Dragon is geared around your voice input so naturally microphone management becomes quite critical. It may seem like a non-starter as an issue but there’s enough to write an article. The Dragonbar (the bar at the top of your screen) changed quite dramatically with version 13. For users on Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 and earlier, you can look to the far left for your microphone on and off toggle. For the more recent releases of the software, it’s the big red circle with the mic icon sitting in the middle of your Dragonbar.
The Basics
When you click on the button, it changes from red to green to indicate it’s on and actively listening for dictation or commands. When you click it again, it reverts to red indicating it’s switched off. This is as simple as the operation gets.
Intermediate
So now that you know how to switch it off with the click of the mouse, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that you can do the same with your voice. Say “Microphone off” or “Stop listening to me” to switch it off. You can also put the microphone on standby by saying “Go to sleep” and turn it on again by saying “Wake up”. If you’re using a microphone with a mute function or in-line remote, you can also control Dragon’s mic by simply using the hardware. Just be sure to check this isn’t muted when trying to figure out why the microphone isn’t responding when its active.
Advanced
You can create a toggle button on your keyboard to turn the microphone on and off. This will make it possible for you to avoid having to navigate the cursor or use a voice command. Navigation is fiddly and voice commands can be misrecognised, so it’s probably the safest and most efficient way to turn the mic on and off. You can adjust this hot key under Tools and then Options. Once the hot key is set, it’s actually quite easy. We actually recommend this to users and help them adjust the hot key.