Appendix: Managing Custom

Words and Commands in Stand

Alone Mode

This section contains information on how you can add or remove the custom words, vocabularies, and commands for a User Profile if you are going to run in stand alone mode instead of with Nuance Management Server as the administrative server.

Adding words, commands, or Vocabularies to User Profiles

If you are running Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional in stand alone mode, you use the

nsadmin

utility to make new words, customized Vocabularies, or new commands available to all

User Profiles on a particular installation of Dragon. Both the nsadmin utility can work across a network.

The nsadmin utility lets you use the command line to make new words, commands, and

Vocabularies available to users. The nsadmin utility can perform only one action at a time.

However, you can create a batch file or script that can perform multiple nsadmin operations on a computer.

Note

If you are using Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional with Nuance Management Server for administration, use the Command Set and Word Sharing features to maintain custom words and commands, not the Data Distribution Tool or nsadmin.

You can use the Voctool to customize a Vocabulary by adding new words or optimizing the language model for a particular User Profile. For more information, see the Voctool Help.

Nsadmin utility for new words, Vocabularies, and commands

Dragon Professional, and Dragon Legal include the nsadmin utility. The nsadmin utility is a command line utility that lets you make new words, customized Vocabularies, and new commands available to all users on a particular installation of Dragon.

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The nsadmin utility performs only one operation at a time. You can write a batch file or script to execute multiple nsadmin operations on each computer.

For step-by-step instructions on using the nsadmin utility, see the following topics: n

Creating the Data Distribution Directory

n

Starting the nsadmin command line utility

n

Adding custom words from a command line

n

Adding and removing custom Vocabularies from a command line

n

Adding custom commands from a command line

You can use the Data Distribution Tool to run the nsadmin utility from a GUI. For more information, see Starting the Data Distribution Tool.

Creating the Data Distribution Directory

You create a data distribution directory to store word lists, commands, or both, that you plan to distribute to multiple users of Dragon NaturallySpeaking .

When word lists and commands are in the data distribution directory, as soon as a person opens their User Profile, Dragon automatically imports words and commands from the data distribution directory into the User Profile. This occurs regardless of the location of the computer the user dictates on.

You can use the Data Distribution Tool to put words and commands into a data distribution directory. For more information, see Starting the Data Distribution Tool.

Note: The default installation of Dragon places custom words for existing Dragon users in:

Windows 7/Windows 8

C:\ProgramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking13\Custom

Create a data distribution directory in a location other than the default location

Repeat the following steps for each workstation that should share the distributed words or commands.

1. In Dragon, close all open users.

2. On the network, create a directory and give all users that dictate with Dragon access to the directory. Grant read access to that dictate. Grant write access only to administrators.

3. If Dragon is running, on the New DragonBar or Classic DragonBar, select Tools > Admin-

istrative Settings. When the Administrative Settings dialog box opens, proceed to

Step 6.

4. If Dragon is not running, select Start > Run. When the Run dialog box opens, in the Open text box, type the following, making sure to put a space between natspeak.exe and the

/SetDefaultAdministrativeOptions option:

"C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking13

\Program\natspeak.exe"/setdefaultadministrativeoptions

(The quotation marks are required because Program Files contains a space. Your path might not require quotation marks.)

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Appendix: Managing Custom Words and Commands in Stand Alone Mode

5. Click OK.

6. When the Administrative Settings dialog box opens, if the user opens automatically, click Cancel to close the user or go to the DragonBar and select Profile > Close User

Profile.

7. Click the Miscellaneous tab.

8. In the Data distribution location text box, click Change... and browse to a location where you want Dragon to store custom words and commands.

9. Click OK.

10. Click Apply to save the changes.

11. Click OK to close the dialog box.

You can now use the Data Distribution Tool or the nsadmin command line utility to put new words and commands into the data distribution directory. For more information, see

Starting the Data Distribution Tool

or Starting the nsadmin command line utility

.

Starting the nsadmin command line utility

You can use the nsadmin utility on a command line to make new words, vocabularies, or commands available to users. 

