Dragon Professional 16.1 Release notes

Quick links:

• What's new

• System requirements

• Before you upgrade

• Install or Upgrade to Version 16.1

• Fixed issues

• Known issues

What's new

• LibreOffice 64-bit support

• Bug fixes, security enhancements, general stability and usability improvements.

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	12GB (includes downloaded installation files)
Supported operating systems	Windows 11 (64-bit) Windows 10 (32-bit and 64-bit) Windows Server 2016 Windows Server 2019 Windows Server 2022
Other	Microsoft Edge or your default browser for online Help and for installation if installing from the Web Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.8 or later. Generally, the .NET Framework is pre-installed on Windows 10 and 11 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. Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 Runtime If you do not have it installed, you are prompted to install it during Dragon's installation. NMS Mode: If you are using a Dragon edition where Nuance Management Center/NMS mode is enabled to help you manage and monitor your system, you'll need: An internet connection to connect to the Nuance Management Center (NMC) Server A Nuance Management Center login and password to log in to Dragon Your Administrator provisions a Dragon user account in Nuance Management Center for you and assigns the appropriate license. You’ll use this login and password to log in to the Dragon client. See About Nuance Management Center/NMS mode for more information. An audio input device capable of 16-bit recording for dictation Note: Apple AirPods are not officially supported for dictation with Dragon.

Before you upgrade

Dragon automatically upgrades Dragon 14, 15 and 16 to Dragon 16.1. Please note the following:

• You can easily upgrade between different versions of the same edition, for example Dragon Professional Group V15.x to Dragon Professional V16.1.

• If you are upgrading from Dragon Professional or Dragon Legal to Dragon Law Enforcement V16, your user profiles will not be automatically updated to V16.1. Before upgrading, you'll need to export your custom words and commands and then import them into V16.1. See Exporting custom words and Exporting custom commands for more information.

• When you install Dragon 16.1, the installation process removes the previous version from your computer.

• If you are upgrading from Dragon 13 or earlier, you must do the following:

  • Open Dragon 13 or earlier and export your custom words and commands. See Exporting custom words and Exporting custom commands for more information.

  • Uninstall your current version of Dragon.

  • Install Dragon 16.1 and create a new user profile when prompted.

  • Create a new profile in Dragon 16.1 and import your custom words and commands from your Dragon 13 or earlier installation.

Best practices

Before you upgrade, Nuance recommends exporting your custom words and commands for safe-keeping. You'll need these files in case you need to re-install your previous version of Dragon.

Your user profiles’ vocabulary may include custom words or phrases you added manually or from the email and document analysis feature and words Dragon learned during the process of correcting misrecognitions, such as specialized words, names, acronyms, and abbreviations.

Exporting/importing custom words (optional)

1. From the DragonBar, select Vocabulary Center>Export custom word and phrase list.
2. Specify a file name for the text file.
3. Click Save. Remember this location.

For more information, see Exporting and importing a list of custom words and phrases

Exporting/importing custom commands (optional)

1. From the DragonBar, select Tools>Command Center.
2. Select Mode>Manage.
3. To export only custom commands, choose User-defined in the Group drop-down list.
   If you do not see User-defined commands in the drop-down list, you do not have any custom commands.
4. Click the plus sign (+) to expand the list of commands.
5. Select the check box next to the commands to export.
6. Click Export. Remember this location.

If you need to re-import your custom commands, see To import command files.

Install or upgrade to Version 16.1

Dragon supports automatic upgrades from the Dragon version 14, 15 and 16. See Before you upgrade for restrictions.

You do not need to uninstall your existing version first. Dragon also retains your custom words and commands. If you are using a Dragon edition where Nuance Management Center/NMS mode is disabled (Standalone mode), Dragon upgrades your user profiles when you open them.

To install or upgrade:

1. Close any open programs.
2. If you’re running an anti-virus program, turn it off until the installation completes.
3. If you have not already done so, download 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 4.8.

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 Dragon 16.1 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.

If you selected check boxes next to options in the Advanced screen, a screen appears, allowing you to customize these settings.

12. If you upgraded to one of the following editions, Activate Dragon:

• Dragon Professional (single user)
• Dragon Legal (single user)

Locating your serial number

When upgrading Dragon, the serial number for your existing Dragon installation is required. If you are upgrading from an earlier version, do one of the following to locate your serial number:

• From the DragonBar, click the Help icon () and then select About Dragon.

  The serial number appears on the screen.

• If you purchased the download, you receive a confirmation email from Nuance. Your serial number is located in both the .CSV file and the .HTML file attached to the email.

