SpeechStart Support
- Sometimes the commands are just not recognised.
- Sometimes the commands are recognised and I did not say the actual command name.
- I always get asked for confirmation that I would like to switch on the microphone. I would prefer just to switch it on with one command.
- Can I just use the microphone utility and not the restarting Dragon utility? Alternatively, just use the restarting Dragon utility and not the microphone utility?
- I can’t see a yellow apple icon in the system tray.
- Sometimes, when Dragon NaturallySpeaking is locked up, the “RESTART Dragon” voice command is not recognised.
- I keep getting the PCByVoice SpeechStart voice commands activated by the wrong phrase with Windows XP.
- Sometimes, when I restart NaturallySpeaking using “RESTART Dragon”, I still can’t dictate into Microsoft Word or other applications.
This is normally because the accuracy slider is set too high under “Options” (right click on the yellow apple icon in the system tray). Follow the procedure for setting up voice command recognition at the end of the help file. The bottom line is that if the commands are not being recognised then try turning down the accuracy slider.
This is normally because the accuracy slider is set too low under “Options” (right click on the yellow apple icon in the system tray). Follow the procedure for setting up voice command recognition at the end of the help file. The bottom line is that if the commands are being recognised, even when you say something slightly different, then you need to turn up the accuracy slider. If you still have certain phrases which seem to activate the command then please use the Rogue Phrases utility described in the help file. Please note that if you are using Windows XP then the accuracy slider option is not available, use the Rogue Phrases utility as described in the help file to stop the wrong phrase activating the command.
Remove the checkmark from “Microphone switch on confirmation required” under “Options” (right click yellow apple icon in the system tray).
Yes, just set the options appropriately under “Options” (right click the yellow Apple icon in the system tray).
If you are using Windows 7, then you need to click on the small arrow to the left of the system tray and then choose “Customise”, then set the yellow apple icon to “Show icon and notifications”.
This is usually because, as well as DNS being locked up, Windows itself has locked up. You can try restarting Windows from the start menu or, in the worst-case scenario, power off your PC and back on again.
SpeechStart will work with Windows XP but it relies on the SAPI 5.1 recogniser (speech engine) and quite frankly it is vastly inferior to the latest SAPI 5 recogniser(version 8) with Windows 7. The biggest problem is that you may find certain phrases, which are not the correct phrases, activating the commands. The only way to overcome this is to add such phrases to the Rogue Phrases utility as described in the help file. We have found that with good quality microphones and soundcards that you can get SpeechStart working very reliably with XP after using the Rogue Phrases utility. However with certain microphone/soundcard combinations (even apparently good quality) it is difficult to get it working reliably. For that reason we recommend using SpeechStart on the 15 day trial before committing to buy.
For full select and say functionality and voice command control, Dragon must be loaded before such applications like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, Internet Explorer and other Select-and-Say applications. You will have to close all these open instances and then restart them. Sometimes, they need to be forcefully closed from the task manager (right click on the taskbar and then “Start Task Manager”). Alternatively, try right clicking on the taskbar button for the application and then choose “Close”. Starting these applications before Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a prerequisite of NaturallySpeaking itself and outwith the control of PCByVoice.