The nsadmin utility performs only one operation at a time. However, you can write a batch file or script to execute multiple nsadmin operations on a computer. You can place the network location of new words or vocabularies in a script and run the script from a client machine to copy the new functionality to the machine.

You can find the nsadmin.exe file in the \Program directory under the parent Dragon installation directory. The default installation directory for Dragon is C:\Program

Files\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking13\Program .  

The nsadmin utilitysupports both mapped drives and UNC paths. For more information,

see Using paths with nsadmin

.

Before you can use the nsadmin utility, you must create a data distribution directory. For

more information, see Creating Data Distribution Directory .

Start the nsadmin utility

1. Select Start > All Programs > Dragon NaturallySpeaking > Tools > NSAdmin

nsadmin starts in a DOS window and lists the nsadmin syntax.

Display help information for the nsadmin utility

1. From a command prompt, type nsadmin/?

Command line syntax for the nsadmin utility

The nsadmin.exe utility uses the following syntax.

nsadmin <operation> <parameters> [options]

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Commands and parameters

/commands <src_filename>

/words <src_filename>

/vocabulary <src_directory> "<language or dialect> | <model name> |

<category>" <topic ID>

/vocabulary delete <topic ID>

Options

/language enx | fra | deu | ita | jpn | esp | nld

/overwrite yes | no | ask

/validate yes | no | ask

/?

Description

Adds a command file to the local installation of Dragon.

Adds a list of new words to the local installation of Dragon.

Adds a vocabulary from <src_directory> or an exported .top file to the NaturallySpeaking <language> using the specified <model name>, <category> and <topic ID>.

Deletes the base vocabulary specified by <topic ID>.

Specifies an installed language that you want to add words, commands, or a vocabulary to. The default value is "enx".

Specifies overwrite rules if a file exists with the same name as the fie you are adding. The default value is ask.

For adding commands from xml files. The default value is ask.

Displays the command syntax.

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Adding custom words from a command line

You can use nsadmin to make new words available to all users on a particular installation of

Dragon.

You must first either create a text file or export words from an existing user's installation of

Dragon before you can distribute the words (for example, a list of new drug names) to a different installation of Dragon.

After you use nsadmin to import the custom words, you must close your users, re-open the users, and save them for the changes to become available.

Create a text file that contains custom words

1. Create a text file.

2. At the top of the text file, add @Version=Plato-UTF8.

3. In the text file, add each word or phrase that you want to add to the vocabulary. Make sure each word or phrase uses correct spelling and is on a separate line. Each line can only contain a maximum of 99 characters (written and spoken combined).

4. If you have Dragon installed on another computer, you can use it to create custom words and export the words to a .txt file. See "To export a list of custom words or phrases" in the main Dragon Help file.

Notes: l

Type the written form of the word first.

l

To add a multiple-word phrase, such as "Mayberry Tribune", type it on one line.

l

To add a spoken form of a word, type the word, followed by two backslashes \\, and the spoken form of the word. For example, to have Dragon enter "Robert F. Kennedy" when you say "RFK", in the text file, type Robert F. Kennedy\\RFK.

Appendix: Managing Custom Words and Commands in Stand Alone Mode

Export words from a Dragon installation

If you have Dragon available on another machine, you can use it to create custom words and export the words to a .txt file. For more information, see "To export a list of custom words or phrases" in the main Dragon Help file.

Add custom words to a shared location

When you use nsadmin, you can enter paths as complete local paths, relative paths, mapped network drives, a UNC path, or the path to removable media such as a CD-ROM

drive. For more information, see Using paths with nsadmin .

Perform the following steps after you create a text file that contains custom words or after you export words from an installation of Dragon:

1. If you have not already created it, create the data distribution directory. For more inform-

ation, see Creating the Data Distribution Directory on page 265.

2. On each computer that a user uses for dictation, map a network drive to the location of the data distribution directory. As an alternative, you may reference the network UNC address of the location of the nsadmin utility.

