The latest Auto Box© 8.0.0.160 is the closest you will get to dictating into speech unfriendly apps with genuine Dragon Select-and-Say control combined with Intuitive Automatic Transfers.  

 

This version has huge improvements compared to Auto Box© 7, like Application Locking (Targeting), Completely Adjustable GUI (with the most ergonomic and responsive Font/Color Pickers you've ever seen), Adjustable Activation and Switching Delay, Smart Dominant Mode, Form Filler Mode, Move from field to field in your target application right from within Auto Box©, and much, more!

 

Auto Box© is the intuitive and complete solution to dictate into any Dragon unfriendly application. Watch the video below to see what we mean:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best of all, this version will work with any Dragon Edition (Home, Premium, PRO).

 

Auto Box© 8 has an extensive, easy accessible HTML Help file to get you acquainted with all of its features. 

 

You can now purchase this highly advanced Auto Box© Standalone version for only $25

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

https://speechproductivity.eu

Turbocharge your Dragon productivity with 40+ Power Addons

Wow! You make great videos. I can hardly wait to try out the new AutoBox. I think your video lady did a nice job of explaining the targeted, passive, and dominant modes - I think it's easier to remember what she says than what I read in the manual for previous versions. :-)

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Win10/11/x64, AMD Ryzen 7 3700X/3950X, 64/128GB RAM, Dragon 15.3, SP 7 Standard, SpeechStart, Office 365, KB 2017, Dragon Capture, Samson Meteor USB Desk Mic, Amazon YUWAKAYI headset, Klim and JUKSTG earbuds with microphones, excellent Sareville Wireless Mono Headset, 3 BenQ 2560x1440 monitors, Microsoft Sculpt Keyboard and Logitech G502 awesome gaming mouse.

Ha ha, she does have a good voice doesn't she? Those avatar voices get better and better, you can even get them with a Dutch accent

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

https://speechproductivity.eu

Turbocharge your Dragon productivity with 40+ Power Addons

A: Does Auto Box 8 it have the 123 123456 problem?

...  I cannot tell this from your video.

 How does auto box interact with Dragon's standard autoformatting?   Does AutoBox  intercept dragons output after autoformatting or before? If you intercept before, does auto box provide its own  equivalent autoformatting or like?

A: Can Auto Box 8 do AutoPaste like DragonCapture?

... OK, it looks like it does, with several different flavors of automatic transfer. Both time-based, but also  content-based, e.g. looking for "terminal punctuation".

 

Q:  is it possible to automatically associate the actual automatic or semiautomatic, dominant or nondominant auto box modes with application windows, or even particular widgets?

(Why I ask?:  it would become tiresome to have to select from that long list of modes every time I change between applications, if they need different modes. I am very glad you have all of those modes and functions, but once you have functionality you have to choose the default properly. And the defaults do not always want to be global..)

 

Q: is there a manual or other help file for Auto Box  that would've answered my questions above, and others?

 

 BTW: I'm the sort of guy who hates videos because they are slower than reading. But that was a pretty good video. If I get serious I will probably have to do some screen captures so I can actually  read that long list of options, and then try to figure out what each of them does.

 

---

 

Oh heck, it looks like auto box 8 only cost $25. Although the time I myself would spend evaluating it probably cost a lot more than that, especially if it does not pan out.

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

DPG15.6 (also DPI 15.3) + KB, Sennheiser MB Pro 1 UC ML, BTD 800 dongle, Windows 10 Pro, MS Surface Book 3, Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.3/1.5GHz (4 cores, 8 logical, GPU=NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 with Max-Q Design.

There is something about your posts, Ag, that just exasperates me as much as fascinates me. You remind me of my uncle, who is a retired EEE. There is something about the "one track mind".

I mean, it's a very wide track. But ...

Before I check myself into forum detox, there are things even I can tell you about the Auto Box - and Rob/Tom can correct me by all means.

1. First of all you should try it. And let us know its strengths and limitations, as a matter of public service, too. Even though you'd be quite right that just as Mr. Silen said, the time you spent evaluating and getting to know a piece of ware would usually be far costlier than its face value. However, this is clearly your "hobby". Then indulge in it. Beats tiktoking, no? Proly beats instagramming or facebooking, too. Just not as exciting for you as TRUTH social, yes? Kidding, kidding ... just trolling a "smidgen". No flaming.

