Nuance Dragon Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 13 (Old Version)

For the average person, this would be a nightmare to install. There are NO installation instructions, not even so much as Insert CD in the drive and click on... One must go to the website to troubleshoot the problems. The first problem is that clicking on the Windows installer causes the disk to thrash. I tried this on two different computers running Windows 10 with the same result. What you have to do is ignore their FAQ entitled Program will not install and do the following: 1. Right click on the DVD drive. 2. Right click on Install. Thats it. Nuance could have saved me two hours of frustration had they simply included those instructions on the box or in the foldout reference manual. Also, do not use the optional splitter. Plug both the mic and the speaker jacks into their respective outlets. Once, I was able to execute what should have been a piece of cake implementation that was made needlessly difficult by Nuances terrible marketers/documenters, the software worked beautifully in its tutorial. Should anything change, I will update these comments.

I had a very unexpected stroke several moths ago and my left hand still isnt completely back so this has been a real help. Except when I edit -- and I admit I do that a lot -- it cant seem to remember where we are on a page so I almost always have to go back and fix something or other manually. Maybe I dont speak Dragon well enough yet.

I live with a disability that prevents me from using your standard keyboard with relative ease. Dragon NaturallySpeaking has been a bit of a lifesaver, for me. Granted, there are some issues with the way it understands me (even after Ive trained the program, twice). However, as far as speech to text goes, this program is the best! I also think that the fact that Im using a web cam microphone might be why Im having some of the issues that I have. The software does come with its own microphone headset, I just dont use it because it keeps me tethered to the computer. If anybody can recommend a good wireless microphone headset (or microphone) that I can wear with my bowler hat, Id be appreciative!

Ordered this for my friend who is not a quick typist. He absolutely loves being able to dictate directly in Word files. Its a great tool for those who arent used to typing, cant type, have a disability or simply want to relax without using the keyboard. Dragon learns your speech patterns and words over time so the longer and more you use it, the better it becomes at recognizing your distinct speech. You can even tell it to recognize British English, Indian English, southern US English, Pakistani English, etc. so it will adapt to your language. Granted it also works with many other languages, not just English. Heres my Pros & Cons List PROS: 1. It has a very accurate Speech to text system. It understood almost every single word very quickly. 2. It was very fast. I was able to finish my document just as quickly as I had typed it. 3. It comes with a Headset and microphone already in the box. 4. It has many short cut commands like backspace, delete, next line and space. CONS: 1. It took 30 minutes to install from the DVD.

VERY disappointed! As the leader in speech recognition software, I didnt even consider another software vendor. But for a vendor to put software like this into the marketplace that doesnt work install properly on a standard Windows laptop is criminal. After the first install, the program wouldnt work. I followed the instructions, deleted the software and reinstalled it. After 4 additional installations (and uninstalls), I finally gave up in frustration and called for support. Their live support contact information is not easy to find, and after navigating through pages of knowledgebase answers to questions, I was finally able to get their direct-customer support number. I spent 2 hours on the first call, while a very nice knowledgeable Filipino CSR helped me to test various issues with the registry file and other system software which I could not have done by myself. Language was a minor barrier but we were able to work through it. At the end of the two hours, the software still wouldnt work. As he said he would, he emailed further instructions as I was losing patience on being on the phone for 2 hours without a solution to my problem. I tried the subsequent solutions (some of which required that I change system parameters) and they still didnt work. Ive got about 12 hours invested in trying to get this software installed so I can begin to use it, and I still have no answer from Nuance as to what the issue is thats preventing the installation from completing effectively. They need to issue a patch, or otherwise let customers know that there are installation issues that might prevent the software working on a traditional mainstream Windows laptop (Toshiba Satellite).

After loading I get email telling me about new Home 14 or 15. I was ticked off. Started using Dragon when first came on market the newer versions don’t take down your words down any better, just seems to do more stuff that make program over bloated. But for you it might just be perfect.

