Since my last system restore resulted in needing to get a restored profile, I had asked a question about the need for keeping prior profiles. After receiving a response, I started looking into the various drives and backups I had and realized that with the amount of folders and information I had on a variety of different versions of Dragon as well as different profiles, I'm not sure what I should be deleting and what I should be saving.

I hope this is going to make sense – I attached different screenshots of my directory structure, including information on the size of different folders and their components. If there is not enough information to make a clear certain decision on what can be deleted, I don't have a problem keeping everything; but if it is not necessary and I can get rid of things that I absolutely don't need, I would prefer that approach.

In any case, if you need more information, please let me know.

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Photoman
Digital Cameras Don't Take Good Pictures. People Do!

DNS Preferred V11, Quad 4 Intel i7-920; 2.66GHz; 8GB RAM; Windows 7 - 64 bit

You can delete your NaturallySpeaking10 folder. You should be able to delete one of the 2 Robert Desmond folders but we noted that they're both upgraded from Ver. 10 so we recommend deleting both profiles and creating a brand-new user profile. NEVER use an upgraded (previous) profile. Any profile with (v11) is an upgraded Ver. 10 profile.

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Click KB 2012 REV D to Download a 30 Day Evaluation of KnowBrainer 2012 

 

 

 

 

photoman,

 

The only reason for keeping anything that you don't need or are not able to access as far as DNS is concerned is: (a) DNS 10 only if you intend to reinstall DNS 10 and you want to re-access those profiles, and (b) your original profile only if it's accessible. Otherwise, as Lunis suggests, you can safely delete the NaturallySpeaking10 folder and all its contents and, since you're using the restored user and the original is unusable or inaccessible, you can delete it.

 

Use the "Manage User Profiles..." to remove any unwanted or inaccessible user profiles. It looks like the profile that you wish to remove is the Robert Bezman (v11) as this is your original and inaccessible user profile. Keep in mind that you can only delete profiles that are not active, but you'll find that out real quick anyway. After you do that, you can rename your Restored user profile to eliminate the "-Restored" if you wish.

 

In addition, I stand with Lunis in that you should update previous version user profiles so that you have access to any custom words or custom commands, but you should always create a new user profile and use the upgraded/converted previous version user profile to export your custom words and custom commands. If you're using Premium, then you can just copy and overwrite your new user profile MyCmds.dat with the one from your upgraded/converted (v11) user. Don't worry about training or accuracy because your newly created version 11 user profile will very rapidly become more accurate than your converted/upgraded version 10 user profile.

 

Lastly, a couple of quick recommendations: (a) get rid of Windows Vista 64-bit because it's a piece of garbage and unstable (upgrade to Windows 7 64-bit, which you can do without losing any data because you are allowed to go from 64-bit Vista to 64-bit Windows 7 without having to reinstall anything), and (b) make sure that if you upgrade to Windows 7 64-bit that you uninstall DNS 11-11.5 keeping your user profiles before performing the upgrade and reinstall after. The reason for the latter is that upgrading to Windows 7 64-bit will change your machine fingerprint for DNS activation and you will be required to reactivate it, which can be done without losing an activation but is not particularly user-friendly. You're better off uninstalling before upgrading and reinstalling after the upgrade. It's a lot easier and a lot more reliable. In this case, I would recommend that you export your user profile(s) before performing the upgrade to Windows 7 64-bit just so that you have a copy somewhere that won't get tampered with and that you can rely on in case something unexpected or untoward happens. It generally doesn't, but that doesn't mean that Murphy's Law won't kick in. Although I've never had a problem upgrading versions of Windows, due like the Boy Scouts do, be prepared and anticipate.

 

Chuck Runquist
Technical Project Manager
VoiceTeach LLC
Home of VoicePower®: We don't make Dragon NaturallySpeaking, We make it better!

"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila." -- Mitch Ratliffe

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I truly appreciate the help, because if left to my own devices-I'm sure I would wind up deleting only the files that I actually need.

So far, I have deleted version 10 profile through "Manage User Profiles." In case you are providing information based on the wrong info, let me clarify the operating system I'm using. I am on, and have been on Windows 7, 64-bit for at least a year.