Activate Dragon

The first time you start Dragon 16.1, 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 installed Dragon.

1. Launch Dragon.

   The Activation dialog box appears.

2. Select Activate Product, and then click Next.

3. Dragon prepopulates the field with your serial number. Click Next to continue.

4. Click Finish.

   Dragon is activated.

Fixed issues

The following issues have been resolved:

• Browser Commands: In the previous release, Dragon commands stopped working after installing the Dragon Web extensions for Edge or Chrome. This issue has been fixed. All commands work after installing the Dragon web extensions.

• Dragon Anywhere: Some Dragon Anywhere users reported that they could not synchronize Dragon Anywhere with V16.0. This problem has been resolved in V16.1.

• Remote Desktop: In previous releases, Dragon's microphone could not cannot be turned on after connecting over a Remote Desktop connection. This issue has been fixed.

Known issues

Summary	Description
LibreOffice: If you see the message "You cannot dictate over a large selection, use delete that instead” after deleting the text with the keyboard, you will continue to see the error on all subsequent dictated text. You may only see this issue when using the keyboard to both select and delete the text.	Workaround: Use the voice command "Select All" then say the command "Delete All" to select and delete the text.
LibreOffice: The "Click file" command is not recognized as a command.	Using the "Click file" command to open the File menu does not work and instead gets transcribed as text in the document. Workaround: Say "Alt F" to open the File menu or select the File menu with your mouse.
LibreOffice: The "Click <save>/<Don't save> and <cancel> " commands in the save document dialog are not recognized as commands.	Using the "Click <save>/<Don't save> and <cancel> " commands in the save document dialog causes the Dictation box to open. Workaround: Use the "Press tab" & "Press Enter" global voice commands to close/save/cancel documents or use your mouse.
LibreOffice: A DRA file may not be created if a LibreOffice document is not saved before closing it.	The DRA file for the LibreOffice document may not be created if you close the LibreOffice document directly before saving it. Workaround: Save the document before closing it.
LibreOffice: The cursor jumps to the beginning of the document the first time a user puts cursor in the LibreOffice template and starts dictation.	Workaround: Put the cursor in the document where you want to dictate and wait a few seconds before starting to dictate.
LibreOffice: The Dictation Box might pop up the first time you start dictation in a LibreOffice document.	Workaround 1: Close the Dictation Box and put the cursor in the document where you want to dictate and start dictating. Workaround 2: To prevent this issue from happening after opening a document, put the cursor in the document where you want to dictate and wait for a few seconds before starting to dictate.
LibreOffice: Dragon stops listening in LibreOffice if Dragon is idle for some time.	Dragon can stop listening even if Mic is in the On state after being idle for an extended period of time. Workaround: Exiting and restart Dragon.
MouseGrid: Issues using MouseGrid if you change your monitor in any way while using MouseGrid.	When using MouseGrid on multiple monitors, do not add, remove, unplug, or turn off your monitors. Doing so will cause MouseGrid to behave in unexpected ways.
Outlook: "Go to to/CC/BCC/subjects field" commands may not be recognized in Outlooks embedded view. This can happen when you perform any Outlook specific operation without popping out to new window.	Workaround: Move to different area of outlook using commands such as "go to inbox", "sort by date", "next mail", "previous mail" etc. and then say the commands "Go to to/cc/bcc/subject field". Alternatively, you can pop-out the email and use the go to cc, bcc, subject commands or issue keystroke commands such as "Tab" and "Shift Tab" to move to next and previous fields.
MouseGrid: MouseGrid can behave unexpectedly when a Dragon dialog is open on one monitor and you try to use MouseGrid on another monitor.	Workaround: Close the Dragon dialog or move the dialog to the monitor where you want to execute the MouseGrid commands.
Microsoft Teams Home: Some Dragon Teams commands do not work in Teams Home.	The following Dragon Professional commands do not work in the Teams Home edition: Report a problem (Windows 10 and 11) Download react logs (Windows 10 and 11) Go to suggested time (Windows 10 and 11) Open help (Windows 11 only) Accept audio call (Windows 11 only) Decline call (Windows 11 only)
If you are upgrading from Dragon Professional or Dragon Legal to Dragon Law Enforcement V16.1, your user profiles will not be automatically updated to V16.	Before upgrading, you'll need to export your custom words and commands and then import them into V16.1. See Exporting custom words and Exporting custom commands for more information.
PowerMic: PowerMic button assignments created in V15 may not be retained when upgrading to V16.1.	Workaround: Re-assign the PowerMic buttons after upgrading to V16.1.
