Customizing Voice Commands

I can just imagine that about now you are going crazy telling your computer to do things, launching programs, closing programs, and deleting text with your voice willy-nilly just for the fun of it. (This feature always brings out the drill sergeant in people. . . .)

Well, stop for a moment. I have a few more things to say about Speech, then I'll leave you to play with it. First, I want to tell you how to configure which sets of commands Speech will recognize. Then I want to tell you how you can use your keyboard to help you control the speech mode.

Which voice commands do you want?

Voice commands don't offer you too many bells and whistles to customize, but you can tell your Tablet PC which categories of commands you want to be active.

Say, for example, that you don't want editing tools to work through Speech because your second-grader constantly opens your important client report, turns on speech, and says 'Delete, Delete, Delete' just for the fun of it. Well, you could send the kid to bed without supper, or you could turn off the editing category of voice commands. (Honestly, I can't think of many other reasons why you'd want to do so, but I figured I should tell you how, just in case.)

To select which categories of voice commands are active, follow these steps:

1. With the Input Panel open choose Speech ToolsðVoice Command Configuration.

   The dialog box in Figure 6-9 appears.

   
   Figure 6-9: Choose to deactivate any of these five categories from this dialog box.

2. Tap in any check box to deselect that category.

3. If you want to deselect only certain types of commands in a category, select the category and tap Details.

   The Details dialog box (shown in Figure 6-10) appears.

   
   Figure 6-10: Deselecting some options, such as Controlling Speech, may come at a price in terms of Speech accuracy.

4. Tap in any check box to deselect its subset of commands.

5. When you're done deselecting categories, tap OK to close the Details dialog box.

6. Tap OK to close the Voice Command Configuration dialog box.

Don't forget your keyboard

When you type a document (surely you remember the old-fashioned before-Tablet-PC way to work), you are constantly switching between typing text and using your keyboard, menus, and tool buttons to get the task done.

When you use speech to add content and implement computer commands, you'll find the same principle applies: You often switch between the two. For that reason, Tablet PC makes it possible to assign keyboard keys (for any attached non-virtual keyboard) that turn on Dictation or Voice Command.

 Remember  Dictation and Voice Command can't be on at the same time; activating one deactivates the other.

To set up this handy arrangement, follow a few simple steps:

1. From the Input Panel, choose ToolsðOptions.

   The Options dialog box appears.

2. Tap the Speech tab.

3. Near the bottom of the Speech sheet, tap the Keyboard Mode Key Settings link.

   The Keyboard Mode Key Settings dialog box appears.

4. Tap the Assign Mode Buttons check box shown in Figure 6-11.

   
   Figure 6-11: Just don't forget which key you assigned or you could find yourself dictating when you least expect to.

5. Tap the arrow on the Dictation Key drop-down list; select a key from that list to activate Dictation mode.

6. Repeat Step 5 to choose the Voice Command Key.

7. Tap OK twice to save your settings.

Okay, now you can go back to speaking to your computer. Happy talking!