Selection “Cheat Sheet” for Dragon NaturallySpeaking

(For NaturallySpeaking Versions 7 and 8)

www.exaq.com/speech/DNSCheatSheet.htm

PDF Version

A Resource Page provided by

EXAQ Micro Services

P.O. Box 1325, Citrus Heights, California 95611-1325

www.exaq.com  916-966-8313  admin@exaq.com

Please give us a call for questions regarding NaturallySpeaking or Jaws for Windows

Index:


“Out of the box” NaturallySpeaking (Standard, Preferred, Professional, Medical, or Legal) is ideally suited for:

Ø Large text documents (reports, letters, etc.)

Ø Small Text documents (emails, memos)

Ø Internet Navigation and Web Browsing with Microsoft Internet Explorer (Web browsing commands not available in NaturallySpeaking Standard)

Ø Basic Windows Command and Control for most programs (Menu and form navigation)

Ø Reducing keyboarding and/or mouse usage by 50-80%

With moderate to substantial customizing and support, NaturallySpeaking (Professional, Medical, or Legal) can be extremely productive with:

Ø Repetitive Documents with standard phrases or paragraphs (Legal contracts, medical reports, etc.)

Ø Field oriented applications (database entry forms, QuickBooks, etc.)

Ø Command oriented applications (DesignCAD, AutoCAD, Games, etc.)

Ø Technical Programming Languages (Visual Basic, JAVA, HTML)

Ø Non-Windows applications accessed through Windows Emulation (UNIX applications, CIDOR, HWDC, etc.)

Ø Situations requiring the elimination of most, or all, keyboarding and mouse usage (reductions of 90-100%).

Factors that tend to have a negative impact on the performance, accuracy and success rate for NaturallySpeaking users (assuming a system that meets or exceeds the Recommended System Requirements listed below):

Ø Speech that is very soft.

Ø Certain Learning Disabilities (such as long term memory problems, unable to recognize an error, difficulty or inability to remember sequences of 2 or 3 steps, and others)

Ø Speech that has inconsistent and/or hard startup sounds (CP, uncontrollable stuttering)

Ø Noisy environments (noisier than typical background office noise)

Ø Creation of classified, confidential, or sensitive documents without a private office. (personnel files, medical records, etc.)

Ø Marginal microphone/sound card compatibility (poor accuracy with no apparent reason).

Ø Inadequate system Hardware (minimum but not recommended hardware)

Why Preferred ($199.00) instead of Standard ($99.00)? All features of Standard plus:

Ø Commands for browsing the Internet (Web browsing VERY difficult with out them.)

Ø Text to Speech voice synthesizer (Read what was written works well for proofing and dyslexia.)

Ø Dictation Playback (essential for effective corrections on longer documents)

Ø Save Audio with Text (delayed correction)

Ø Hand held recorder transcription.

Ø Works with Pocket PC

Ø Text and Graphics Dictation Shortcuts (for creating signature blocks, standard paragraphs, etc.).

Ø Extensive commands for Excel (Office 97, 2000, & XP)

Ø Import export user files (important for moving to a new computer)

Ø Works with Window ME (Version 8)

Why Professional ($795.00) instead of Preferred ($199.00)?
All features of Preferred plus:

Ø Section 508 (federal standard) compliant for use by persons with disabilities providing up to 100% reduction of keyboard or mouse usage.

Ø Higher accuracy rates. (Version 8)

Ø Support for Array and wireless microphones. (Version 8)

Ø Scripting commands allow the creation of custom commands to deal with situations that would otherwise be difficult, tedious, or impossible to accomplish (critical for dealing with non-standard programs, working with programs like AutoCAD, or attempting 100% reduction in keyboarding.)

Ø Extensive commands for Outlook and PowerPoint (Office 97, 2000, & XP)

Ø Import/export Macros (allows updates and transferring.)

Ø Works with specialized vocabularies. (Medical, Legal, and other third party vocabularies)

Ø Supports multiple contexts within a single user (provides maximum accuracy for users who create very different types of documents i.e. students creating chemistry and English papers, or doctors generating medical reports, journal articles, and private correspondence.)

Ø Supports multiple microphones (Version 8)

Ø Supports roaming users on a network (Version 8)

Why Medical or Legal ($1,095.00) instead of Professional ($795.00)?
All features of Professional plus:

Ø A Medical or Legal vocabulary producing substantially higher out of the box accuracy when creating legal or medical documents.

Minimum System Requirements

The requirements listed on the box as advertised by the Manufacturer. Items in Red are new in NaturallySpeaking version 8.

Note: Minimum Systems produce minimum performance, productivity and reliability. Systems being used in a work environment should meet or exceed the Minimum Recommended System Requirements listed in the next section.

NaturallySpeaking 8

NaturallySpeaking 7

· Operating System

Windows XP, 2000 (with SP4)
(ME for Standard and Preferred only, NT is not supported)

Windows XP, 2000 (with SP4), NT4 (with SP6 or greater) 98SE, ME

· Processor:

Intel® Pentium® III / 500 MHz

Intel® Pentium® III / 500 MHz processor (or equivalent AMD processor)

· RAM:

256 MB RAM

256 MB RAM

· Hard Disk Space:

500 MB free hard disk space

300 MB free hard disk space

· Sound Card:

Creative® Labs Sound Blaster® 16 or equivalent sound card supporting 16-bit recording.

Creative® Labs Sound Blaster® 16 or equivalent sound card supporting 16-bit recording.

· CD-ROM:

Required for installation.

Required for installation.

· Microphone:

ScanSoft-approved noise-canceling headset microphone (included)

ScanSoft-approved noise-canceling headset microphone (included)

· Speakers:

Required for playback of recorded speech and text-to-speech features

Required for playback of recorded speech and text-to-speech features

· Internet Explorer:

Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5 or higher

Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5 or higher

· Registration:

Internet only - Required

Internet or mail (optional)


Minimum Recommended System Requirements

The minimum system having shown (through experience) to provide consistent, full functionality and performance of NaturallySpeaking. Changes from the Minimum System Requirements from above are shown in Red. Version 8 changes from version 7 are shown in Blue

NaturallySpeaking 8

NaturallySpeaking 7

· Operating System

Windows XP, 2000 (with SP4)
(ME for Standard and Preferred only) Windows NT not supported.

Windows XP, 2000 (with SP4), NT4 (with SP6 or greater) 98SE, ME

· Processor:

Intel® Full (not a Celeron) Pentium® III 1.0 GHz (equivalent AMD processors are probably supported but current documentation does not mention AMD)

Intel® Full (not a Celeron) Pentium® III 1.0 GHz processor (or equivalent AMD processor)

· RAM:

512 MB RAM

512 MB RAM

· Hard Disk Space:

800 MB free hard disk space

800 MB free hard disk space

· Sound Card:

Creative® Labs Sound Blaster® 16 or equivalent sound card supporting 16-bit recording.

Creative® Labs Sound Blaster® 16 or equivalent sound card supporting 16-bit recording.

· CD-ROM:

Required for installation.

Required for installation.

· Microphone:

ScanSoft-approved noise-canceling headset microphone (included)

ScanSoft-approved noise-canceling headset microphone (included)

· Speakers:

Required for playback of recorded speech and text-to-speech features

Required for playback of recorded speech and text-to-speech features

· Internet Explorer:

Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5 or higher

Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5 or higher

· Registration:

Internet only - Required

Internet or mail (optional)

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