MacSpeech Scribe 1.1 Release Notes

Fixed:

• Fixed an error that prevented closing of the File Open window after completion of transcription.
• Volume licensing support.

MacSpeech Scribe 1.0.1 Release Notes

Fixed:

• Fixed a Fatal Error that some users would experience at the time of application launch.
• Fixed an issue in which users were able to train a profile when all text had been ignored in Transcription Training.
• During Transcription Training, the Repeat option for audio playback is persistent from phrase to phrase.

MacSpeech Scribe 1.0 Release Notes

Notes:

• MacSpeech Scribe is the premier personal transcription software for the Macintosh. For additional information, including a knowledge base of technical information and answers to frequently asked questions please visit the MacSpeech Support Center.

MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.9 Release Notes

Fixed:

• Registration screen has been updated to allow for opt-in to email offers
• Volume licensing
• Supports GROWL notifications for Recognized Text
• Extended ASCII support

MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.8 Release Notes

Fixed:

• Addressed an audio input issue with the iMacs introduced in October of 2009.

MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.6 Release Notes

Additions:

• New Dictation Preferences pane that allows the Auto Cache Document feature to be enabled or disabled for TextEdit and Microsoft Word.

MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.5 Release Notes

Additions:

• Context menu for Available Commands window: Edit, Execute, and Copy Description to Clipboard.
• Message to crash emails about the email not going to Technical Support directly.

Changes:

• Font in Available Commands Window to Helvetica Oblique to remedy minimal font installations.
• Address Books with more than 900 (approx.) entries will have the Email Commands generation turned off to avoid resource issues.
• Selection Commands now show under Status window in the Recognized Text area.

Fixed:

• Menu mapping for apps bundled with Snow Leopard updated for the new versions
• Commands with different context from Leopard to Snow Leopard
• Issues with documents crashing while Caching or Closing
• Versioning of Commands sets
• Crash when pasting text into documents that have been cached
• Empty dialog when exporting "nothing" from the Vocabulary Editor
• Some Engine words not displaying properly in Training dialog
• Retain cursor location in document after Cache Document is used
• License key not always copied to proper location after License Key Validation
• Crash when highlighting and moving text in a cached area
• Turned off Spoken Alerts except for VoiceOver users
• Crashing when users edited or navigated with mouse in some situations (not perfected just better)
• Better handling of upper level Excel documents. Working within cells still requires use of Purge Cache while navigating

MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.2 Release Notes

Fixed:

• Versioned commands now appear for newer versions of the same application
  This was most notable with the upgrade to Safari 4.

MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.1 Release Notes

Changes:

• Older licenses are now identified as "Older"
  Changed the text in License dialogs for older licenses
  

Fixed:

• UK Locale Form -- Localized UK user would crash when profile was created.
• Creation of a profile when focus was last in TextEdit caused crash
• Crash after altering some kinds of documents (e.g. Excel)
• Editing words with hyphens causing crash
• On first launch the Status window and Available Commands windows would overlap.

MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 Release Notes

New Features:

• Better, Stronger, Faster speech recognition
• Vocabulary Editor
• New Commands
• Web 100 Commands
• Activate / Launch and Quit / Kill / Exit for applications
• Improved organization of Dictation group commands
• Microsoft Word and TextEdit text control enhancements
• Save Profile menu item
• Dictation target info in Status window
• Revised User Manual

Additions:

• New version of the speech recognition engine.
  Increased accuracy and speed. Includes a completely new set of vocabulary data for all English dialects. Adds Spelling option to specify UK or US. Adds new profile options for Inland Northern American, Southern American and Latino American accents.
  
  
• Vocabulary Editor.
  Provides the capability to Add/Delete, Manage, and Train words for a profile's vocabulary. Customization of word behaviors (e.g. spacing before and after, capitalization within titles, and pronunciation).
  
  
• New Dictation Group in the Available Commands window.
  Within the Available Commands window, there is now a group called Dictation with subgroups entitled Capitalization Commands, Text and Editing and Movement, Punctuation and Special Symbols.
  
  
• Web 100 subgroup with global "Jump To" commands for the top 100 websites.
  Added a set of commands for the Top 100 websites based on information found at Alexa.com.
  
  
• Extended Application Commands
  Added Activate / Launch in addition to Open, as well as Quit/ Kill / Exit to the Application Commands subgroup. Only Activate and Quit are shown but the other terms will function.
  