AirPods: Dictation or commands do not work if you select AirPods from the "Choose a Microphone" screen.	Dragon does not support dictation using Apple AirPods. Workaround: Choose a different microphone when creating a user profile or click Settings> Microphone>Choose microphone to add another Microphone.
Using Notepad in Windows 11: Some Dragon commands don't work as expected in the Windows 11 Notepad.	"New Line/Select That/Correct That/Spell That" do not work correctly when using Notepad in Windows 11. Workaround: Use a different text editor (for example, DragonPad or WordPad) if you need to use these commands.
Using File Explorer in Windows 11: Some Dragon commands don't work as expected in the Windows 11 File Explorer.	The Dragon commands "[Display/show/view] [tiles/large icons/small icons/medium icons/details/list]" do not work in the Windows 11 File explorer. Workaround: You can use MouseGrid commands to select the options.
Windows 10 and Windows 11 Action Center: Some Dragon commands don't work as expected in the Windows 10 and Windows 11 Action Center screen.	The following Dragon commands do not work as expected from the Windows 10 Action Center: "Night light”, "Mobile hotspot”, "Nearby sharing”, “Network”, “Project", "Focus assist" , "Priority only" , "Alarms Only", "Screen snip", "Increase the brightness". Workaround: You can use MouseGrid commands on the Windows Settings window to control respective functionality.
PowerPoint: "Create a new slide" and "Add a new slide" commands do not work in PowerPoint.	This problem can be caused if you issue these commands before PowerPoint is completely loaded. Workaround: Try the commands again after PowerPoint is completely loaded.
Citrix: Dragon does not recognize dictation or commands when using the Citrix environment in Generic Mode	Workaround: When using Dragon in a Citrix environment, always run Citrix in optimized mode.
Google Docs: Google Docs not getting uploaded using VocTool	Due to a change in the Google API, when you select the Add Google Docs option in the VocTool and attempt to provide your Google login credentials, a script error occurs.
Google Docs: Learn from specific documents not working with Google Docs	Due to a change in the Google API, when you select the Add Google Docs option in Learn from sent emails and attempt to sign in with your Google credentials, sign in error occurs.
Browser tabs: On changing tabs in browser, dictation stops working on the editable field of the browser	On changing tabs in browser, dictation stops working on the editable field of the browser even when focus is on the editable field of the browser. This issue was observed with Google chrome and Edge.
Dragon Web extension: The Dragon Web extension dialog intermittently pops up even after extension is installed in the browser.	This problem can happen in browsers where the default URL has not been set. Workaround: Setting a default URL in your browser stops the dialog box from popping up.
NLP commands: NLP commands not working when setting is enabled in Nuance Management Center.	When you create users in the NMC Administrator group under Default Site in Nuance Management Center, NLP commands do not work, even though the Enable natural language commands setting is enabled on the Group Details>Dragon Professional tab. Workaround 1: Do not add users to the NMC Administrator group. Workaround 2: Navigate to the Group Details>Dragon Professional>Commands tab, and then click Save. This places the settings in the database and correctly enables natural language commands.
Learn from sent e-mails: does not currently work as expected with some e-mail programs.	Learn from sent emails (Tools>Vocabulary Center>Learn from sent e-mails )does not currently work as expected with Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook.com, IMAP for Outlook accounts, and IMAP for Yahoo accounts.
Microsoft Teams Work edition: The "Open meeting chat" voice command may not be recognized or may prompt you to leave the meeting.	Workaround: If the command is not recognized, use your keyboard/mouse to open a meeting chat.
Microsoft Teams Work edition: Some Meeting and Calendar commands are not recognized	Workaround: If the command is not recognized, use your keyboard/mouse to open a meeting chat.
Microsoft Teams Work edition: Some navigation commands are recognized as dictation.	Some Teams navigation commands may be recognized as dictation and display on the Dictation box. Workaround: If the command is not recognized, use your keyboard/mouse to open a meeting chat.
Microsoft Outlook 2021/365: The "Call the contact" command does not open the New call window.	Workaround: If the command is not recognized, use your keyboard/mouse to open a meeting chat.
Timeout error: On some laptops, when using a USB microphone to create a user, you may see a "Timeout error" message on the Check Microphone dialog.	You may see the message "A timeout has occurred while waiting for the sound system to finish processing". Workaround: Click OK to proceed and create the user profiles. The profile is created and you can now dictate with your USB microphone.