Skip Navigation
Oklahoma State University

Dragon - Useful Tips & Commands

Useful Tips

  • Make sure the window you’re transcribing into is active (indicated by top bar being highlighted), or Dragon will not operate in that window.
  • To switch between windows, you can say “show all windows.” Dragon will show you all windows, each with a number. Say “Choose (number)” for the window you want to be active.
  • Most commands are verb + item. Saying only “delete,” “close,” “open” etc. will not work.
  • Punctuation must be said when dictating.
    • “Mary, please pass the salt.” = Open quote Mary comma please pass the salt period close quote
  • Recommend using Internet Explorer as browser; more commands are supported than in Chrome (though Chrome has full function as well).
  • The “insertion point” is where the cursor is and where your dictation will continue. Insertion point can be moved with various commands. Refer to Nuance’s Dragon command cheat sheet.

Useful Commands

  • “Spell that”—when dictating a word/name of uncommon spelling that Dragon doesn’t recognize or spell correctly
  • “Close window” OR “press F4” OR “press escape”
  • “Start scrolling up/down”
  • “Scratch that”—deletes the entire portion of your last dictation
  • “Go to sleep”—puts microphone into sleep state, allowing you to speak without activating Dragon.
  • “Wake up”—wakes the microphone from a sleep state
  • “What can I say”—if unsure of what command. Dragon will provide 5 options based on current screen activity.
  • For navigation and selection:
    • “Move to top” OR “go to start of document”
    • “Move to bottom”
    • “Move to end of line”
    • “Move up/down 1-20 line(s) OR paragraph(s)” – ex: “move up 3 lines”
    • “Move left/back 1-20 word(s) OR character(s)”—ex: “move left 7 words”
    • “Move right/forward 1-20 word(s) or character(s)” – ex: “move forward 3 characters”
    • “Insert before/after (text you want to refine)”
  • For Microsoft Word:
    • “New file”
    • “Save the file” OR “Save file as”
    • “New line”
    • “Insert a ___ by ___ table”
    • “Add page numbers (at bottom left/center/right)
    • “Delete next sentence”
    • “Find a word” OR “find and replace”
    • “Set page orientation to landscape”
    • “Print pages __ to __” OR “Print the selection” OR “Print (this) page”
    • “View page layout” OR “Change view to print layout”
    • “Double-space the document” OR “Single space this paragraph”
    • “Set the font color to ____” OR “Set font color to ___ this line/paragraph”
    • “Set background to (color)”
    • “Show word count”
    • “Bold/underline, italicize, capitalize (text you want changed)”
    • “Copy/delete/cut (text you want changed)”
  • For the web (Internet Explorer)
    • “Go to address”—takes you to address bar; after entering URL, “go there” OR “press Enter”
    • “Go back/forward”
    • “Go home” - -to homepage
    • “Refresh page”
    • “Stop loading”
    • “Page down” OR “start scrolling down”
    • “Stop scrolling”
    • “Open new tab,” “Switch to previous tab,” “Close tab”
    • “Next frame,” “Previous frame,” “Next pane”
    • “Click close” OR “Press escape”—to close popup window