Rob's Rhapsody : Features

Microsoft Exchange 2010 Buzz -- Speech is 1 of 5 key features, according to Mary-Jo Foley from ZDNet

robch — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:01:05 GMT

Mary-Jo Foley posted an article on her blog on ZDNet yesterday talking about how the RTM buzz for Microsoft Exchange 2010 is growing louder. It's an interesting read.

The Speech team has been busy at work supporting the Exchange team for quite a while, with a new feature for Exchange that allows users to see a text preview of voice mails that arrive in their inbox.

I've been using it personally for almost 2 years, in one form or another. I recently set my own Exchange server up, and redirected my wife's cell phone voice mails to it too. She now never listens to her voice mails directly. This is a milestone for me, because this is one of the best examples of my work life impacting my personal life, and vice versa. She does give me constructive advice on how to make the system better ... :-)

In most reviews I've read on Exchange 2010 since the public announcement earlier this year, text preview of voice mails is very often listed in the short list of key new features. That's true in Mary-Jo's article also. Here's what she says about Exchange 2010:

The Exchange 2010 release includes new, integrated e-mail archive functionality; the ability to see text previews of voice mail; a new “Conversation View” feature; customizable call-routing menus; and a “MailTips” feature designed to help stamp out e-mail “faux pas.”

Let us know, once you're using Exchange 2010, how you like the voice mail text preview feature. We like hearing from our customers directly. Both what you like, and what you don't like.

Speech Macros, Typing Mode and spelling Mode in Windows Speech Recognition

robch — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:31:34 GMT

A Windows Speech Recognition user wrote in this week to compliment us on Windows Speech Recognition, and to ask a couple questions. I keep seeing these same questions over and over again, so I thought I'd take the time to document my answers for everyone to see!

Here are his questions:

1.) Is Microsoft going to release a macro facility for Windows Vista?

2.) How can you get into a "spell mode"?

Macro Facility

We are planning on releasing a speech macro utility in the near future. It will enable you to do many different types of speech macros, with no programming experience what-so-ever.

With a customized phrase to be recognized, your macros will be able to:

a.) Insert text,

b.) Send keystrokes,

c.) Launch programs, and/or

d.) Pretend that you actually said something else.

It'll be able to do far more than that if you're comfortable with XML and/or VBScript/JScript.

Stay tuned here on this blog and on our team blog for more information on the impending release.

Spelling Mode

If you've ever found yourself in the situation where you wanted to spell lots of things to the computer, letter by letter, you might want to do it faster than saying, "Press Capitol H", "Press E", "Press L", "Press L", "Press O as in Octopus", etc...

That's why we made Spelling mode!

After entering spelling mode by saying "Start Spelling", everything you say will be interpreted as letters and symbols. So ... You could then say things like "Capitol H", "E", and "L L O". If the recognizer makes a mistake, you can go back to that character, by saying the number of cell that the letter or symbol occupies, and then re-say what you wanted.

Spelling mode isn't available in all the languages that Windows Speech Recognition is available in. Perhaps we'll add it to all the other languages in the future.

Typing Mode

For all languages, though, we have something called Typing mode. After entering typing mode by saying "Start Typing", everything you say will be interpreted as a keyboard key. So you can say things like, "Control Shift Right Arrow", or "F1", or "A B C D E F G", etc... Once you're done, you can exit Typing mode by saying "Stop typing".

Live Search for Windows Mobile -- Now with Speech Recognition!!

robch — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:41:33 GMT

The press release just went live. The web site is online. And the details are all spelled out.

Here's what the press release has to say about Live Search:

Live Search for Windows Mobile with voice input. The updated Live Search for Windows Mobile^® 5.0 and 6.0 will be available for download for free on Tuesday, Oct. 16, and now includes voice input (beta version), gas prices, and hours of operation for businesses. The service can also use Global Positioning System (GPS) data on GPS-enabled phones to provide location-aware local search for customers.

Yeah, that's right. Instead of having to type out all those business listings and locations with your thumbs on your tiny phone keypads, now you can simply enter text into Live Search on your phone using speech recognition technologies developed right here at Microsoft!!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a movie must be worth, what? A million words? OK ... Maybe not. But ... At any rate, you should check out this video (~2 minutes) I just uploaded of Live Search for Windows Mobile devices in all it's glory -- Now with Speech Recognition!!

You could also try out this longer video (~8 minutes) if you want to see even more of the cool new features...

If you have a Windows Mobile 5 or Windows Mobile 6 phone, download the app, and start talking your way to finding businesses and addresses.