Where I am confused is in the area of creating a new profile rather than using the "restored" profile. Are you saying that a restored profile is inferior to creating a new profile, after copying over custom commands and vocabulary words?

Assuming you are, I created a new basic profile, but am unsure how to copy over the custom commands and vocabulary that I've created. Please verify that is what you mean as well as how to copy over the files in question.

Thanks again.

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Photoman
Digital Cameras Don't Take Good Pictures. People Do!

DNS Preferred V11, Quad 4 Intel i7-920; 2.66GHz; 8GB RAM; Windows 7 - 64 bit

A “restored” profile is one that NaturallySpeaking has salvaged from your backup user profile. It's not necessarily a bad profile at all. It has simply been restored because your original profile could not be opened at some point. We recommend 86ing any profiles that contain (v11) as part of the name because those are user-files that are upgraded from a previous version of NaturallySpeaking and shouldn't be used.

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Click KB 2012 REV D to Download a 30 Day Evaluation of KnowBrainer 2012 

 

 

 

Thanks Lunis.

 

Now I understand about the version 11. How do I move the custom commands and my vocabulary into the new profile? I'm assuming that "MyCmds.dat" from my restored profile contains my custom commands. But where is the vocabulary file contained, and is there a process for moving them over to a new profile?

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Photoman
Digital Cameras Don't Take Good Pictures. People Do!

DNS Preferred V11, Quad 4 Intel i7-920; 2.66GHz; 8GB RAM; Windows 7 - 64 bit

Photoman,

there is no single file containing the vocabulary that could be accessed manually. The only portion of the user profile that can be handled this way is the mycmds.dat file indeed. As far as all the rest, don't dare touch it, better yet, don't even think of it, or you will be doomed forever.

The only way to export your vocabulary (custom words, marked red in the vocabulary editor), is to export them via the menu on the Dragon bar, under "Vocabulary", by following the prompts and instructions, which will export them to a TXT file, but this can only be done after the profile has been loaded of course. Therefore, as others have pointed out, it is recommended to upgrade your profile from the previous version (10) to the current one (11) in order to launch it, but just for the purpose of actively exporting (don't mind that void phrase here) your vocabulary as described. After creating a new profile, you can import them just the same way, by going the reverse route.

Other than that, don't consider keeping any of the old profiles or upgraded profiles for actual using any longer, but better remove them from your working folder, just to avoid any kind of confusion.

Rüdiger

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Well, it's past the point where we can make any changes in the code, but we can still make changes to the Easter Egg!

Rüdiger,

 

Thank you for your advice. While in my restored profile, I tried following the DNS help and as you can see from the attached screenshot, wandered into never-Neverland.

 

Do you happen to know the typical file location for the vocabulary? Thanks.

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Photoman
Digital Cameras Don't Take Good Pictures. People Do!

DNS Preferred V11, Quad 4 Intel i7-920; 2.66GHz; 8GB RAM; Windows 7 - 64 bit

The feature that you are referring to in your screenshot (Manage Vocabularies) is only available in the professional versions, but not in Premium/Preferred. In order to export your custom vocabulary in the premium version, on the Dragon bar, go to Vocabulary, Export custom word and phrase list, and follow the prompts. You will be asked to choose a location and filename to save the list to, which will be a TXT file by default.

Other than that, you have no choices.

Rüdiger


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Well, it's past the point where we can make any changes in the code, but we can still make changes to the Easter Egg!

Rüdiger,

 

Thank you for that. One of the things that really gets me about DNS help is that it is different than every other software program I've ever used. I have the software program open, I go to help, and there is no way to determine if the information displayed is appropriate to my version or not. For example, nowhere in the help did it say anything about that ability only being available for the Professional  version of DNS.

 

So in looking up how to import the command files, I think I'm running into the same thing again because it talks about clicking on the "Manage" button once the Command Browser is open. There is no such button in my Command Browser. Is This Nuance's subtle way of frustrating users into purchasing the Professional version, so the help makes sense?