I am now going to review Dragon Naturally Speaking 13, Home. (Business comes with tools for using Excel and other business programs I dont use that much.) I found the installation process a little interesting as the program progress bar does not seem to move at first. After a while, when I was about ready to give up, it did move and the installation continued. However it was very, very slow. I had turned off my antivirus software as suggested and followed the prompts. Installation process was slow enough that I could have literally gone out, made a meal and then come back and found the installation still in progress. This concerned me a little because I was not sure that my computer was up to the task of running this program as expected. My computer runs Win 7 Pro, with a 2.66 GHz processor, four gigs of RAM even though Windows 7 can only utilize 3.5 gigs. I am now typing this in Word 2007 and it seems to be working quite well. When I went through the registration process, I noticed that it one point a window came up and said that it needed the serial number. The serial number was already in the box and was highlighted. When I pressed continue or next, a window popped up and said that the registration was not completed. I went back and took out the highlighted number and then retyped it using the numbers at the top of the keyboard rather than on the keypad, as previous experiences shown that some programs in some instances will not accept the import from the keypad the same way they accept information from the numbers across the top of the keyboard above the letters. DO NOT put n the hyphens, as I believe the program will not register properly if you do. There is a sentence that tells you not to put them in. Getting used to this is interesting as it seems to recognize all my words and unfortunately my bad grammar and my way of speaking in run-on sentences. However, as I learn the commands, I think that it will be quite helpful in getting my thoughts down at a higher rate of speed. So far the accuracy is very, very good probably more than 99%. It doesn’t like words like very, very good (two of the same word repeated.) I just tried using Dragon in Final Draft 2.5. I use it for script writing and for movie production. The Dragon box came up and would allow me to paste my text into the program and it seemed to work just fine. This one extra step is probably not a huge issue and will actually allow me to edit my thoughts better than if I type directly into the program. So very pleased with this program so far. Follow the instructions for installation to the letter. They are there for a reason and you probably won’t have any problems.

this is a good option if you have trouble typing . the out of the box accuracy is very good. On the negative side, I have outlook 2010 and windows 7 and the dragon software is totally messing up my outlook and visa versa about every other day. you have to shut down the system, disable add-ins, stop tasks that are frozen using the task manager and all sorts of magical thinking types of activity to get things back on track. then it happens again. Also, if you discover that you are having problems running programs that worked before after you installed Dragon, it is dragon . My advice. call the tech line at nuance early and often. They provide free support for the first couple of weeks, after that, you are on your own with a computer that is quite idiosyncratic. Like I said, good option if you cant type.

I bought this for a computer that was running windows 7 or 8 and had to upgrade to windows 10 when I bought a new computer about 1 year later. I was told by tech support, that I have to buy a new version of dragon to get it to work the same as it did on the old computer.

Firstly, dont purchase the disc + headset bundle. The software already comes with a headset included in the box, a fact which I discovered after ordering and receiving the bundle and ending up with an extra headset. So ordering the bundle will result in you receiving the software and the headset it comes with in one box, and another box with a second headset. That offer is quite deceiving. Despite being annoyed at spending a little extra money, I didnt consider it worth returning the extra headset since I got it all on sale for a decent price, and because I may end up needing a replacement headset at some point anyway. As for the speech recognition itself, its decent. Not as amazing as I was hoping; I do have to spend a little time correcting mistakes, and it also slows you down to have to speak the punctuation out loud. But this is the first speech recognition software Ive used, and Im betting as far as speech recognition goes, its good. The uses of the Home version are kind of limited because of it not being compatible with many programs, meaning it will not enter the text directly into said programs/emails/etc. for you. But it can still be used pretty much anywhere by putting the insertion point where you want the text, and then as you speak your speech will appear in Dragons dictation box, from which you can easily transfer it to your designated spot with a simple click of the Transfer button. So, I found that pretty cool. My main reason for getting Dragon is Im a transcriptionist and my hands tend to get tired and stiff from typing. I was hoping that me dictating and then editing would be at least as quick as me typing, as well as sparing my hands from strain, but so far, its not really been worth it due to the time it takes to continually transfer the speech from the dictation box into my program, which gets me behind from dictating the words from the audio Im listening to, so then I have to skip back the audio once the dictation box gets out of the way, plus edit any mistakes I see, and I actually find it easier to manually insert punctuation when I review each portion that I transfer rather than speaking all of the punctuation. Eventually I may be able to make it work out better, but so far, it slows me down a bit, so I only use it sometimes. Just figured Id explain that for anyone else considering this for transcription. But the speech recognition aspect is decent as long as youre willing to check for mistakes. There tend to be at least a couple or few mistakes per paragraph in my experience so far.