3. In a command prompt, type a command to add the custom words from the .txt file. The following command copies the NewWords.txt file to the

In Windows 7/Windows 8

C:\ProgramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking13\Custom\Enx\NewWords.txt

directory:

<PATH>\nsadmin /words G:\NsAdmin\NewWords.txt

The next time you open a user, Dragon automatically updates the user's words to include the words from the .txt file.

Use the command line to overwrite a custom word file

1. Use the /overwrite option to overwrite an existing custom word file. If the custom word file already exists in the \ProgramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking13\Custom\enx directory, Dragon overwrites it without prompting you.

The following command overwrites the NewWords.txtcustom word file:

<PATH>\nsadmin /words G:\NsAdmin\NewWords.txt /overwrite=yes

Note

If you add custom words to a Commands Only vocabulary, Dragon does not retain those words if you upgrade the user at a later date. In general, you should not add custom words to a Commands Only vocabulary.

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Adding and removing custom Vocabularies from a command line

You can use nsadmin to make a customized Vocabulary available to all users on a particular installation of Dragon. For example, you can use nsadmin to copy a user's Vocabulary and set it as the base Vocabulary on any installation of Dragon. After you add a base Vocabulary to an installation of Dragon, new users you create can use that Vocabulary.

The nsadmin command uses the following syntax:

<PATH>\nsadmin /vocabulary <directory> "<language or dialect> | <model name> |

<category>" <topic_ID>

Parameters Description

<language or dialect>

Links a Vocabulary to a language. For example, US English or UK English for an English install. The language or dialect must exist in the version of Dragon on the computer.

<model_ name>

Specifies the size of the Vocabulary you are importing.

<category> Describes the content of the Vocabulary, for example, Astronomy or Marketing.

<topic_ID> Sets an ID for a topic.

The following nsadmin command copies the model name (Large), the category (Nuance), and the topic ID (9005) to the models.ini file and copies the contents of the myvoc directory to

\ProgramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking13\Data\enx\Custom9005\.

<PATH>\nsadmin /vocabulary G:\NsAdmin\myvoc "US English | Large | 

Nuance" 9005

Notes n

The default installation of Dragon installs Vocabularies for existing Dragon users in the following directory:

\ProgramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking13\Users\<user_name>\current n

Vocabulary files have a *.voc file extension.

n

In the Professional and Legal editions of Dragon, you can use Voctool to customize a

Vocabulary. For more information on Voctool, see Customizing Vocabularies with the

Dragon Vocabulary Tool (Voctool).

n

If you create a User Profile on a dual core machine that uses a custom Vocabulary, make sure that the User Profile uses the BestMatch V speech model (BestMatch V has the greatest recognition accuracy on dual-core systems with more than 2 GB of RAM).

To check this, select the Advance button on the Creating a User Profile screen of the

New User Profile wizard and make sure that BestMatch V is selected.

Prepare to use the command line to add a Vocabulary

1. If you have not already created it, create the data distribution directory. For more inform-

ation, see Creating the Data Distribution Directory

.

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Appendix: Managing Custom Words and Commands in Stand Alone Mode

2. On each computer that a user uses for dictation, in a command prompt, start the nsad-

min utility and use it to add the Vocabulary to the data distribution directory. Make sure to reference the network UNC address of the computer in the command. Use the following syntax for the command:

<PATH>\nsadmin /vocabulary <directory> "<language or dialect> | 

<model name> | <category>" <topic_ID>

The next time you open a user, Dragon automatically updates the user's

Vocabularies. For more information on using the nsadmin utility, see Starting the nsadmin command line utility

.

Use the command line to overwrite a Vocabulary

1. Use the /overwrite option to overwrite an existing Vocabulary file. If the Vocabulary file already exists in \Pro-

gramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking13\Data\enx\Custom9005\, Dragon overwrites it without prompting you.

