MacSpeech Knowledge Base

What is the difference between MacSpeech Scribe and MacSpeech Dictate?

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

MacSpeech Dictate is a speech recognition solution that turns your talking into text, in near real time, on your Mac. This can be used for dictation, or for controlling your Mac by voice. MacSpeech Scribe is a personal transcription solution that turns spoken-word audio recordings into text. Note: MacSpeech Scribe Medical is only sold as an add-on for MacSpeech Dictate Medical. MacSpeech Scribe Legal is only sold as an add-on for MacSpeech Dictate Legal. Please see the product pages for a more complete description.

I ordered MacSpeech Scribe for electronic-only download, but have not received a download link (and/or a registration code).

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0400

If you have not received or cannot find your registration code, please contact MacSpeech Sales. If you cannot find the download link for the application, please follow these instructions: 1) Go to http://www.macspeech.com and login to your MacSpeech account 2) Click My Account once logged in (top right where the "log in" link was before) 3) Under Recent Orders, click on your order for Scribe and you will be presented with your download link for Scribe. From here you can download the application. If you already own a version of MacSpeech Dictate, you can use the corresponding Data Disc (DVD) as part of the installation. If you do not own Dictate 1.5 then contact MacSpeech Sales so they're aware of the problem and can provide a solution as soon as possible.

What do I do if MacSpeech Scribe crashes?

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0400

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How do I set up MacSpeech Dictate and the Plantronics Calisto headset with Bluetooth USB Adapter for use together?

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

To set up your Plantronics Calisto headset with Bluetooth USB Adapter for use with Dictate, please follow the directions below:

Pair the headset with the Bluetooth USB adapter:

Insert the Bluetooth USB adapter into a USB port on your computer.
Verify the headset is off. If the headset is on or showing any blinking lights, turn the headset off by pressing and holding the headset button for 4 seconds, until you hear 4 descending beeps. After the headset is powered off, remove it from your ear.�Once the headset is turned off, there will not be flashing any lights.
Once the headset is verified to be off, hold down the call control button (the only button) for 6 seconds or until you see red and blue alternating lights, and then release the button.
Press and hold the pairing/connect button for 3 seconds until it starts alternating blue and red.
The headset and Bluetooth USB adapter will find each other when in pairing mode and connect.
The headset will be blinking blue every 10 seconds and the Bluetooth USB adapter will have a steady blue light once it is successfully paired.

To verify that the headset is working correctly, follow the directions below:

Choose System Preferences on your Mac. This can be found under the Apple menu at the top left of your screen.
Click on Sound
Click on the Input tab
Select the item "Plantronics BT Adapter"
Test the headset microphone by speaking into it and observing the Input Level indicator for activity. If you are not receiving activity, please make sure you have charged the headset completely.
Once you've confirmed through System Preferences>Sound>Input that your headset is working, launch MacSpeech Dictate.
Create a new Profile. Be sure to select "Plantronics BT Adapter" as your microphone.

What are the different vocabulary options in MacSpeech Dictate Medical?

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

MacSpeech Dictate Medical supports more than 54 different medical and dental specialty vocabulary options. For each Profile created, you choose what type of vocabulary will be loaded. There two types of vocabularies: "Medical" and non-medical. The medical vocabulary can be categorized as either "General" or "Specialty".

Non-medical Vocabulary
If you create a "non-medical" Profile (by unchecking the "Medical" check box), it will not load medical vocabulary data. This provides speech recognition of the same vocabulary available as the regular version of MacSpeech Dictate. It is recommended that you create a non- medical profile for times that you will be using MacSpeech Dictate for non-medical dictation (e.g. business letters, general correspondence email, writing a romance novel, etc.).

Medical Vocabulary: General
Within the medical vocabularies, you can choose a "General" medical vocabulary. This has a main purpose to cover the most possibilities for a wide variety of medical professionals. It contains some terms related to many medical specialities in addition to general usage terms, including many common medical and common non-medical English words.

