Aug 20, 2019

Dragon NaturallySpeaking tip: killing the "please say that again" message


One annoying default setting for dictation using Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking is the display of a message which appears if speech is unclear or - more usually - when there is some background noise. Depending on the active settings, the message box may persist and cover up text so that it cannot be read easily or at all. This is particularly annoying when one edits while dictation is active.

It is possible to limit the amount of time this message is displayed or eliminate it altogether.

The solution to the problem is found in the DNS options:


Under Appearance...


The auto-hide delay settings in the Results Box section are the key. Set to "Never show" (as in the screenshot above), that annoying message will never appear on your screen. If you want to see it for some period of time, choose the desired time to display (the delay before hiding) and when the message appears, right click on it and enable Auto-hide:


Then the message will display and disappear again after the specified time. In my work, I find it an unnecessary interference that can be triggered by a noisy laptop fan or background chatter in Portuguese (when the doutora has visitors), so I turn off the message entirely as shown above.


(Many thanks to David Hardisty for making me aware of this possibility!)

3 comments:

  1. dargon has a number of irritating defects that are never solved or hidden as in this example. The most irritating is a constant "blurting" "him" over and over again. Which is attributed to low mic volume which is never true

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    Replies
    1. I've seen that problem, but using good microphones took care of it. I never see that with my Plantronics earpiece, for example.

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  2. thank you so much. that message was always on and ALWAYS covered my typing even though I have a good headset/mic. much appreciated!!!

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