 

Since I don't have the Manage button, making the help information I do have - worthless as to explaining how to import the file, I regret that I need to bother the people on the forum again to search out the answer.

 

Does anyone know how to get a help file for the version of the software that I actually have?

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Photoman
Digital Cameras Don't Take Good Pictures. People Do!

DNS Preferred V11, Quad 4 Intel i7-920; 2.66GHz; 8GB RAM; Windows 7 - 64 bit

Go to:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking11\Help\enx\premium

and open a PDF file named "dragon_enx".

Rüdiger



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Well, it's past the point where we can make any changes in the code, but we can still make changes to the Easter Egg!

 

Rüdiger,

 

Thank you for your help, but I'm getting more questions with each answer. Following the path you presented, the only similar file was "dragon_enx.chm" which opens up a browser window, not a PDF.

 

1. How do I install this as my help, rather than the help I currently have with the software?
2. I looked up copying custom commands, but this version of help essentially says the same thing as the other one, mentioning the nonexistent "manage" button
3. after looking through several other parts of the help, as well as the DragonBar, I still cannot determine how to copy over the command file to my new profile

 

Do you know how this is done with the version I have?

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Photoman
Digital Cameras Don't Take Good Pictures. People Do!

DNS Preferred V11, Quad 4 Intel i7-920; 2.66GHz; 8GB RAM; Windows 7 - 64 bit

 

photoman,

First, and just to add a little bit to Rüdiger's post, you won't find much, if any, difference between the help files for any version/flavor of DNS. Whether or not you find it frustrating, Nuance only creates one Help for all versions. The only exception being, if I remember correctly, those issues that are unique to DNS Legal and/or Medical, to which they only add the medical or legal info. It would take an extensive amount of time, effort, and editing to create a unique Help file for each version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. There may be some slight differences in the help for each version, but these are mostly editing out some of those help entries that can be done without major effort or rewriting. Otherwise, they're all pretty close to the same. I'm not saying that I agree with this approach, but I certainly understand it.


Second, there's no need to copy anything to anywhere because if you look at the Help files: C:\Program Files (x86)\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking11\Help\enx, DNS automatically associates and opens the appropriate help files from the folder based on your version of DNS. Therefore, you already have the Help files to which Rüdiger refers when you open or the Dragon Help. Dragon gets all of its help files from the folder relative to your version of Dragon (DNS Premium).


C:\Program Files (x86)\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking11\Help\enx\premium


The bottom line is that what you see when you open the Dragon Help is opened from the above location. Also, when you open the Command Browser and you click on the Help button, DNS loads the Command Browser help (chm) from the same location. So, you're already getting all of the help information from the above folder whenever you open the Dragon Help in any dialog. In addition, each version (Basics, Professional, Home, Medical, or Legal) gets its help files from the appropriate location per the above.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking11\Help\enx\

So, mucking around with the chm files both isn't necessary and won't get you anything different than what you're already getting.

While I think that Nuance could do a little better job with this and make it more version specific, I understand what the process is that they go through in creating the help files, as well as the difficulty in doing so. Because of this, what I would suggest is that you go into the help and click on the feedback option at the bottom of most of the help screens and send feedback to Nuance on your frustration with the inappropriateness of the Dragon Help for your version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. That's about all you can do for the time being.

Third, DNS Premium only allows you to create Text-and-Graphics macros. I'm not sure in DNS premium whether the Manage option becomes available after you create Text-and-Graphics macros. It should, but since I don't have a copy of Premium, I can't be absolutely certain.

Regardless, if you did create Text-and-Graphics macros in your original user profile then the file that you're looking for is located as follows:

C:\ProgramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking11\Users\Robert Bezman (v11)\current\MyCmds.dat

Just copy that file to the same location in your new user profile overwriting the current mycmds.dat in that new user profile. If you created any Text-and-Graphics macros in the original mycmds.dat, then they will be transferred to your new user. If not, then you don't have to worry about the mycmds.dat the new user because it's identical to the original.


Hope this helps.