Medical Vocabulary: Specialty
You can also choose a specialty such as "Radiology" or "Anesthesiology". These specialty medical vocabularies are built for dictating about specific topics. In order to enhance recognition, the software's options are focused and thus there are fewer words in any of the specialty vocabularies. Once you create a Profile with a specific medical specialty vocabulary, many terms from non-medical vocabulary and some terms from other specialities are removed from the dictionary in order to increase the likelihood of recognizing the specialty words.

Specialty Examples
For example, in when you choose the specialty "Radiology" the words "conformist" and "conformists" are removed. These are very unlikely to be used during radiological dictation. The goal here is for the software to have better success recognizing a word like "conformal", which is much more common in radiology than in everyday English speech.

In the "Anesthesiology" specialty, the word "xylophones" (plural) has been removed. This makes it more likely that the the software will recognize terms like "Xylo-Pfan" or "Xylocaine" which may be more useful to anesthesiologists.

Summary
The ultimate point regarding the number of words in a particular specialty is not that MacSpeech Dictate Medical provide the largest possible number of terms. Rather it's that those words and terms you need are present and more likely to be recognized.

What language dialects and spelling options does MacSpeech Dictate Legal support?

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

In MacSpeech Dictate Legal, there is support for 9 different language models, which includes vocabulary data for the supported accent options.

For MacSpeech Dictate Legal, these accent options are:

US Spelling

American
American - Inland Northern
American - Southern
American - Teens
Australian
British
Indian
Latino
Southeast Asian

Please note: There is no "UK Spelling" option for MacSpeech Dictate Legal. Supported words and terms in the vocabulary are not UK-specific.

Which language models, spelling and accent options are supported in MacSpeech Dictate?

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500

In MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.x, there is support for 13 different language models, which includes vocabulary data for the supported spelling and accent options.

For MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.x, these accent options are:

US Spelling

American
American - Inland Northern
American - Southern
American - Teens
Australian
British
Indian
Latino
Southeast Asian

UK Spelling

Australian
British
Indian
Southeast Asian

MacSpeech Dictate International is also available with support for French, German and Italian speech recognition, including vocabulary specific to those languages.

For a localized/translated version of MacSpeech Dictate in French, German and/or Italian, please see the Where To Buy information.

MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 is crashing upon creating a profile with UK Spelling.

Wed, 27 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Summary: Dictate 1.5.0 (Build 5006) may crash when creating a Profile with Spelling set to "UK".
The recommended solution is to update to Dictate 1.5.1 (Build 5105).

Issue: To our knowledge the issue only affects UK localization on some machines. Under Dictate 1.5.0, if the Mac OS X International Region Format is set to "United Kingdom" (System Preferences > International > Formats > Region) then a Dictate profile might not be created properly and could crash.

Solution: The recommended solution is to update to Dictate 1.5.1 (Build 5105).

To update Dictate:

Launch Dictate
An Auto-update will come up and ask if you want to update to 1.5.1
Update to 1.5.1

If the update did not happen automatically, do the following:

Launch Dictate
Click the "Check for updates at startup" check box located on the bottom of the Profiles window
Quit Dictate
Make sure you are connected to the Internet
Relaunch Dictate and update to 1.5.1

If you have the "Show Profiles Window" turned off in Dictate preferences, then you will need to update manually:

Quit Dictate
Open System Preferences
Choose International
Choose the Formats tab
Change the Region to "Ireland"*
Make sure you are connected to the Internet
Launch Dictate
Activate or Create a Profile
Go to the Dictate menu and choose "Check For Updates..."
Update Dictate to version 1.5.1
Quit Dictate.
Change System Preferences > International > Formats > Region back to "United Kingdom"*
Close System Preferences
Relaunch Dictate.

*The change to "Ireland" offers the same system formats as "United Kingdom" but prevents the crash with Dictate 1.5.0. Once you update to MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.1, you are able to use the United Kingdom region format with the profiles you created.

