If it was up to this author, Dragon would run everything through the Dictation Box. You may ask… “so what is the Dictation Box?”. It’s a valid question because most Dragon users only tend to find it when they least expect it. The dictation box is a little pop-up window that appears when an application isn’t fully compatible with Dragon. This happens much more often than you think and can even happen when you’re actually in-between windows, meaning you don’t have an application selected as the active window. When Dragon can’t find an insertion point for new text and you haven’t issued a command, it expects to hear words you’re wanting to transcribe. If it can’t find a space, it’ll sometimes transcribe your words into this pop-up window for you to deploy or you’ll get the classic ??? in the results box if you have it checked under options.
The results box is a whole article on its own. Going back to the dictation box and running everything through it though… The reason this is a good idea is because of expectations. That’s right, those pesky expectations that can make everything go pear-shaped when users want results they’ve become accustomed to when what they’re actually getting is already amazing. Dragon is aiming high, maybe too high, in its attempt to make itself compatible with the most popular software programmes. Back in the day when updates weren’t on tap, this was a very realistic and smart vision for the product. Being able to have select-and-say functionality within an application is a dream come true… not having to do anything but click and dictate. When it’s working, you feel like Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic. However, when the software ceases to be compatible or starts to drop the add-in due to slow start up – a thing that can happen with Microsoft Word and Outlook – it becomes a nightmare. Okay, maybe more of an inconvenience but a real pain if you’re used to just going for it.
That’s why it would be good if Dragon had started with the dictation box as the thing… the first port-o-call. Users would see the… shall we call it “Dragon Box” hovering or attaching itself to applications and then dictate directly into this window before hitting Transfer. Being able to dictate and edit the entire body of a document within this window, it basically offers everything you get within the confines of the text field you’re busy with bar a few choice formatting features. If users started with this as a default, something we’ve actually done with glitchy Dragon for Mac releases to avoid complication, it would save a lot of frustration.
The trouble is that in trying to serve as an umbrella application to so many varying software programmes, it becomes troublesome to ensure the software is constantly compatible. Sure you can release service packs to address ongoing issues but at the rate of which Windows and Microsoft Office updates arrive, it can be difficult to keep up, anticipate and deliver on promises. Just the applets for Chrome, Edge and Firefox browsing are already a headache, so it can become a major struggle. So while the speech recognition frontrunner could have possibly repositioned their offering, they’ve basically been trying to keep old users happy with what they’re used to.
If you’re struggling with add-ins dropping, you could create a macro command to re-enable the add-in if you’re using a Professional or higher edition of Dragon. (Please just shout if you’d like assistance in creating one of these custom commands.) If you don’t have the luxury of this under-utilised facility, you may want to consider repositioning the product’s service offering to get more life out of the software. Creating a keyboard shortcut or saying “Open Dictation Box” will summon the pop-up. From there, you can just do your thing and when you’re ready say “Click Transfer” or just use the mouse. It may incorporate one or two extra steps but as soon as this becomes the default you’ll be more appreciative of its responsiveness and accuracy than the add-in headaches of yore.