The following command overwrites the myvoc topic:

<PATH>\nsadmin /vocabulary G:\NsAdmin\myvoc "US English | Large | 

Nuance" 9005 /overwrite=yes

Use the command line to add an exported Vocabulary

You can use the nsadmin utility to distribute a Vocabulary that you create using a separate installation of Dragon. A Dragon Vocabulary that you export saves as a group of files.

One of the exported files has a .top file extension, the other files have .to* file extensions, where * is an integer.

1. In a command prompt, provide the path to the file with the .top file extension as an argument to the nsadmin utility. Do NOT include the .top file extension on the command line.

The following command adds the myvoc exported topic (myvoc.top) as a new base

Vocabulary:

<PATH>\nsadmin /vocabulary D:\MyDocuments\myvoc "US English | 

Large | Nuance" 9005

Use the command line to remove a base Vocabulary

1. On each client computer, in a command prompt, enter a command to delete the Vocabulary and the corresponding entry in models.ini. You cannot use Vocabularies that are based on a base Vocabulary you delete. Use the following syntax:

<PATH>\nsadmin /vocabulary delete <topic_ID>

The following nsadmin command deletes a Vocabulary with a topic id of 9005:

<PATH>\nsadmin /vocabulary delete 9005

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Adding custom commands from a command line

Custom commands are voice commands that you can create and modify to enter text, insert graphics, or activate menus and keystrokes in any application. You can use the

MyCommands Editor to create custom commands or the Command Browser to modify custom commands.

You can use the nsadmin tool to copy a set of custom commands to the data distribution directory and make the set of custom commands available to all users of a particular installation of Dragon

Before you use the nsadmin utility, you must have already created a data distribution

directory, as explained in Creating the Data Distribution Directory .

Notes n

The default installation of Dragon places custom commands for existing Dragon users here:

In Windows 7/Windows 8

C:\ProgramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking13\custom\<language>\NewWords.txt

n

After you import the custom commands to Dragon, for the changes to become available to those users, you must close your users, then re-open and save the users. n

You can enter a path as a complete local path, a relative path, a mapped network drive, a UNC path, or the path to removable media, such as a DVD or CD drive. For more

information, see Using paths with nsadmin

.

Use the command line to add custom commands

Use the Command Browser Manage mode to export custom commands to a .dat file.

1. In Dragon,create custom commands.

2. Use the Command Browser to export the custom commands to a .dat file, for example,

NewCommands.dat.

3. If you have not already created it, create the data distribution directory. For more inform-

ation, see Creating the Data Distribution Directory

.

4. On each computer that a user uses for dictation, in a command prompt, type a command line using the following syntax, to add the custom commands from the .dat file. Reference the network address of the data distribution directory in the command:

<PATH>\nsadmin /commands G:\NsAdmin\NewCommands.dat

The next time you open a user, Dragon updates the commands in the User Profile for the user.

Use the command line to add custom commands to a language other than English

Use the /language option to associate commands with a non-English language.

The following command associates the NewCommands.dat file with the language of

French.

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Appendix: Managing Custom Words and Commands in Stand Alone Mode

<PATH>\nsadmin /commands G:\NsAdmin\NewCommands.dat /language=fra

Use the command line to overwrite a custom command file

Use the /overwrite option to overwrite an existing command file.

The following command overwrites the NewCommands.dat file if it already exists in the

G:\NsAdmin directory. Dragon overwrites the file without prompting you.

<PATH>\nsadmin /commands G:\NsAdmin\NewCommands.dat /overwrite=yes

Using paths with nsadmin

When you use the nsadmin utility, you can use a path that is a complete local path, a relative path, a mapped network drive, a UNC path, or the path to removable media, such as a DVD or CD drive. If a path name includes spaces, you must enclose the path name in quotation marks.

When you are running nsadmin from a directory other than the one nsadmin resides in, you must provide the full path to the nsadmin.exe program on the command line.

The following command copies the NewCommands.dat file to the

<drive>:\ProgramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking13\custom\enx\NewC ommands.dat directory.

 <PATH>\nsadmin /commands \\HostComputer\NsAdmin\NewCommands.dat

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