If you have any problems updating, please see the instructions for updating, including a download option for the update, at the MacSpeech Dictate Update Center.

I'm having problems with dictation input after updating to a new version of Mac OS X (e.g. 10.5.7).

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500

You may need to reset your Mac OS X Sound Input:

Plug in your USB microphone.
Open the Mac OS X System Preferences.
Select the Sound preference.
Under the "Input" tab, select your microphone.

Now open MacSpeech Dictate.
Run the "Microphone Setup", which is under the Tools menu.

What do I do if MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 crashes, or I experience an error?

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Please be sure you have the latest version. If you do not, visit the Update Center for instructions on updating.

Some customers have experienced instability when using MacSpeech Dictate with Microsoft Word due to auto-caching of longer or more complex documents.

All editions of MacSpeech Dictate (including Legal, Medical, and International) provide a preference to allow the user to disable "Auto Cache" in Microsoft Word or TextEdit.

To adjust your preferences, choose Dictate -> Preferences... and then click Dictation. The dialog will look like the image below. Uncheck the box next to "Microsoft Word".

Note: If crashing occurs while using TextEdit, uncheck the Preferences box next to "TextEdit".
Read these relevant articles in the Support Knowledge Base on how to deal with crashes or errors in your version of the software:

If your issue persists after attempting the above fixes, please contact MacSpeech Technical�Support.

Is MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 compatible with Mac OS X 10.4.x (Tiger)?

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

No, MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 requires Mac OS X 10.5.6 (Leopard) or later. The last version of MacSpeech Dictate that was compatible with Mac OS X 10.4.x (Tiger) was Dictate 1.3.

I recently purchased an older version of MacSpeech Dictate. How do I order an upgrade?

Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 is a free upgrade for customers who registered MacSpeech Dictate 1.x on or after April 1, 2009. To verify eligibility, and order an upgrade, please contact MacSpeech Sales.

I bought MacSpeech Dictate 1.3 or earlier but haven't registered it yet. How do I obtain an upgrade to MacSpeech Dictate 1.5?

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Please install and register the MacSpeech Dictate 1.3 software. Then contact MacSpeech Sales with your activation code for instructions on obtaining the MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 upgrade.

What is included with my MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 Upgrade?

Mon, 18 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 Upgrade is shipped in a �movie sized� DVD case. There will be a CD Application Disc (CD) containing the new Dictate 1.5 installer, a Data Disc (DVD) which contains all new Dictate 1.5 vocabulary data and other files, and a set of getting started instructions (MacSpeech Dictate Quickstart Guide).

Release Notes, User Manual and other help information are available in electronic format from inside the MacSpeech Dictate application.

Your existing MacSpeech-certified microphone (which was included with your original MacSpeech Dictate 1.x purchase) will work with MacSpeech Dictate 1.5. There is not an additional microphone included with the Upgrade.

Can I purchase a download version of the MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 Upgrade?

Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

No, the 1.5 Upgrade is not available for purchase by download. The new software is distributed in a package with a CD (Applications Disc) and DVD (Data Disc) which makes it too substantial in size to allow for efficient downloads (over 1.5 GB).

How do I find out which name and email address I've used to register MacSpeech Dictate?

Wed, 13 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Open up MacSpeech Dictate, then activate a profile.

Then, under the "Dictate" menu, you will be able to select "About MacSpeech Dictate". The box that appears will list:
Registered to: your name
your email address used for registration

Note: You must activate a profile before you will be able to access the "About MacSpeech Dictate" menu item.

If you have not yet registered MacSpeech Dictate, please follow the instructions in the User Manual for installing and getting started.

Can I use Dictate with Beta versions of other software?

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

At certain times, the beta versions of other software may appear to have incompatibilities with MacSpeech Dictate. This may include symptoms such as commands not appearing in the Available Commands window, or the inability to edit text fields in the beta application.