2. Definitely the Auto Box would not reproduce the "123 123456" bug, for the same token that you won't get "123 123456" on Notepad, because both have "Full Text Control", i.e., are "Select-and-Say" friendly. I'd go so far as to say any field that has a standard Edit/"Richedit" control won't give you the dastardly "123 123456". This is Dragon 101.

In Dragon 201, Matt, Mav, and Lindsay et al have all talked about editing certain INI file so that some of the more esoteric Edit controls can be "domiciled". Of course, YMMV.

3. Auto Box does NOT intercept Dragon output in any "raw" sense, as I recall from prior exchange. Auto Box is like an extremely well-dressed Wordpad capable of doing some exhilarating somersaults and well-timed, eye-catching backflips.

Timing there is everything. It's all about focus-shifting, and multple/sequential window activations. If you are familiar with AHK's wrapping of Win32 HWND, then you can be right up that Alley.

4. Here I am really feeling sorry for desktop Dragon users, because I finally "perfected" the Win32Pad Matt suggested to me, as an all-around "dictation box" - but not your dictation box, or desktop Dragon Pad, for the simple reason of anchorability. What's wrong with DMO's own dictation box? No need to bore us and let's not even start.

Even though I have to do a 2-step call on Win32Pad's line number feature, I have automated it so well that I don't think it could be improved further. I could actually do hands-free navigation up and down Win32Pad, running everything by voice - I do mean everything, while pounding the keyboard like a mad person somewhere else (okay the statement is slightly oxymoronic). It is a real pity that something this good is segmented off to desktop users, many of whom could use it, as a matter of necessity, far more than I do.

5. But since it is not available to 95% of KBers, for the time being anyway, why am I harping on it? Because you could reprise it, with the embedding method broached earlier, through Chrome Remote Desktop, leveraging its inherent clipboard syncing between guest and host. Now it won't be super convenient, as you may need two microphones, if you really want to "get your cake and eat it, too".

Basically in the guest, you'd open Notepad to full screen, of which I personally can't stand the brightness. So open up the much more civilized Win32Pad instead, to full screen, replete with line numbers. Oh boy. The more I am "brainstorming" here, the more I am CERTAIN this is what I would do, if I have to one day use Desktop Dragon for extended periods of time.

In the host, if you run command mode only and PTT only, then you would have no problem. Basically when you press the PTT in the host, it should also programmably mute the mic in guest - proly easiest through pixel sensing methods. Or vice versa (always on and command only in the host, and PTT with prose dictation in guest - that was how I did it with DME and VoiceMacro). On DME I used kindergarten Javascript and similar clipboard passing to get stuff out of the browser. A little slow but entirely workable.

If you insist on doing voice on both host and guest as always on, I'd imagine certain commands will give you problems. You may have to devise a custom "AG transfer", that does different things on host and guest. Upon utterance, on the host it pastes from Clipboard, and on the guest, it does nothing, or it clears the Edit field.

To tell the truth, even if there is no automatic Clipboard syncing, you can probably do some Ctrl-A and Ctrl-X thing, which I think Auto Box does to some extent (correct me if mistaken). I avoid Ctrl-A / Ctrl-X whenever I can.

Anyway, even with just one microphone hooked up to the guest, for a truly automatic workflow, which I did analogously for at least a couple of years on DME - and this is as automatic as DragonCapture - but LESS direct, of course. And "more automatic" than Auto Box:

The workflow is something like:

Keep you cursor in your Quicken field.
Utter 123456 into the mic attached to the guest, which Dragon on the guest spits into Notepad/Win32Pad.
On the guest, run a wee little AHK script whereby you loop polling the Edit field - heck, below is a half-@$$ script I just tested (YMMV!), assuming you have a Win32Pad text file called "AG_Box", in the same directory as the script below:

#NoEnv
SendMode Input
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%
SetTitleMatchMode, 2
#Persistent

Clipboard := ""
NewText := ""

Loop
{
ControlGetText, NewText, RichEdit20A1, AG_Box
If (NewText != "")
{
Sleep, 50
ControlGetText, Clipboard, RichEdit20A1, AG_Box
; Above instead of RichEdit20A1, just Edit1 if using Notepad
Send, {Ctrl down}v{Ctrl up}
Sleep, 50
; Minimum 150 above for Citrix, else Clipboard will be cleared before transfer
Clipboard := ""
NewText := ""
ControlSetText, RichEdit20A1,, AG_Box
}
}

Once I anchor the AG_Box (which you can't do on desktop Dragon obviously), it is in effect AS AUTOMATIC as Herr Wilke's DragonCapture - how about that for an outrageous claim? But definitely not direct in the sense that his API approach with special sauce "intercepts Dragon output" at a lower level.

