Using Dictation with EverWeb

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Your Mac operating system includes a built in Dictation program that lets you use speech as an alternative method of text input in applications such as EverWeb.

Dictation is great for those with mobility problems, or for conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome or other forms of Repetitive Strain Injury that can affect the use of hands, wrists, arms and even shoulders.

It’s also useful if you just want a break from using the keyboard or want to capture some free flow thinking on your computer, such as when writing a blog post.

You can use either Standard or Enhanced Dictation on your Mac.

Enhanced Dictation is recommended as you can use it even if you are offline and there’s live feedback as you speak.

However, it does take up about 420 MB of your local hard disk space so if you are tight on disk space you may want to use Standard Dictation instead.

To install Dictation on your computer:

Open System Preferences on your Mac

Next double click on the 'Accessibility' icon.

Scroll down the list on the left and click on ‘Dictation'.

In the panel on the right click on the 'Open Dictation Preferences...' button. On the next screen you will see that Dictation is currently set to off. Click the 'On' radio button to set dictation on.

Notice that Enhanced Dictation is automatically applied by default. If you do not want this, uncheck the 'Enhanced Dictation' checkbox.

Enhanced Dictation will now be downloaded to your computer.

Once installed, close the System Preferences.

To use Dictation in EverWeb go to a page in your project file that you want use dictation with.

Add a new TextBox or click in an existing TextBox as in this example.

Press the 'Fn' key twice quickly to start Dictation or use the Edit, Start Dictation menu option.

You will see a microphone displayed. As you speak the volume level in the microphone will go up and down accordingly and your speech will be translated in to text.

I am going to dictate the words ‘Photo cards’ as my page title and Welcome to my Website as the sub heading.

When finished, press the 'Fn' key once to end dictation or use the Edit, Stop Dictation menu command or click on Done on the Microphone icon.

Use the same process for dictation in a blog post, Just place the cursor in the blog post editor window where you want to start the dictation at before pressing the ‘Fn’ key twice.

The more you use Dictation, the more accurate it will become.If at first it’s not too accurate, persevere a little so it gets familiar your voice.

There are also a number of shortcuts available when using dictation for example, to finish a sentence with a period just say 'Period'.

A list of Dictation Shortcuts can be found in the Apple Support Document 'Use your voice to enter text on your Mac' on the Apple website.