This month I offer a digital Christmas/Advent calendar, dispensing a Dragon speech recognition nugget every day until Christmas.

Practical and fun.

Check it out here

Today I am sharing a couple of simple custom voice  commands that I have created in my Dragon speech recognition on my Windows computer.

If you'd ever want help with custom voice commands like this, you're warmly invited to try the Learn Dragon Online Academy for just $7.

I explain what a custom command is and how you can make one. (Spoiler: it is not hard at all).

Also I discuss when custom voice commands can make your life easier.

Here's a step by step procedure for adding your own custom voice command.

The command described will hide/show your bookmark bar (favourites) in Firefox.

1.   if you are creating a command that is specific for e.g. Firefox, then make sure that Firefox is started. It doesn’t need to be the active window, but it needs to be open for Dragon to later see it.

2.   Either give the voice command “add new command” or click in the DragonBar on Tools followed by Add new command.

3.   In the MyCommand Name field you type or dictate what you want to say to trigger the command. For example “my bookmarks”.

4.   Is the command for a specific application, for example for Firefox, then click on the radio button where it says Application-specific. Where it says application, you can now drop down the list and choose Firefox.

5.   Then find command-type and change that to step-by-step

6.   below the big white box it says new step | keystrokes and then a button that says Insert. Click the Insert button.

7.   In the small window that then appears, you press the desired keystroke or key combination by hand on the keyboard. E.g. Ctrl + Shift + B and then you see the combination entered Ctrl + Shift + B.

8.   Click on OK to confirm the tiny window and then on Save to finalise creating the command.

9.   Then go into Firefox and try out your brand-new command!

Happy dictating!

Here's a brief message from me.

It's been a while since I recorded a new podcast episode and that is due to the flu. Both my husband and I have been sick :-(

Sadly that has derailed all my plans as well as my schedule. It'll take me a bit of time to get back on track again.

But I'm looking forward to chatting with you again in a couple of weeks!

If it’s set up correctly and working well, Dragon is really useful for handsfree browsing.

you can use voice commands to click on links and control the browser.

It’s not always straight sailing, though, so in this episode I explain what the Dragon web extension is. And I discuss three challenges that you might encounter when trying to surf the web with dragon and I offer my tips on how to solve or work around this challenges.

The challenges that I discuss are:

1. Getting an error that the Dragon webextension has been disabled or has stopped working.
2. The web extension stops working after a while.
3. Not all websites are supported

Not all issues are solvable, but I'm positive that my tips will help you get a better experience when you use Dragon to brows the web.

You can give constructive feedback about this episode via email and if you would like my personal support for improving your Dragon dictation and commands skills then you can check out the Learn Dragon Online Academy

What is the best microphone for dictation?

It's a question that I've heard countless times. And while it is not a question that has a single correct answer, I can sure give you some tips for what to pay attention to when trying to find a new mic.

Some models that I've had good success with, for myself as well as for my customer are these:

• Simple cabled USB headset: Jabra Evolve 20
• Wireless Bluetooth headset: Jabra Evolve 65 with dongle
• Desktop USB mic: SpeechWare TableMike 3-in-1 or 6-in-1.

I have no interests in these companies, nor affiliate commission.

Disclaimer: I don't guarantee that you'll be pleased with the recognition results. I've found these mics to be solid performers for speech recognition, especially with Dragon software.

Sometimes it can be challenging to consistently good good recognition results when dictating.

In this episode I share possible causes of poor accuracy and some tips for what to pay attention to to improve your results.

Were diving right into some practical tips in this episode.

By the way, stay tuned if you're more interested in general information about speech recognition software, like how to choose the best program for you. There will definitely be episodes about that topic coming up.

But for today: If you're using a regular headset with a band over the head, you may experience one of three pain points that I often experience with these headsets.

They are: sweaty ears, headaches because the headset pinches too tightly and a constant pulling on the headset by the cable.

In this episode I offer some tips to work around these issues.

And here are the images that I promised in the episode.

The Speech Recognition Podcast discusses speech recognition for the computer, whether that is Dragon speech recognition or Apple Voice Control.

As your host I'm introducing the podcast and myself in this episode.