And you may have to set program specific Sleep Interval, Citrix transfer will require a longer interval. For certain truly obnoxious fields such as terminal or what have you, where Ctrl-V doesn't even work, then you resort to SendInput/Event. Could similarly be Program/App specific - tailored by user.

But you won't have to worry about focus switching. Of course, if you implement hardware-based embedding across Chrome Romote Desktop, Sleep interval would also be longer. But still, when I tested over LAN, the time delay seemed quite acceptable.

And you will need separate scripts polling Clipboard on the host and on the guest. At a minimum a Clipwait is likely needed somwhere, even though it wasn't necessary on the short "proof of concept" above.

Guaranteed you won't get "123 123456", because the guest window is under "Full Text Control".

If you have a half dozen laptops strewn about and 8 activations of DPI/DPG between you and your kin, then ...

Anyway, that's enough.

Bottom line, you should get the Auto Box, and let us know. But for your workflow, I have my doubts whether you can handle the multiple window activations, and potential for "focus stealing". It's like for a certain person, you feel in you gut they will wreck a stick-shift car, because they just don't have the patience.

And I am that person, too, and I can't drive stick-shift.

Prove us wrong. And good luck, whatever you do or don't do.

To Rob: I do think Auto Box is a heroic workaround for many desktop Dragon folks who just can't get to a proper anchored box.  Priced very reasonable, too.  Even the late Larry Allen had once opined that "scripting is not for everybody".

Now one of the unmet needs out there is formatted transfer, especially to HTML.  Any text formatted in Auto Box is not really transferrable to HTML "natively", is it?

Take a look at this page: https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=80706

I very recently was successful in using SKAN's function above to wrap plaintext with some light RegEx to achieve "HTML pasting", by transforming text within clipboard (I know nothing about the inner working of SKAN's function).  That ChatGPT version was 98% there, but just shy of cigar.

Anyway, if you or Tom could consider building similar, or perhaps more comprehensive "format transfer" feature into a "Box", it would have its own value, even outside of voice community use.  And without a doubt many voice users here would welcome such functionality, too.

Just an off-the-cuff suggestion.

Won't be spamming yours or anyone else's threads for a while ... that I promise.

And very slick AV indeed!

 

 

P.S., the rambling post above contains multiple factual inaccuracies, either regarding the possibility of "123123456 bug" over Full-Text-Control fields or on the nitty gritty of Chrome Remote Desktop's clipboard syncing.  Corrections and clarifications have been made below:

 

https://www.knowbrainer.com/forums/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=4&threadid=37115

 

https://www.knowbrainer.com/forums/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=25&threadid=37131

First, for those interested in purchasing Auto Box© 8. I put the Help file online so you can read all about its powerful features: 

 

https://speechproductivity.eu/ABHelp

 

@ ax

Thanks for clarifying. I will get back on your HTML/formatting question later on.

 

@ Ag 

Auto Box© does not have the "123 123456" problem. Looks like this is a DragonCapture bug only. As a matter of fact, none of the SP boxes have this problem .

 

ax is right, Auto Box does not intercept Dragon output in any "raw" sense.

 

"Can Auto Box 8 do AutoPaste like DragonCapture"

 

Auto Box© can do fully automatic transfers. But it operates on a totally different principal. In the Automatic Mode anything (i.e. any word, punctuation mark, character etc.) you utter will directly be sent to the underlying target application, or to the fixed "targeted" application of your choice. In addition, you can make Auto Box© completely invisible so there's virtually no distractions.

 

That being said. This is not AB's most interesting feature. Auto Pasting or Fully Automatic Transfers are prone to errors because there's no Select-and-Say control. So basically it's not very useful for hands-free users.

 

That's why Auto Box©'s main feature is the so-called "Intuitive Automatic Transfers". Automatic Transfers after detection of (terminal) punctuation marks. Combined with continuous reactivation of the box. That way you can edit your dictation with full Select-and-Say control before it is sent to the target application. You can additionally choose Dominant Mode to seamlessly switch from application to application/window to window to continuously keep on dictating and have Auto Box© follow automatically. Still with full Select-and-Say control!