Beta versions of other software on Mac OS X are still in the process of being developed and tested, and there is no way to guarantee compatibility. However, beta versions do provide an opportunity for initial compatibility testing. We encourage MacSpeech customers to let us know about software that they use, or plan to use, by sending email to MacSpeech Feature Requests.

Does Dictate support Java applications such as Open Office or Neo Office?

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Mac OS X allows applications written with a wide array of tools to run effectively and efficiently. This means that applications can be created without using what would be considered "native" application development tools. As a result, text fields and their contents may be unknown and inaccessible to MacSpeech Dictate.

Applications that have included full support for Apple's Accessibility API should provide a remedy for the situation. Additionally, any developer who has created a rich enough AppleScript implementation may have provided a possible solution that MacSpeech Dictate can utilize.

MacSpeech encourages any developer, regardless of their preferred development environment, to contact us for more information on how to best interact with MacSpeech Dictate.

Is there a list of Commands I can use in MacSpeech Dictate 1.5?

Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

MacSpeech Dictate Commands v1.5

Here is a list of common dictation commands and a description of their basic functions. This does not include pre-configured Application commands for controlling Safari, TextEdit, iCal and Mail.

For additional lists and descriptions of commands, please check the online Help, or MacSpeech Dictate User Manual, or Quickstart Guide (all available under the Help menu in Dictate).

DICTATION COMMANDS	FUNCTION

Capitalize the Word[s] �text� [through/to �text�]	Capitalizes the instance of the word or phrase spoken that is closest to the insertion point.
Delete the Word[s] �text� [through/to �text�]	Deletes the instance of the word or phrase spoken that is closest to the insertion point.
Go to Beginning	Goes to the Beginning of the current document.
Go to End	Goes to the end of the current dictation session.
Insert After the Word[s] �text� [through/to �text�]	Moves the insertion point to just after the word or phrase you said.
Insert Before the Word[s] �text� [through/to �text�]	Moves the insertion point to just before the word or phrase you said.
Lowercase the Word[s] �text� [through/to �text�]	Makes all characters lowercase in the instance of the word or phrase spoken that is closest to the insertion point.
Move Backward [1-99] Words	Moves cursor back 1 to 99 words (Punctuation marks count as words)
Move Forward [1-99] Words	Moves cursor forward 1 to 99 words. (Punctuation marks count as words)
Move to Beginning of Document	Moves cursor to the beginning of the current document.
Move to End of Document	Moves cursor to the End of the current dictation session.
New Line	Presses the Return key once.
New Paragraph	Presses the Return key twice.
No Space	Types next word without a space before it.
Select the Word[s] �text� [through/to �text�]	Selects the instance of the word or phrase spoken that is closest to the insertion point.
Scratch That / Forget That	Deletes the last phrase you said, or to the left of where you insert the cursor.
Scratch Word / Forget Word	Deletes the last word you said, or to the left of where you insert the cursor.
Select All	Selects all text.
Train the Word[s] �text� [through/to �text�]	Selects, corrects the specified words in text, and trains them into profile as specified words are re-dictated.
Uppercase the Word[s] �text� [through/to �text�]	Makes all characters uppercase in the instance of the word or phrase spoken that is closest to the insertion point.

PHRASE TRAINING COMMANDS	FUNCTION

Choose �1� (or �2�, etc.)	Chooses the specified item # in the Recognition window as the spoken and recognized phrase.
Pick �1� (or �2�, etc.)	Corrects the selected text with the word or phrase that is item 1 (or 2, etc.) in the Recognition window.
Edit �1� (or �2�, etc.)	Allows you to edit item 1 (or 2, etc.) in the Recognition Window.
Cancel Edit	Cancels all edits and restores all items in the Recognition window.
Press Play	Plays audio of most recent word or phrase dictated.
Hide Recognition Window	Closes the Recognition window.
Show Recognition Window	Opens the Recognition window.

