I've been googling for this for like 30 minutes. Where can I find the complete list of navigation commands that come with Dragon? I can only find cheat sheets that feel incomplete.

I'm assuming that there are commands out there for moving to the next or previous sentence, and commands out there for moving to the next or previous paragraph, but I'm unable to find them.

When I ask Dragon software, "what can I say", I can tell that list is incomplete. It doesn't show commands like, "move back a word" that I just tested and know exist.

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Say open command browser to view the entire list of global and application-specific commands. The list may appear a bit awkward because Nuance additionally details every word combination in each command. It initially looks a little odd but makes good sense after you get used of the structure.

You can forget about that silly Dragon What Can I Say 4 choice command. We have no idea why Nuance even bothered. In Dragon 12, if you said What Can I Say, it would open a reasonably extended list of about 30 popular commands. When you drop your cursor into a different application, the PDF sidebar would change but the operation took about 12 seconds and may have been embarrassing. Nuance replaced it with what you see now and would've been better off if they just dropped it entirely.

We thought about this poorly implemented design and fixed it in our KnowBrainer 2017 command utility. When you open KnowBrainer 2017, you see every global and application-specific commands in a sidebar. Even better, you have direct access and can edit any KnowBrainer commands; unlike Dragon commands. Of course we also created KnowBrainer 2017 to triple Dragon's command efficiency by eliminating two thirds of them.

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Here's an image of what I found https://imgur.com/kCI6RBQ

From this list, I don't think any ability to move back or forward a paragraph. By paragraph, I mean a block of text separated by whitespace. This is functionality come with Dragon software?

https://imgur.com/kCI6RBQ

https://imgur.com/kCI6RBQhttps://imgur.com/kCI6RBQ

https://imgur.com/kCI6RBQ

(This response is pasted in from another thread on this forum, from about a year ago.)

Dragon has a huge number of built-in commands. Nobody knows the exact number. Tens of thousands? Maybe hundreds of thousands? Possibly millions? The large number is due, in part, to many commands having variations, e.g., "go to top," "go to the top," "go to the top of the document" and so on.

I doubt anyone has counted every command. There are too many. Besides, the commands don't appear in a list. Instead, the commands are stored in a database. To locate commands, you need to go "hunting" for keywords. The database is neither easy nor intuitive to search, but with experience, mining the database via keywords can yield useful results.

The point of entry to the database is the "Command Browser." To search, view the Command Broswer in "Browse" mode.

Despite the huge variety of Dragon commands, they don't cover every task an individual might want. So if you want a command to, for example, dock a window to the left, you may be stuck creating your own.

I just had a quick look in the Command Browser, and didn't find any commands that include the word "dock" (although a handful include "docked" -- but they don't do what you want.)

That doesn't mean Dragon window docking commands don't exist. The keyword may be something other than "dock." The names of build-in commands do not always match what you think they should be. In Word, for example, Dragon commands for highlighting text do not include the word "highlight." The keyword is "shade," as in "shade it in teal" and (unbelievably) "shade column five hundred and eight in white!"

I had no idea there were highlighting commands triggered by the word "shade"! Thanks, Alan!

Thanks a lot for the info! This was very helpful

The functionality to jump between paragraphs is there, although not in every application.

For example, in Word or Outlook you can say "go to the next paragraph." However, if when typing documents, your habit is to press Enter twice to start a new paragraph, you'll need to say the command twice. That's because you have effectively added a blank paragraph between two paragraphs containing text.

However, if you use Word's default paragraph style, you'll only have to say the command once. That's because the default paragraph style includes "padding" after paragraphs. It looks like Enter was pressed twice, but in reality, it was only pressed once. So there is no blank paragraph between paragraphs containing text.

Perhaps a more reliable way to navigate around documents is to use the "insert before" and "insert after" commands. To move the cursor into the first paragraph in this message -- let's pretend this is a Word document -- here are examples of what I could say:

"insert before functionality"
"insert before the functionality"

"insert after application"
"insert after application period"

"insert before jump"
"insert after jump"

There are dozens of other possibilities. It all depends on exactly where you want the cursor to end up.

To use the Command Browser to zero in on Dragon commands, you'll need to experiment, perhaps a lot. I spent hours before I finally cottoned on. Here is a short primer I wrote on the topic a few years ago:

A technique for discovering built-in commands

Comprehensive lists of all Dragon commands do not exist. There are too many commands - hundreds of thousands, maybe millions. You may be able to guess some, but most commands must be discovered:

1. Open the "Command Browser"
2. Click "Browse."
3. Click "Context" and choose an application from the drop-down list.
4. Click "Keyword Filter."
5. Choose one (or more) keywords you think might be part of the command name.
6. Click "Done."
7. Choose a promising looking command in the right pane.
8. Choose a command in the right pane, and repeatedly click "Ellipsis" until "Ellipsis" grays out. (You might need to click many times.)
9. Click "Show All."

This process is not intuitive. Trial-and-error experimentation will lead you to understand when (if ever) to click "Optional," "Or," and "Back to List."