 

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to have full Select-and-Say control. If you don't have that it inevitably will lead to tedious manual corrections afterwards. Auto Box© is the only solution that combines automatic transfers with genuine Dragon Select-and-Say control. 

 

This latest Auto Box© version additionally has Transport feature (semi-automatic transfers), Targeting (application locking), Manual Modes (classical dictation box), an interesting standalone Autopunctuation feature, and various Commandline Switches. Auto Box© 8 is also extremely customizable, so you can thoroughly change the way it looks. In the near future we will add Localization as well. Just like the modules in SP 7 PRO you can then choose your own menu labels and translate the GUI into any language you like. 

 

All of that for just 25 bucks. I think this is an absolute no-brainer .

 

PS, associating a specific mode to a specific window handle is an excellent idea. We will look into that. If it can be done, we will do it. By the way, the Auto Box© 8 programmer should have contacted you by now.

 

Rob

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

https://speechproductivity.eu

Turbocharge your Dragon productivity with 40+ Power Addons

 

I'm not sure if this is what you are after, but this is what I have in my latest box:

starting with something like:

 

 

Choosing the following menu item:

will reformat the HTML code like the following:

where you would simply transfer it to your target:

 

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

Tom

 

Programmer Of SP 7 PRO (speechproductivity.eu)

For those not yet aware. Zen Editor© 8 Standalone version is now also permanently available for all Dragon users.

 

Version 8 is much more advanced than version 7 (currently featured in SP 7 Standard). 

 

Although originally developed specifically for writers and novelists, Zen Editor© has become the voice ergonomic replacement for the Dragon unfriendly Notepad version in Windows 11! 

 

Zen Editor© is highly versatile, feature-rich and extremely Dragon friendly! You can set Zen as your default editor for the following file types: txt, ahk, au3, bat, cs, c++, c, csv, cmd, dvc, htm, html, ini, log, reg, vbs, xml

 

The updated Zen Help file is permanently online so you can read all about it before purchasing it :

 

https://speechproductivity.eu/ZenHelp/

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

https://speechproductivity.eu

Turbocharge your Dragon productivity with 40+ Power Addons

From the screenshots, Tom, it doesn't appear to do what I was referring to, unless there is functionality not conveyed by these screenshots. Using the functions (including the one by ChatGPT) published on that AHK forum thread linked above, I could copy some plain text into Windows Clipboard; "transform it" within Clipboard through the wrapping of HTML tags, and paste it into MS Word or my browser-based EHR as "WYSWYG" HTML text.

For example, if I copy <SPAN style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;font-size:12pt">Bold Italic Size 12 Times New Roman from Notepad to MS Word, I would get <SPAN style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;font-size:12pt">Bold Italic Size 12 Times New Roman - sic, WITHOUT any "transformation".

However, if I were to paste <SPAN style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;font-size:12pt">Bold Italic Size 12 Times New Roman through the SKAN function, then I will get: Bold Italic Size 12 Times New Roman on MS Word. The GPT function misses the bar just by a notch.

Correct me if I am wrong: I don't think Auto Box currently does this sort of "transformation". Or does it?


P.S., this forum's reply boxes speak a form of "pidgin" HTML. It will recognize inline HTML styling, and swallow the < > pairs whole (among a whole slew of other whimsical things). Now to be fair, it might be partially a Chrome thing as well.

Bottom line, it was near impossible to get the formatting across on the forum reply box. I think it was finally managed with the "Quick Reply" box.

No, I don't think that the auto box does that. I say I don't think, I didn't program that tool.

 

Here's another stab at what you're asking for. Of course, right now I'm just taking what I have at the moment, and showing what it's doing currently. I would have to consolidate if this is what you're after:

 

From the earlier screenshots, instead of transferring into notepad, I transferred what you are asking here into another tool. What is in the bottom box, is what gets transferred to the target application.

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

Tom

 

Programmer Of SP 7 PRO (speechproductivity.eu)

👍^^^ I see - "rendering". If copying-and-pasting the rendered text into MS Word shows the same, WYSIWYG style, then that would seem to me to be ticket! I also see that it's from your "TopicNotes". Definitely you've got some nifty utilities tucked away or spread out over different toolboxes.

Thanks for sharing, Tom!