Dragon can do a lot. I use Dragon to navigate the Windows operating system and a number of apps hands-free. Some programmers even use it for hands-free coding in conjunction with other apps. Dragon’s functionality can be affected by app compatibility. There can be a difference in functionality even in Dragon compatible apps like desktop versions of Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365). A few years back, I decided that I wanted to become a power user of Microsoft Excel and was studying tutorials. Office 365 was installed on my computer. I kept trying to dictate parentheses and Dragon was not recognizing those symbols. There are number of Excel formulas that require parentheses. I thought that Dragon had become corrupted. After a lot of back and forth with Nuance support, I found out that it is not possible to dictate parentheses () in the Microsoft 365 version of Excel. Only the desktop version of Excel has the full text control that would allow me to dictate parentheses.
There is even a difference in Dragon functionality between the Microsoft Business 365 plans. If you want to have any Dragon editing capability, you want to invest in the Microsoft Business 365 Standard plan or higher. Basically, you want the downloadable desktop apps. Downloading the desktop apps in order to access Dragon’s editing functions also applies to the Personal Microsoft 365 license.
The Help section of Dragon is comprehensive, but it’s not that helpful if you’re new to the software and don’t know what questions to ask. For example, when I first started using Dragon, I had no idea that Dragon could be move a computer mouse between monitors. So, there I was manually dragging calendar entries and app windows between 2 monitors. If I had known about the “List All Windows” command that allows you to navigate between open windows and programs, I could’ve been spared some wrist pain. While that command is listed on the Dragon cheat sheet, there is no explanation as to what that command does and it isn’t listed in the Dragon Professional workbook or Interactive Tutorial for Version 15. Many people work with multiple monitors. So, I don’t understand why the “List All Windows” command is not explained in the software’s basic training.
Learning Dragon can be a bit frustrating. So, some perseverance is required. If you would like to know more about the full capabilities of the newest version of Dragon (version 16) check out the comprehensive review by Lunis Orcutt, publisher of KnowBrainer.
