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General discussion

Editing speech recognition dictionary

Jun 20, 2007 5:15AM PDT

I have a document that I would like to dictate instead of typing that uses the word attorney many many times. The problem is that the voice recognition software that shipped with Vista always uses the abbreviated form (Atty.) which I cannot use for this document.

No matter how often I correct this mistake the speech recognition engine still continues to use the abbreviation. I have attempted to edit the dictionary by adding atty to the list of words that it will not dictate. However, apparently the program will only recognize Atty. if it has a period after it. The problem is that I cannot dictate a period in the list of words to not dictate. The result is that no matter what I say, the program continues to type Atty. instead of attorney.

I have searched the help files and have been unable to find how to delete a word from the dictionary that ships with the speech recognition engine.

Can someone help me?

Lesley

Windows Vista Home Premium

Discussion is locked

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Which word processor?
Jun 20, 2007 5:29AM PDT

If you are using a more 'advanced' word processor such as MS Word, WordPerfect, or even OpenOffice you can add Atty to the Autocorrect list, so that it's automatically replaced by "attorney." That's a far easier workaround than retooling the speech recognition software.

Hope this helps,
John

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WP won't work for me
Jun 20, 2007 6:07AM PDT

Thanks for the response.

I have found that Vista's speech recognition won't work at all with WordPerfect* (it just keeps asking "What was that?") so I've been using WordPad. I have Word available, but I don't know how to do anything in it (by choice) and I find that copying and pasting over to WP from Word is problematic because instead of using a plain text formatting, Word uses styles extensively and that doesn't translate over easily if I want to keep any formatting.

So if there is a way to remove Atty. (and Leslie since I would like to be able to dictate my name spelled Lesley since that's how I spell it) from the speech recognition dictionary that would be the best solution for me.

*Same "what was that?" problem with ANY word processor that isn't WordPad, Notepad, or Office 2007 -- no go with Word 2000 or Office 97. I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist... *laugh*

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Partial workaround...
Jun 22, 2007 8:41AM PDT

The problem is that the speech recognition dictionary is not in plain text, so unless you have a program designed to 'read' it, which i don't believe is generally available at this point, you don't know what to delete. Sad

I gave it a try myself and was able to convince it to spell your name Lesley if I prevent Leslie from being dictated and then add Lesley to the dictionary, recording the pronunciation afterward. There is no way to correct the attorney problem directly, however. The only solutions are to either use a word processor with autocorrect or use a third-party program that replaces terms with those from a predefined list. PhraseExpress is one such free solution. It's a hassle, but unfortunately the only way.

Regards,
John

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grrrr
Jun 22, 2007 10:17AM PDT

I've been finding the Speech Recognition in Vista to be incredibly accurate and, generally, I'm pleased. But the customization parts, not so much.

Thanks anyway.

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grrrr
Jul 8, 2007 3:54AM PDT

I totally agree. I've been trying to get it to say "openSuSE" (my other operating system) but since I messed up while adding the entry all I get is "openSuSe the" and now that it is entered there's no getting out, I'm doomed forever to delete the word "the" and capitalize the "e" every time I say "openSuSE"

Still, the for the words it expected to be used for, it is quite accurate.

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You can edit that...
Jul 8, 2007 5:53AM PDT

If you Open the Speech Dictionary and choose to Change existing words you can then correct the mistake or delete it and start over.

Hope this helps,
John