Chuck Runquist
Technical Project Manager
VoiceTeach LLC
Home of VoicePower®: We don't make Dragon NaturallySpeaking, We make it better!

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." -- Mark Twain

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Chuck,

 

I agree that it should, but it doesn't.

 

Rüdiger

 

 

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Well, it's past the point where we can make any changes in the code, but we can still make changes to the Easter Egg!

Photoman,

sorry, for confusing PDF with CHM. -

Sorry again for being blunt: you are making it too hard for yourself. Just do as it has been explained.

Rüdiger


-------------------------

Well, it's past the point where we can make any changes in the code, but we can still make changes to the Easter Egg!

Here's the latest progress report – I'm sure everyone will be very happy when this is finally done, but not as much as I will.

 

In the newly created profile, I pasted the MyCmds.dat file from my latest restored profile and it is working. I also duplicated all of the Options, autoformatting options, and Administrative Settings from my old profile.

 

I tried for way too embarrassingly long a time to try to get the approximatly 200 custom words over from the VE in my old restore profile, to my new profile. I could not do it. The closest I came is shown on the screenshot that is attached.

 

Since there doesn't seem to be a file that can be moved, but instead I need to go through the process of exporting and importing; regardless of what changes I made to the directory structure that opened when the process started in DNS, I always wound up with the same Catch-22, as shown in the screenshot.

 

Any ideas on how to solve the last piece of this puzzle?

 

I want to thank everyone for their help and let you know that my frustration was directed at Nuance and not anyone in the forum.

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Photoman
Digital Cameras Don't Take Good Pictures. People Do!

DNS Preferred V11, Quad 4 Intel i7-920; 2.66GHz; 8GB RAM; Windows 7 - 64 bit

 

Photoman,

 

I believe (at least) I understand why you keep failing to understand me, by looking at your screenshot. When "Exporting words and phrase list", you don't have to search for an existing file, but just have to choose a loctation where you want that list (as TXT file) saved, and also choose a name for it. The TXT file will then be created by Dragon. It is pretty much the same as when doing a "save as" operation.

 

However, when doing the reverse process, the import thing, you will have to search for an existing TXT file, one that you have exported previously using the above steps.

 

 

Rüdiger

 

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Well, it's past the point where we can make any changes in the code, but we can still make changes to the Easter Egg!

Rüdiger,

 

Thank you for your patience. Believe it or not, I have the new profile completely finished now and it actually seems to be working! Hoo rah.

-------------------------

Photoman
Digital Cameras Don't Take Good Pictures. People Do!

DNS Preferred V11, Quad 4 Intel i7-920; 2.66GHz; 8GB RAM; Windows 7 - 64 bit

In one of my profiles, in the "chkpt" folder there are a large number of chkptNN subfolders, with dates that go back a couple of years. They total over a GB of storage.

What are they for? By the name ("chkpt") they sound like temporary files created by DNS to make a profile "checkpoint." Can they safely be deleted?

We do not believe you can delete the chkpt folder or any files within that folder but anytime you are uncertain as to whether a non-operating system file can be deleted, simply try renaming the file or moving it to another location. If you don't have any issues, you can always delete it or change it back in the future.

-------------------------

Click KB 2012 REV D to Download a 30 Day Evaluation of KnowBrainer 2012 

 

 

 

Camner,

Your guess is correct as to what these particular subfolders are. They are essentially equivalent to checksum files. However, nobody really knows how important they are, whether or not Dragon re-creates them if you should delete the entire folder, etc. So, be very careful because it may be possible to delete them. If you do, always keep the most current one. The others are not critical, or at least should not be critical. So, if you're going to try to delete any of them, always keep the most currently dated one.

I have a user profile that I can experiment with and I'll let you know what you can or can't do, should or shouldn't do when I get a chance to play around with them.

The bottom line is just be careful not to delete all of them and keep the one that is most recent. If you have a long list of them, only the most recent one would be critical. The rest of them shouldn't make any difference.

Chuck Runquist
Technical Project Manager
VoiceTeach LLC
Home of VoicePower®: We don't make Dragon NaturallySpeaking, We make it better!

Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don't. - Pete Seeger

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