MACSPEECH DICTATE WINDOW COMMANDS	FUNCTION

Show Status Window	Shows the Status window for MacSpeech Dictate.
Hides the Status window for MacSpeech Dictate.	Hides the Status window for MacSpeech Dictate.
Show Available Commands Window	Shows the Available Commands window for MacSpeech Dictate.
Hide Available Commands Window	Hides the Available Commands window for MacSpeech Dictate.
Bring Dictate to the Front	Makes Dictate the frontmost application.
Show Recognition Window	Opens the Recognition window.
Hide Recognition Window	Closes the Recognition window.

CAPITALIZATION COMMANDS	FUNCTION

Caps On	Turns on capitalizing the first letter of every word.
Caps Off	Turns off capitalizing the first letter of every word.
Cap	Capitalizes the next word spoken.
All Caps	Types the next word spoken in CAPS.
All Caps On	Makes every word CAPS.
All Caps Off	Returns capitalization to normal.
No Caps	Makes the next word spoken lower case.
No Caps On	Makes the following text lowercase until turned off.
No Caps Off	Returns capitalization to normal.
Capitalize the Word[s] �text� [through/to �text�]	Capitalizes the identified word or phrase spoken that is closest to the insertion point.

NO SPACE COMMANDS	FUNCTION

No Space On	Turns the No Space mode on, so there is no space between words.
No Space Off	Turns the No Space mode off
No Space	Types the next word

BUTTON/KEYBOARD COMMANDS	FUNCTION

Press Cancel	Press the Cancel Button.
Press Don�t Save	Press the Don�t Save Button.
Press OK	Press the OK Button.
Cancel This Operation	Cancels the current operation.
Save This Document	Mimics a Command-S keypress; Saves frontmost document in most apps.

MENU COMMANDS	FUNCTION

File New	Selects the New menu item on the File Menu.
File Open	Selects the Open menu item on the File Menu.
File Close	Selects the Close menu item on the File Menu.
Undo Last Action	Undoes the last action. Same as using keyboard, so Scratch That or Undo Dictation are preferred.
Redo Last Action	Redo last action reverses the effect of the �Undo Last Action� command.
About this Application	Displays information about the frontmost application.
Access Find Window	Opens the Find window.
Access Force Quit Window	Opens the Force Quit window.
Show Date and Time	Displays a dialog box with the date and time stamp.

APPLICATION LAUNCH/QUIT COMMANDS	FUNCTION

Activate [Application Name]	Activates (Opens/Launches) the named application.
Open [Application Name]	Opens (Activates/Launches) the named application.
Launch [Application Name]	Launches (Opens/Activates) the named application.
Quit [Application Name]	Quits (Kills) the named application.
Kill [Application Name]	Kills (Quits) the named application.

WEB 100/td>	FUNCTION

Jump To[Web site name]	Jumps to one of the Web 100; A list of one hundred commonly used web sites.

PUNCTUATION COMMANDS	FUNCTION

Ampersand	&
Apostrophe	�
Apostrophe ess	�s
Asterisk	*
At Sign	@
Back Slash	\
Back Quote / Backtick	�
Caret	^
Cents Sign	�
Close Angle Bracket	>
Close Brace	}
Close Bracket (US Only)	]
Close Square Bracket (All Dialects)
Close Euro Quote	�
Close Parenthesis (All Dialects) Close Bracket (Non-US Dialects)	)
Close Quote	� (close curly quote)
Close Single Quote	�
Colon	:
Comma	,
Copyright Sign	�
Dash	--
Degree Sign	�
Dollar Sign	$
Dot	.
Ellipsis	�
Em Dash	---
En Dash	--
Equals Sign	=
Euro Sign	�
Exclamation Mark (All Dialects) Exclamation Point (US Only)	!
Forward Slash	/
Full Stop (all dialects)	.
Greater Than Sign	>
Hash Sign (Non-US dialects)	#
Hyphen	-
Left Angle Bracket	<
Less Than Sign	<
Minus Sign	-
New Line	(one carriage return)
New Paragraph	(two carriage returns)
Number Sign (US Only)	#
Open Angle Bracket	<
Open Brace	{
Open Bracket (US Only) Open Square Bracket (All Dialects)	[
Open Euro Quote	�
Open Parenthesis (All Dialects) Open Bracket (Non-US Dialects)	(
Open Quote	� (open curly quote)
Open Single Quote	� (open single quote)
Percent Sign	%
Period (US only)	.
Plus Sign	+
Point	.
Pound Sign (US Only)	#
Pound Sign (non-US Dialects) Pound Sterling Sign (US Only)	�
Question Mark	?
Registered Sign	�
Right Angle Bracket	>
Section Sign	�
Semi Colon	;
Sharp Sign (Non-US Dialects)	#
Slash	/
Space Bar	(the space character)
Tab Key	(the tab character)
Tilde	~
Trademark Sign	�
Underscore	_
Vertical Bar	\|

