Dragon Home Release Notes

What's new

System requirements

Update/Upgrade instructions

Installation instructions

Known issues

 

What's new

The following section describes new features for Dragon Home version 15.

New speech recognition engine

Dragon Home utilizes a new speech recognition engine that improves dictation and recognition accuracy.

Software versions

Dragon Home now supports the following:

• Windows 10
• Firefox - For more information, see Working with Firefox.

DragonBar enhancements

The modern, simplified DragonBar has a streamlined new menu structure that includes these usability enhancements:

• You can set the new DragonBar to auto-collapse when you move the cursor away from it.
• You can minimize the DragonBar to the Windows tray by clicking the X in the right upper corner of the DragonBar. You can reopen the minimized DragonBar via a voice command or the context menu.
  For more information, see The DragonBar.

Dictation Box enhancements

Dictation Box default size is now larger, resizing is retained

The Dictation Box default size is now larger at 720x310. In addition, Dragon retains size changes specific to the application where you were dictating when you re-sized it.

For more information, see About the Dictation Box.

Command enhancements

• You can now say "Show Links" to see all links on a Web page that you can click by voice.
  For more information, see Working with Internet Explorer, Working with Firefox, and Working with Chrome.

• You can say "What Can I say" to view a short context-sensitive list of commands, You can then say any of those commands, optionally omitting the word “show”.
  For more information, see What can I say?.

Dictation enhancements

Numbers

• When there are consecutive repeating numbers in a number sequence, you can dictate them using the words "double" or "triple".

  Example: 3225

  Say: "three double two five"

• When there is a leading zero in a decimal number, you can dictate the zero using "oh".

  Example: 0.5

  Say: "oh point five"

For more information, see Dictating numbers.

Street addresses

• When there are consecutive repeating numbers in an address, you can dictate them using the words "double" or "triple". You can also mix digits and cardinals.

  Example: 12235 Main street

  Say: "one double two three five main street"

• You can dictate addresses with a hyphen or dash.

  Example: 12-14 Maple Street

  Say: "twelve dash fourteen maple street"

• Dragon now supports full addresses (street address, state/province/territory/county, and postal code) for CAN and GBR.

For more information, see Dictating numbers.

Time

• You can now dictate twelve o'clock using "noon" and "midnight".

• You can now dictate minutes before an hour using "to", "of", and "til".

  Example: 4:45

  Say: "quarter of five"

• You can now dictate minutes after an hour using "past" and "after".

  Example: 5:15

  Say: "quarter past five"

For more information, see Dictating numbers.

Web and email addresses

• Support for Web and email addresses has been improved. Addresses now appear in all lowercase letters, regardless of the proper nouns that the addresses consist of.

  Example:

  Say: "john dot smith at nuance dot com"

  Result: john.smith@nuance.com

For more information, see Dictating email addresses and web addresses.

Usability enhancements

Accuracy improvement without reading text

In previous Dragon versions, you could read sample text for several minutes to improve Dragon's accuracy. In version 15, you can achieve the same result by simply dictating for several minutes, making corrections, and then running Accuracy Tuning (Tools>Accuracy Center>Launch Accuracy Tuning). As a result of this improvement, the Audio>Read text to improve accuracy menu option has been removed.

For more information, see Improving accuracy.

Dragon Tips

Dragon now provides helpful tips that introduce you to specific functionality you might find helpful. Some tips also include sample commands that you can try. Each tip appears once when you take specific actions. Dragon displays tips automatically unless you select the Do not show tips option on the Options dialog box—Appearance page.

The Reset tips button on the Options dialog box—Appearance page allows all tips to reappear.

For more information, see the Do not show tips option in Options dialog box—Appearance.

Help provides tips and links to most popular topics

You can now find the following on the Help home page:

• Tips for using Dragon
• Links to the most popular Help topics

Interactive Tutorial now Web-based

When you are connected to the internet, Dragon now includes a web-based interactive tutorial. If you don't have an internet connection, the tutorial runs locally. The tutorial includes progressive simulations that help you learn Dragon skills.

For more information, see Getting help.

Manually adjust your own audio levels

Automatic Gain Control (AGC) allows Dragon to adjust microphone levels automatically as you speak and keep your audio level in the proper range.

In Dragon Home, you can disable AGC. If you disable AGC, you must delete your profile and create a new profile.

Nuance recommends that you do not disable AGC.

For more information, see Choose a Microphone.

Options dialog box changes

• The tabs in the Options dialog box are now pages that appear in a vertical list for easier usability.

• The View page is now called the Appearance page.
  

• You can navigate between Options dialog box pages by voice.

  For more information, see The Options dialog box.

Performance improvements

Simplified microphone selection

It's now simpler and easier to select an audio device to use with Dragon. The Choose an audio device page now displays only audio devices that are available.