  
• Microsoft Word text control enhancements.
  Open a Microsoft Word document and Dictate will automatically run a "Cache Document". The document is then ready for dictation and voice navigation.
  
  
• File/Save Profile menu item for those that wish to save before Quit.
  Added the ability to save Profile before quitting Dictate.
  
  
• Help buttons
  Help buttons are now displayed on interfaces for Profiles, Microphone Setup, Voice Training, Vocabulary Training, Vocabulary Editor, Commands window, and Preferences.
  
  
• Speech Mode button to the Status window
  Graphical display of the current speech mode and provides alternative method to switch modes.
  
  
• Revised User Manual
  The User Manual is updated to simplify the format, and include more step-by-step instructions as well as a longer list of built-in commands.
  
  

Changes:

• MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 profile names now end in .dictateprofile
  Profiles previous to Dictate 1.5 ended in .dictationprofile
  
  

Known issues with MacSpeech Dictate 1.5

• Vocabulary Editor: Advanced word options are not consistently exported. Advanced word options (e.g. spacing, capitalization, and title regulation) may not persist when words are exported. These settings will need to be re-added after import.
  
  
• 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 various word processors. Typically in these modes, word processors insert additional tabs, spaces or other characters into the document. MacSpeech Dictate may not be aware of this added text, so attempting to alter the dictated text can be problematic.
  
  
• 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 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 Manual.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• After re-formatting general dictation, if you delete a word by voice a leading space may remain. Use "Scratch Word" to delete the space.
  
  
• Importing commands may cause duplicates of commands to be displayed. Restarting MacSpeech Dictate will resolve this issue.
  
  


• Details about the "Cache Document" command and the "Unknown elements detected in this document" warning message:
  
  
  • Under some circumstances when executing the "Cache Document" command, MacSpeech Dictate may encounter a document that it can't read and for which it can't create a correctly formatted cache. Under those circumstances, due to the erroneous information in the cache, MacSpeech Dictate may not move the cursor to the correct place in the document. When such a navigation error occurs is dependent upon where the uninterpretable items in the document are encountered. These uninterpretable items are: pictures, hyperlinks, multi-byte characters and other "non-text" items that can be placed in a document.
    
    
  • If MacSpeech Dictate encounters such items while executing the "Cache Document" command, it will present you with a dialog box warning you of this problem. At this point MacSpeech Dictate will suggest that if you wish to, you can issue the "Fix Document Elements" command to correct the problem. WARNING: DATA LOSS MAY OCCUR IF YOU ISSUE THIS COMMAND! You should close the document and make a copy of it and then attempt this command on the copy of the document.
    
    
  • The "Fix Document Elements" command collects the document contents, removes the uninterpretable items, does a "select all" and "paste". This removes those items from the document. If all that is encountered are multi-byte characters such as 'é', then your data loss may only be any formatting, such as "bold" or "underline" or font changes. If there are pictures or hyperlinks or other non-text items in your document, then they will be lost.
    
    
  • After issuing the "Fix Document Elements" command, then you need to issue another "Cache Document" command and see if MacSpeech Dictate is able to correct cache the document. If you do not receive another warning dialog, then MacSpeech Dictate should be able to correctly navigate in this document.
    
    
  • In the event that you wish to continue without issuing the "Fix Document Elements" command, then you may not be able to navigate correctly within the document by voice. You should only add to the beginning of the document or to the end of the document.
    
    
  • To reiterate:
    • During the "Cache Document" process you may receive a warning message regarding unknown elements in the document. If this happens you should either:
    1. Close the document, make a copy and open the copy. Issue the "Fix Document Elements" command.
    2. Issue the "Cache Document" command.
    3. Examine the results.
    
    OR
    
    
    1. Continue on, but do not expect to reliably navigate within the document. You can still add to the beginning or to the end of the document.

  For additional information, including a knowledge base of technical information and answers to frequently asked questions please see the Support Center on the MacSpeech.com web site.

MacSpeech Dictate 1.3.1 Release Notes

Install this update only if you plan on using MacSpeech Dictate with Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). If you are remaining on Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger) or Mac OS X 10.5.8 (Leopard), do not load this update.