CHAT COMMANDS	FUNCTION

Send Message	Sends the current message.
Smiley Face	:-)
Frowny Face	:-(
Winky Face	;-)


SPELLING MODE - EXAMPLES	FUNCTION

a b c	abc
1 2 3 EXCLAMATION POINT	123!
a SPACEBAR b SPACEBAR c	a b c
a b CAP c	abC
a b c SCRATCH THAT	ab
a b c MOVE BACKWARD 1 CHARACTER d	abdc

TEXT EDITING COMMANDS	FUNCTION

Cache Document	Prepares pasted text from other applications for editing by dictation.
Cache Selection	Prepares the selected text for navigation by voice or editing by dictation.
Copy Selection	Copies the selected text.
Cut Selection	Cuts the selected text.
Next Field	Performs the Purge Cache command, then tabs to next field in current application.
No Leading Space	Only for words already dictated -- All spaces are removed before the word immediately after the cursor or left edge of the selection.
Paste From Clipboard	Pastes text from clipboard.
Previous Field	Performs the Purge Cache command, then tabs to previous field in current application.
Purge Cache	Commits dictated text to an existing document.
Redo Last Action	Tells active application to perform most recent action again.
Undo Last Action	Tells active application to undo most recent action. Equal to Cmd-Z keyboard shortcut in many applications.
Select All	Selects all text.
KEY COMMANDS	FUNCTION

Press The Key [keyname]	Enters the keyname as though the key had been pressed on the keyboard. Keynames are alphabet keys, numbers, function key F1 - F20, or other named keys
Press The Key Combo [modifiers][keyname]	Enters the modifier keys, plus the keyname, as though they had been pressed on the keyboard. Modifiers are Control, Shift, Command, Option, Function and Capslock. Keynames are alphabet keys, numbers, function key F1 - F20, or other named keys.

Commands appears as Recognized Text, but nothing happens.

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Description:

When MacSpeech Dictate recognizes spoken words as the name of a command, it will execute that command. If "Show Recognized Text Feedback" is selected in the General Preferences, then the command name should appear in the Recognized Text feedback field. This field is the area right below the Status window.

However, in certain cases, a command name will appear in the Recognized Text feedback field...but MacSpeech Dictate will not execute the command. For example, you say "Scratch That", and the words "Scratch That" appear in the Recognized Text feedback field, but the Scratch That command doesn't execute. (This command should delete the last word or phrase dictated).

Solution:

Step #1

Confirm the command is available. First, make sure "Show Recognized Text Feedback" is selected in General Preferences. Then, switch to Command Mode, and test one of the commands listed in the Available Commands window by saying its name. If the command name appears in the Recognized Text feedback field, but doesn't execute, then go to Step #2.

Note: If the command is not an available command, then it is likely that the command name is being interpreted as normal dictated words. Switch to Dictation Mode, open a new Dictate Note Pad document, and speak the command name to test this.

Step #2

Create a new Profile. See Chapter 3 ("Getting Started") of the MacSpeech Dictate v1.2 User Manual for instructions.