dialog box, select Press Hotkey as the action for a button, click and press a combination of keys.

Anchoring the speech focus to your application

You can anchor the speech focus automatically; in the Options dialog box, open the General pane and select Anchor the speech focus when recording is started. Before you start recording, place your cursor in the target application; this application will have the speech focus anchored to it. If the Dictation Box is open and automatic anchoring is enabled, when you start recording, it will close. The speech focus is released from an application when recording is stopped or the application is closed.

If Anchor the speech focus when recording is started is not selected, you can manually anchor the speech focus via voice command, hotkeys or microphone button.

For more information, see: Anchoring the speech focus.

Customizing your speech recognition settings

Factors such as user profile and the type of microphone used influence speech recognition. The settings that you log on with define how the system processes what you say. The options available depend on how Dragon Professional Anywhere is configured. This means, for example, that you can only change to another language if the relevant language and lexicon are listed.

To change your settings for speech recognition, click and select Log Off; the corresponding dialog box is displayed:

  • Select a different User to change to another user profile. Make sure that you always select your own user profile.
  • Select a different Microphone to change to another microphone.
  • Select a different Language to change to another speech recognition language.
  • Select a different Specialty to change to another specialty.

Click OK to apply your settings.

Note: To change to another microphone without logging off, click , select Microphone and select another microphone. Do not unplug the microphone that is currently in use.