Dictation in Mavericks

[cool11]

Is there any basic instructions for dictation included in Mavericks?
I find it a nice feature and it seems to work quite well!

Besides just speaking, I had to guess what to do about basic punctuation and this is not convenient.

For example:
I tell him ‘period’ to at the end of the dictate phrase and it does nothing!
I tell it ‘next paragraph’, and it goes to!

So, is there any detailed information for better use?

 

[II BISTRO II]

Is there any basic instructions for dictation included in Mavericks?
I find it a nice feature and it seems to work quite well!

Besides just speaking, I had to guess what to do about basic punctuation and this is not convenient.

For example:
I tell him ‘period’ to at the end of the dictate phrase and it does nothing!
I tell it ‘next paragraph’, and it goes to!

So, is there any detailed information for better use?

That's interesting because it works on mine. I'm actually using dictation to type this right now. I have"use enhanced dictation" enabled. I don't know if this makes a difference. As you can see it even recognized " for me.

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What hardware are you using?

 

[Imaginethe]

I was looking for the same thing and found this http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5449

I didn't know you could do smileys.

 

[cool11]

Apple should give some more information about it.

 

[cool11]

Is Dication suitable only for conversion of spoken language to text?
Can I handle any application with this?

 

[tgara]

Apple should give some more information about it.

They do. See this support article, which includes "speakable" punctuation and symbols.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5449

Dictation is supposed to work wherever you need to insert text. That may be in a Word document, a web field (username for example), or a calendar entry. In my experience, it works in all the applications I use. That said, some specific commands might not work in third party apps. For example, the "new paragraph" command does not work in Word, but works in other apps. Go figure.

Also, you have to keep in mind that the way dictation works is that your spoken phrase is sent out onto the internet to Apple's servers, then returned as text. This requires (1) a decent internet connection, and (2) that Apple's servers are functioning properly. Obviously, these things can vary from time to time, so you have to be patient.

Also keep in mind where the microphone is on your computer. On my iMac, it's on the top, and not in an ideal spot for hearing my voice while sitting down. To remedy this, I got a small tabletop microphone used on conference tables (I didn't want a boom mic next to my computer). I can say that the dictation fidelity increased considerably after getting the microphone.

 

[squeakr]

You can now download the dictation for local usage. I don't think that it will be as current and learning/ customized as the internet connected version, but it is now an option.

 

[853503]

Is there a way to "program" keyboard commands into Dictation? I'm trying to use it for an online game i play, I can write/speak messages fine but have no way to hit the Enter/Return key verbally, and it kind of defeats the purpose of Dictation if I have to keep leaning over to type something.

Any tips? Nothing I've read online indicates that Dictation has this kind of functionality but I figured I'd check here.

 

[w0lf]

Is there a way to "program" keyboard commands into Dictation? I'm trying to use it for an online game i play, I can write/speak messages fine but have no way to hit the Enter/Return key verbally, and it kind of defeats the purpose of Dictation if I have to keep leaning over to type something.

Any tips? Nothing I've read online indicates that Dictation has this kind of functionality but I figured I'd check here.

You should be able to use 'speakable items' to do this.

You'll need to turn it on in sys prefs and set it to continuously listen for a keyword of your choosing. Lastly you'll probably need to make a spoken Automator script that presses the return key and name it whatever you want the voice command for return to be.

Not 100% sure dictation and speakable items play nice though. They might not work at the same time?

 

[tgara]

You can now download the dictation for local usage. I don't think that it will be as current and learning/ customized as the internet connected version, but it is now an option.

I enabled Enhanced Dictation on my iMac and Air. So far, it's working great. In addition to being usable without an internet connection, the biggest advantage for me is that the spoken words are transcribed immediately (similar to Dragon Dictation), without the wait that you typically get with the unenhanced OSX and iOS dicatation. Fidelity if pretty good too. Definitely worth the 800MB download.

 

[MacUser2525]

You should be able to use 'speakable items' to do this.

Speakable items does not work very well I cannot get it to recognize anything, however Dragon Dictate works perfectly for this. Now using its dictation, the Dragon Dictate, seems to be much worse than the Mac version. So much so that I have created shortcut in the Dragon Dictate that launches Apples dictation for replying/dictating. Once I am done I turn off the Apple version and everything is good to go to command my machine again.

 

[cavenewt]

Dictating key presses

I can dictate a tab with the word "tabkey", which is helpful when filling out forms. You can also dictate "spacebar", which is coming in useful with the Mavericks bug that does not put a space in front of an opening quote mark. In mountain lion I could also dictate "nospace" to make sure there was no space between run-together words. But so far I am having trouble with this in Mavericks.

Have not had any luck in experimenting with return key and enter key.