Windows Speech Recognition - ExactMatchOverPartialMatch

robch — Mon, 07 May 2007 17:57:27 GMT

A user wrote in over the weekend with a question about how to automatically choose an item when prompted with our clarification user interface in Windows Speech Recognition (WSR). But ... Before I answer that question, I have to give a little background.

What is our clarification user interface?

When the recognizer hears the user say something ambiguous and we're not sure what to do, the system will ask the user for clarification (or confirmation). For example, if the user says "File" in an application that both has a "File" menu and a button somewhere that has the word "File" in it (like a toolbar button that is for creating a "New File"), little numbers will fly out and hover over the two items on the screen. The user can then choose, "1", or "2", and then the user can say "OK".

This is related to the feature that David Pogue wrote up as one of 2006's top 10 features of the year. That feature treats everything as ambiguous when the user says "Show Numbers".

There is another form of the clarification user interface, as well, that we use for items that don't have an on screen representation, like applications to start. In this example, if the user says "Start Internet Explorer", the system sees that there are two possible matches, "Internet Explorer" and "Internet Explorer (no add-ins)". Since we're not 100% sure which one the user wanted, we'll ask the user to clarify.

How do I make it automatically pick?

Well, in general, we can't automatically pick the right one because we still haven't perfected "brain wave recognition" yet. :-) But ... Seriously, though ... You can make it better.

There's a feature called ExactMatchOverPartialMatch. It's turned off by default, but you can turn it on by changing a value in the registry. If you're not comfortable changing the registry, don't do this. But if you are, here you go:

key = HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Speech\Preferences
value name = ExactMatchOverPartialMatch
value type = DWORD
value = 1 (default is 0)

After changing this registry setting, you'll have to restart speech. Once that's done, now in the two examples I gave earlier ("File", and "Start Internet Explorer") no clarification user interface will be displayed, because there will be one and only one exact match. "File" == "File", and "Internet Explorer"=="Internet Explorer".

ExactMatchOverPartialMatch wont' solve all your problems, but it will make the system better for a lot of people. Try it out. Let us know what you think.

Windows Speech Recognition in Vista: Dictation Everywhere

robch — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 17:53:00 GMT

Here's a question from a reader about the Dictation Everywhere feature in Windows Speech Recognition in Windows Vista:

This feature is thus very important to me and my future as a PC user.
I have found that in many form fields (such as the one I'm using to send this message) dictation is impossible unless I switch to "Enable dictation everywhere" (otherwise I get "what was that?" messages). There is no short command for switching, and even in that mode I have to confirm every fragment of text I dictate with "one, ok." And then I have to switch out of that mode again for navigation.
It is very important to me that I find ways around this, or at least that a way around it will soon exist. Would you be so kind as to let me know how I can stay up to date with Vista SR improvements, and whom I can contact about its development?
Thank you very much for your time; I really appreciate your efforts to communicate to the public about Vista SR.

Now, for those of you that don't already know, Windows Speech Recognition allows users to dictate into any text field that supports a few standard platform APIs. These APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are used by the speech recognition system, the handwriting recognition system, and input method editors for foreign languages.

However, some text fields in custom applications don't support what's needed. In those cases Windows Speech Recognition has a fall back input method. It's called Dictation Everywhere. You can turn it on by doing this:

Say, "Show Speech Options"
Say, "Options"
Say, "Dictation Everywhere"

That will toggle it on. Doing those three steps again will turn it off.

When Dictation Everywhere is turned on, we'll listen for the user to speak dictated text, even when they're not in an text field that doesn't support those APIs I mentioned. But ... Because the field doesn't support the right APIs, instead of just sticking the text in there, we're going to have a miniature correction experience with the user first. Otherwise, the user wouldn't be able to correct the text if there was a recognition error.

So ... If you're in one of those fields, use the three steps above to turn on dictation, then you can say, "Hello <period> This is a test <period>". The correction dialog will pop up and allow you to pick an alternative from the list. If you don't see what you really said, simple say it again. If you still don't see what you said, you can say "Spell it", and spell what you wanted.

This is the feature that the user was asking about. They'd like to be able to turn the command on and off easily by using a single voice command.

Unfortunately, since we don't have an end user feature either included directly into Vista at this time, nor do we offer one for download (yet!) for creating macros, end users can't really simulate the same impact of turning this feature on and off with a single voice command.

At least not easily...