How to interpret commands in the Command Browser

Many commands are cryptic-looking. For example:

Clear [the] formats from ( ( that | this | it ) | [the] selection | ...

The ellipsis ... means that part of the command name is cut off. Click "Ellipsis" to expand the view.

Words in square brackets are optional. For example, you can say "Clear the formats..." or "Clear formats..."

The vertical line means "OR." When different words appear between parentheses, choose one of the listed words. For example, you can say "Clear formats from that" OR "Clear formats from this" OR "Clear formats from it." The three are equivalent.

Thanks a lot, that was very helpful.

I'm confused as I browse. Why can I find the "insert" command here?

https://imgur.com/O9N7sLD

In DragonPad, I often use "insert before (word)"

Our best guess is that Dragon doesn't list some of the built-in AI commands like search internet for <dictation> but this is just a guess.

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Clicking or even double-clicking an ellipsis doesn't do anything for me. Pressing Control + E (or dictating it) does, though. That's the shortcut for expanding the ellipsis on the pop-up list.

Right clicking and selecting "Show all" on that list (or using the keyboard shortcut) repeatedly also expands the command name.

Curiously, playing around with commands I found that I can turn Bold, Underline, Italics, and Superscript on and off in Word 2010, and I can turn subscript on, but there's no command to turn it off. I had to create my own command to do that.

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James McVay

The "subscript" command for Microsoft Word is a toggle. After you've turned on subscript formatting by saying, for example, "subscript," you turn it off by saying the command again.

 

I don't find that to be the case in Microsoft Word 2010. I can toggle Bold, Italics, Underline, Strikethrough, and Superscript on and off by saying, for example, “Bold on” and “Bold off.”

 

However, if I want to type

 

X₂

 

I need to say "X, no-space numeral 2," (pause for the command) "set that to subscript." Change and Make can be used instead of "Set," of course. Saying that again doesn't toggle Subscript off. Saying "Subscript off" doesn't do anything. Nor do variations such as "turn subscript off," "toggle subscript," etc.

 

As Alan points out, you can say "click subscript" to toggle it on and off by clicking the icon on the ribbon, but that's different. If you know of a command for Subscript like those used toggle Bold, Underline, etc. that works, I'd love to hear about it.

 

Edit: interestingly enough, the Command Browser doesn't list “Bold on,” “Underline on,” etc. but they work nevertheless.

 

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James McVay

Yes, it was a surprise for me, as well. I was trying to figure out how to find built-in commands, entered an unrelated term as a keyword, and noticed that one of the results included the word "shade."

There are no built-in commands for Microsoft Word that include the word "highlight," although paradoxically -- or is it ironically? -- if the "Home" ribbon is exposed, you can say "click Text Highlight Color" which will activate the default text highlight button.

 

But this is NOT a built-in command. Dragon generates commands on-the-fly based on visible objects in the user interface. You can discover these automatically-generated commands by hovering the mouse cursor over ribbon objects, reading the resulting tooltips, and prefacing them with the word "click." But if the Home ribbon is not visible, this automatically-generated command will not be recognized. This ability to generate commands on-the-fly only works with objects that you can see. In other words, if the Home ribbon is exposed, do not expect commands that are on the "Insert," Page Layout," "View," etc. ribbons to be recognized -- unless Nuance's developers decided to include it as a built-in command. For example, "insert footnote" is is always recognized as a Word command, even if the "References" ribbon is not visible.

 

I find this behaviour bizarre, but I don't fault Nuance for these inconsistencies. I think it is more of a consequence of Microsoft's decision to get rid of menus and replace them with ribbons.

I just realized that "subscript" (or depending on how you have configured Dragon, "click subscript") only works when the Home ribbon is exposed. So try this.

1. Ensure the "Home" ribbon is visible.

2. Dictate a few words, e.g., "this is a test"

3. Say "click subscript" [this toggles subscripts on]

4. Dictate a few more words, e.g., "this is another test"

5. Say "click subscript" [this toggles subscripts off]

6. Dictate the last batch of words, e.g., "And this is the final test"

When I follow these steps, only the words dictated during step 4 appear as subscripts.

If you use of superscripts and subscripts frequently, it may be worthwhile to create custom commands. But if you only do it occasionally, this method seems to work, as long as the Home ribbon is front and centre.

Try creating two identical commands, one called "Subscript on" and the other "Subscript off"



Sub Main
' Set the Reference to "Microsoft Word XX.00 Object Library (X.X)"
' The values of X will depend on the version of Word
Selection.Font.Subscript = wdToggle
End Sub

I hope you will be reassured when I tell you that there is nothing intuitive or easy about hunting for commands in the Command Browser.

The reason you can't find commands that include the word "insert" for DragonPad is that that the context is wrong.

Change the context from DragonPad to "Dragon - Voice Dictation Commands," and you will be able to find it.

You guessed the context would be DragonPad, and that is a reasonable hunch. Unfortunately, the logic that underlies the Command Browser can be convoluted!