In addition, you can now choose an audio device by selecting Settings>Choose Microphone from the DragonBar.

Adding a dictation source is no longer required

In previous Dragon versions, Dragon required you to create one dictation source for each audio device and then read text to train Dragon before you could dictate with each device. In this release, you no longer need to create dictation sources. Dragon automatically detects the microphones that are connected to your computer and allows you to choose one. When you need to change to a different device, simply choose a different microphone from the DragonBar.

For more information, see Working with microphones and other dictation sources and Choose a Microphone.

Touch screen improvements

When you're using Dragon on a Windows tablet, you can now touch anywhere outside Dragon's microphone to expand the DragonBar when it is collapsed.

For more information, see Using Dragon on a Windows tablet.

System requirements

RAM	Minimum: 4 GB for all operating systems.
CPU	Minimum: 2.2 GHz Intel® dual core or equivalent AMD processor. Faster processors yield faster performance.
Free hard disk space	4GB for DVD installation 12GB for downloading of installation files
Supported operating systems	Windows 7, 8.1, and 10, 32-bit and 64-bit
Other	Internet Explorer 11 or the current version of Chrome or Edge for online Help and for installation if installing from the Web Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.5.2 or later Generally, the .NET Framework is pre-installed on Windows 7, 8.1, and 10 computers. If you do not have it installed, you are prompted to install it during Dragon's installation. Nuance does not provide the .NET Framework with your installation; you must download the installation file from microsoft.com. A DVD-ROM drive if installing from disk An audio input device capable of 16-bit recording for dictation

Update/Upgrade instructions

You can update to Dragon Home version 15 from:

• Dragon Home Edition version 13

Installation instructions

Install Dragon

1. Close any open programs.
2. If you’re running an anti-virus program, turn it off until the installation completes.
3. Do one of the following:
• Insert the DVD. The installation begins immediately.

If the installation does not start automatically, browse to setup.exe on the DVD and double-click to run it.

• Download setup.exe or Dragon.exe, then double-click to run the installer. The installation begins immediately and the requested files are downloaded and installed.
4. If prompted, install the Microsoft .NET Framework.

You may need to restart the computer after installing the .NET Framework.

5. In the Dragon InstallShield wizard, click Next to begin the Dragon installation.
6. Read the license terms and click the radio button to indicate you agree to the terms.
7. Click Next to proceed to the next screen.
8. Enter the product serial number, then click Next.
9. Select your region and, optionally, select the Advanced check box to change the installation directory.
10. Click Next.
1. If you selected the Advanced check box, installation directory, click Change.
2. Browse to the directory where you want to install Dragon.
3. Click Next.
11. Click Install.

The installation begins.

Activate Dragon

The first time you start Dragon, you are prompted to activate the product. If you skip activation, you can launch Dragon in Trial mode five times. After five launches, you must activate Dragon to continue using the product.

These instructions assume you have an internet connection available on the computer where you install or upgrade Dragon.

1. Launch Dragon.

   The Activation dialog box appears.

2. Select Activate Product, and then click Next.

3. Enter the serial number. Click Next to continue.

4. Click Finish.

   Dragon is activated.

 

Known issues

Summary	Description
No text insertion in Google Docs through Chrome or Internet Explorer	Dictate into Google docs using Chrome or Internet Explorer. Issue: Text does not insert into the document. Workaround: Use the “Dictation box” to transfer the text into Google docs.
Error message when opening Microsoft Word Online in Internet Explorer	The Dragon Web Extension is enabled in Internet Explorer. Open Microsoft Word Online in Internet Explorer. Issue: Microsoft Word Online displays an error message. Workaround 1: Disable RIA extensions in Internet Explorer. In Internet Explorer, click the Tools icon. Click Manage Add-ons. On the Toolbars and extensions tab, under Nuance Communications, select Dragon Web Extension. Click Disable. Click Dragon HTML Component. Click Disable. Workaround 2: Open Microsoft Word Online in the Chrome browser.
Firefox Full Text Control issue when switching applications	Dictate into a desktop application. Enable Rich Internet Applications (RIA) extension in Mozilla Firefox. Dictate and use voice commands in a web site through Firefox. Switch between the desktop application and the Web application. Issue: Firefox does not recognize voice commands. Workaround: Close and re-open the Firefox browser.
Dragon unresponsive when disconnecting a 'Mic In' microphone	Open a user profile that uses a 'Mic In' microphone. Turn the microphone on. Unplug the microphone. Issue: Dragon becomes unresponsive. Workaround 1 : Use Task Manager to close Dragon. Re-connect the 'Mic In' microphone. Restart Dragon. Workaround 2 : Use a USB microphone.