A step-by-step guide for Dragon users - Part 2

Please ensure that your Dragon profile is configured as shown here - this will ensure that your copy of Dragon responds in the ways covered during these modules.

I frequently talk about dictating slowly and clearly when you first start using Dragon, and because you can control your computer by voice, there are a lot of commands to learn!

Most of these are quite logical, but to make it easier initially, I focus on the three key commands that you need to successfully dictate text.

The first of these commands shows you how to correct Dragon if it makes a mistake when transcribing your text. The word I use to show how this works is dracophobia and you will see that when I first dictate it, Dragon gets it wrong, but after it is corrected, it gets it right!

The word dracophobia is a fear of Dragons. ?

This is one of the most powerful ways of making Dragon even more accurate and shows how you can add unusual words, names or abbreviations into the vocabulary, so for example, when you dictate "health and safety", Dragon writes 'Health & Safety'.

You can turn on formatting with Dragon before you dictate, or you can go back and format it once you have dictated it, just like you can with the mouse and keyboard.

The best way to do this is to use the second key command' so you can quickly bold, underline, italicise, or delete text.

When you dictate punctuation, most of the names are very logical and this module shows the most common options, including a smiley face :-)

This module shows several different ways that you can delete text, initially using the second key command, but then showing some alternatives.

The problem with computers is that you can often do the same thing several different ways and I'm sure that you will quickly settle on the best way to do this  - for you!

I call this my bonus fourth command and it shows how it is possible to select and edit text with your voice.

Rules are made to be broken!

If you dictate "B B C" slowly, it is quite likely to be transcribed as three separate words, so with abbreviations you should dictate them snappily!

When you  dictate the time as 6 AM, Dragon will write this is uppercase by default. This module shows you how to change this, and also how dates are formatted differently, depending on how you dictate them.

This module shows how to quickly and easily move your cursor around your document, including the very useful command 'insert before'.

There are some default settings that determine the way that Dragon formats text for you, so for instance, if you dictate "millimetres", Dragon writes the word in full. If you dictate "six", Dragons writes the word six, but if you dictate "six millimetres", Dragon will write 6 mm.

These options can be changed from the DragonBar, but using the' correct' command to change the formatting will bring up the 'smart format rules' dialogue box, giving you the option to make this change in style permanent.   

This module shows you how to cut, copy and paste text, moving it around within the same document or between apps.

Very occasionally you may need to change the properties of a word within Dragon's vocabulary. A good example here is the word doctor, which can be abbreviated as DR. This can be changed by specifying a printed form.

When you dictate 'new line' in Word, you will get one blank line, but the first word on that line won't be capitalised unless the previous line finished the sentence.

When you dictate 'new paragraph' in Word, you will get two blank lines and the first word is always capitalised.

Incidentally, 'new line' in Outlook, does not give a blank line.

Here we look at how you can quickly insert a table in your document and then move around it and enter text as you go.

Finally, we look here at some examples of useful shortcut commands to access features from various Word Ribbons.

Moving on to Microsoft Outlook, this module shows you how you can navigate in the Inbox, opening, closing and reading emails.

Please note that parts of the screen are blurred during some of these modules for data protection reasons!

There are at least three different ways to create an email with your voice! This is the first and looks at dictating the name of the recipient in the 'to field' and then selecting from the list of names that appear when you do this.

The second way to enter email addresses is to use the 'to' button once you have created your email and then enter names from your address book.

This is really useful way to quickly create an email to someone in your address book - Outlook does not need to be open to use this command!

This module looks at navigating around the Inbox and moving or copying emails to another folder.

Now we look at how to open and close attachments in your email.

Working in the Calendar uses very similar commands and this module looks at creating an appointment and filling in data such as the date and time.

Now we look at how to delete an appointment!

This voice command allows you to navigate to a particular date in your calendar.

And finally, here are some examples of useful commands to control the Ribbon in Outlook.

When you first use Dragon with Google Chrome, you should be prompted to install an extension to Chrome. This will allow Dragon to work well with Chrome and so it is important to do this.

If for any reason, you don't see this prompt, please search for it manually and install it that way.

This module shows how you can create, close and navigate between tabs!

Here are some more shortcut commands and these can be very useful because Google Chrome doesn't need to be open for them to work.

It must however, be your default browser...

Moving on again, this module shows some of the most useful commands available if you use Dragon with Excel.

Please be careful though, if your spreadsheets are complicated, in that they contain lots of data. You want to avoid accidentally overwriting data in an active cell if the microphone picks up a sound that could be interpreted as a word or number.

For this reason, it's often better to turn the microphone off or send it to sleep if you are not actively dictating and watching the screen.