MacSpeech Dictate 1.3 Release Notes

New Features:

Additions:

• "Cache Document" and "Cache Selection" commands
  The "Cache Document" command is significantly revamped to be functional in other applications. This command places the entire text from a document into Dictate's cache. Added "Cache Selection", this command places the selected text from a document into Dictate's cache. These commands allow a user to effectively navigate and edit other documents by voice.
• Help Book
  Searchable, indexed help book for MacSpeech Dictate available under the Help menu.
• Status Item in menu bar / Badging on Dock icon
  Microphone status indicators added to Dock icon and menu bar. Appearance of Status item is controlled via Preferences.
• "Press The Key" commands
  "Press The Key" and "Press The Key Combo" commands will input the keyboard keys specified, including modifiers (Command, Control, Option, Shift) and key names (e.g. "N" or "3").
• "Cancel Training" command
  Added the command "Cancel Training" to Available Commands window. This command will close the Recognition window.

Changes:

• Recognition window output is handled without auto-formatting
  Recognition window output is now handled without auto-formatting. If a user adjusts the capitalization of a word in a Recognition window entry, Dictate will not change it to match context (e.g. beginning of a sentence). To adjust the capitalization for that word in the document, use a Lowercase The Word or Capitalize The Word command.
• Removed "Force Quit this Application" command
  "Force Quit this Application" was removed due to possible mis-recognition and subsequent loss during dictation. If user needs to access that window, it can be done so with "Press the Key Combo Command Option Escape".

Fixes:

• Phrase Training results in failure of "Go to End"
  Phrase Training a word/phrase and replacing it with a longer word/phrase, would sometimes result in a failure of subequent use of the command "Go to End". This should no longer happen.
• Some applications would cause Dictate to crash when launched
  Applications that do not have certain expected bundle information, will no longer cause Dictate to crash when they are launched.
• Recognition window can become a dictation target
  Now if there is no dictation area available and the Recognition window is the target. There is a message displayed in the Recognition window asking the user to open a new document or select a text area.
• Crash while switching through Speech modes
  Continuous rapid switching of modes no longer results in crash.
• "Train From Selection" command
  Command "Train Vocabulary from Selection" now does copy the indicated contents to Dictate for Training.
• "About This Application"
  "About this Application" now functions properly.
• "Capture Selection/Screen"
  "Capture Selection/Screen" now functions properly.
• Two commands together under certain situations could cause a crash
  Under some circumstances if a user issued two commands far enough apart that they would be considered separate commands but within a particular time frame Dictate would crash. This should no longer happen.

Known Issues:

MacSpeech is aware of the following issues with MacSpeech Dictate 1.3.

• Dictation into some third party applications may still yield some unpredictable results. This is due to the many different ways that applications handle text. MacSpeech will continue to address these issues over time. To report a problem with a third party application, please send an email to enhancements@macspeech.com.
  
  
• There are likely to be dictation and editing issues when using a list or outline mode with TextEdit and other word processors. Typically in these modes, word processors insert additional tabs, spaces or other characters into the document. MacSpeech Dictate is not aware of this added text, so attempting to alter the dictated text is likely to be problematic and the cursor cannot be moved to correct location.
  
  
• Under certain circumstances, MacSpeech Dictate can become out of sync with the text on the screen. This happens most frequently in third party applications, but can also happen in MacSpeech Dictate's built-in Note Pad. To avoid this issue, it is important that you either edit by voice or by using the keyboard and mouse, but not both. For more details on selecting and editing text by voice, please see MacSpeech Dictate Help under the Help menu, or the MacSpeech Dictate User Guide.
  
  
• Just to be sure that you read the above paragraph, we are saying it again. Use either your voice to dictate and edit or use the mouse and keyboard. Once you use the mouse or keyboard to move the cursor (unless you put it back exactly where it was) and change the number of characters or location of characters in the document then MacSpeech Dictate will no longer know what is in the document. You can still dictate, but going backwards into the changed text can result in unexpected results.
  
  
• MacSpeech Dictate is not compatible with the use of Apple's FileVault under Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger). Please upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5.2 (Leopard) if you need to use FileVault and MacSpeech Dictate on the same system.
  
  
• The use of Keyboard or Mouse in MacSpeech Dictate's Note Pad will result in the text input in reverse, or the cursor jumping to the beginning of the document. This is due to Note Pad being designed as a "dictation only" word processor.
  
  
• Use of the Command "Scratch That" in the Recognition window will not remove the entire utterance. It will remove a single word at a time. You may also use "Scratch Word" or "Forget Word" in the Recognition window.
  
  
• For some users enabling Generate Email Commands at Startup will cause MacSpeech Dictate to be unable to recognize speech at all, or to take an unusually long time to recognize speech. It may also occur after a user adds a new record to the Address Book. If this does happen please turn off that preference.
  
  
• Importing commands may cause duplicates of commands to be displayed. Restarting MacSpeech Dictate will resolve this issue.