• MacSpeech Dictate is not supported for use with Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard. Using MacSpeech Dictate with Snow Leopard will result in limited and incomplete functionality.
• More information on compatibility issues between MacSpeech Dictate version 1.3, version 1.3.1 and Snow Leopard may be obtained by visiting http://www.macspeech.com/snowleopardcompatibility

MacSpeech Dictate 1.3 Release Notes

New Features:

• Cache Document
• Cache Selection
• Help Book
• Status Item in menu bar
• Dock icon badging
• Press Key commands (includes modifier keys)

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. at the 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 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:

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 charcetrs into the document. MacSpeech Dictate is not aware of this added text, so attempting to alter the dictated text is likely to be problematic 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 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 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 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 OS 10.4.11 (Tiger). Please upgrade to 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. We continue to work on a complete solution.

Importing commands may cause duplicates of commands to be displayed. Restarting MacSpeech Dictate will resolve this issue.

MacSpeech Dictate 1.2.1 Release Notes

Added prompt for ejecting the MacSpeech Data DVD
--Once data is loaded a dialog appears asking if you wish to eject the DVD

Added preference for number of recognition alternatives to Dictate Preferences
--Adjust maximum number of recognition alternatives in the Recognition window: 1-25

Added Command "Next Field"
--Allows user to "tab" forward through the fields of the current target application

Added Command "Previous Field"
--Allows user to "shift-tab" backwards through the fields of the current target application

Added check for OS 10.4.11 (Tiger) Non-Compatible Keyboard layouts
--Some keyboard layouts under OS 10.4.11 (Tiger) are not compatible with Dictate. Please see our Knowledge Base for a full listing

Fixed issue with small percentage of License Keys incorrectly found to be invalid
--A small number of valid 1.0 license keys were not being evaluated correctly

Fixed Dictate Preference Shortcuts Function Keys representation
--The Function Keys showed as " f " instead of " F "

Fixed issue with Non-US Double Byte characters being used as OS user names
--The use of Non-US Double Byte characters as profile names was causing a crash

Fixed issue with unrecognized OS locales causing Command issues
--Some OS locales were causing Dictate Voice Commands to not function

Changed Recognition window Shortcut to a toggle
--Toggles window On/Off

Changed Dictate Preference from 'Show "Recognized Text" Feedback' to simpler 'Show Recognized Text'

Updates made to Documentation
--User Manual updated with changes to 1.2.1

New Features and Changes in 1.2

- Installation:
Data folder file "corruption" check
Extensive searching for License files
Extensive searching for Profiles
Changed the icons for Profiles and License keys

- Setup:
Combined the Microphone Setup information windows
Profile window lay out updated
Profiles now exist as packages with the file extension .dictationprofile
Double-clicking a Profile will launch Dictate and activate that Profile, bypassing the Profiles window
User may save profile to any location
Confirmation when deleting a profile
Update windows now part of Startup window as sheets

- User Interface:
Spelling
Phrase Training
Command Status indicators added to Status window
Recognition window button added to Status window
Close button added to Available Commands window
Better search in Available Commands window and Commands window
Ability to remove and reinsert microphone while program is running
Fixed several issues with Text Macro commands
Added Menu Item command type
Added Shortcut key command type
Added Export of commands
Added Import of commands from Dictate
Added dock menu items for Speech modes

- Changes to Commands:
Removed "Do Delete "text" [through/to/ "text"]
Added "Delete The Word[s] "text" [Through/To "text"]

Removed "Do Select "text" [through/to/ "text"]
Added "Select The Word[s] "text" [Through/To "text"]

Removed "Insert After "text""
Added "Insert After The Word[s] "text" [Through/To "text"]

Removed "Insert Before "text""
Added "Insert Before The Word[s] "text" [Through/To "text"]

Added "Move Backward/forward 1-99 Words"
Added "Train The Word[s] "text" [Through/To "text"]
Added "Capitalize The Word[s] "text" [Through/To "text"]
Added "Uppercase The Word[s] "text" [Through/To "text"]
Added "Lowercase The Word[s] "text" [Through/To "text"]
Added "Send Message" for iChat
Added "Show/Hide Recognition Window"
Added "Press Play"
Added "Edit n" for Recognition window
Added "Cancel Edit" for Recognition window
Added "Choose/Pick n" for Recognition window
Added "Purge Document"
Added "Cache Document"
Added "Open Finder"
Added "No Trailing Space" for Spelling mode
Added "Increase/Decrease Transparency"
Added "Play The Selection"
Modified "Train Vocabulary From Selection" to work outside Note Pad