If you're a programmer (or don't mind dabbling), you certainly could though. In fact, you can create a simple shell script that does this like this:

set Recognizer = CreateObject("SAPI.SpSharedRecognizer")
Recognizer.EmulateRecognition ("show speech options")
WScript.Sleep(1000)
Recognizer.EmulateRecognition ("options")
WScript.Sleep(1000)
Recognizer.EmulateRecognition ("dictation everywhere")
set Recognizer = Nothing

When you run this it will connect to the shared recognizer that Windows Speech Recognition uses, it will pretend that the user spoke "show speech options", then wait for 1 second, then pretend that the user said "options", again wait for another 1 second, then again, pretend the user said "dictation everywhere".

In fact, you can even save this text as a file called "Dictation Everywhere Toggle.vbs" in your start folder (e.g. "c:\documents and settings\{your user name goes here}\start menu\dictation everywhere toggle.vbs") and you'll be able to say to Windows Speech Recognition, "Start Dictation Everywhere Toggle".

Unfortunately, for all this to work, you actually have to turn Access Control (UAC) off. Otherwise, the shell script can't communicate with the shared recognizer.

In the future, though, we'll have a true end to end macro facility to deal with this in a secure way. Stay tuned for more info on that front...

Windows Speech Recognition - Correction Panel Commands

robch — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 02:03:00 GMT

As part of the "Every single thing WSR is listening for" series, here's a list of correction panel commands.

"Number [NUMBER]"
"Select [NUMBER]"
"Click [NUMBER]"
"Choose [NUMBER]"
"[NUMBER]"

Selects an item in the correction panel. Items are numbered: [NUMBER] is a placeholder for numbers one through nine

"Ok"
"Click ok"

Confirms that the selection is correct, or to confirm any other action that requires an explicit confirmation from the user

"Number [NUMBER] ok"
"Select [NUMBER] ok"
"Click [NUMBER] ok"
"Choose [NUMBER] ok"
"[NUMBER] ok"

Selects a numbered item and immediately confirm it; you can say the command all at once

"Cancel"
"Click cancel"
"Close that"
"Close"
"Close panel"
"Close alternates"
"Close alternates panel"

Cancels the correction panel without making any selection

"Spell it"
"I'll spell it myself"

Tells the computer that you will provide a spelling for the item you want (because it doesn't show up on the correction panel)

"Spell one"
"Spell two"
"Spell three"
"Spell four"
"Spell five"
"Spell six"
"Spell seven"
"Spell eight"
"Spell nine"

Provides a spelling for a particular alternate in the correction panel (they are numbered)

Windows Speech Recognition: Dictation commands

robch — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:46:00 GMT

As part of the "Every single thing WSR listens for" series, here's a list of dictation commands:

"Select that"
"Unselect that"
"Clear selection"

Selects/unselects the unit(s) nearest the cursor [typically the last item(s) spoken]

"Correct"
"Correct that"

Selects for correction the unit(s) nearest the cursor [typically the last item(s) spoken]

"Spell that"

Selects for spelling the unit(s) nearest the cursor [typically the last item(s) spoken]

"Strike"
"Strike that"
"Delete"
"Delete that"
"Scratch"
"Scratch that"
"Undo"
"Undo that"

Undoes modifications or delete item(s)

"Select entire text"
"Select entire sentence"
"Select entire paragraph"
"Select entire document"
"Select (the) entire word"
"Select (the) last letter"
"Select (the) last character"
"Select (the) last word"
"Select (the) last sentence"
"Select (the) last paragraph"
"Select (the) next letter"
"Select (the) next character"
"Select (the) next word"
"Select (the) next sentence"
"Select (the) next paragraph"
"Select (the) previous letter"
"Select (the) previous character"
"Select (the) previous word"
"Select (the) previous sentence"
"Select (the) previous paragraph"
"Select (the) last [NUMBER] characters"
"Select (the) last [NUMBER] words"
"Select (the) last [NUMBER] sentences"
"Select (the) last [NUMBER] paragraphs"
"Select (the) next [NUMBER] letters"
"Select (the) next [NUMBER] characters"
"Select (the) next [NUMBER] words"
"Select (the) next [NUMBER] sentences"
"Select (the) next [NUMBER] paragraphs"
"Select (the) previous [NUMBER] letters"
"Select (the) previous [NUMBER] characters"
"Select (the) previous [NUMBER] words"
"Select (the) previous [NUMBER] sentences"
"Select (the) previous [NUMBER] paragraphs"
"Select [WORD(S)]"
"Select the word [WORD]"
"Select [WORD] through [WORD]"
"Select [WORD] to [WORD]"

Selects text

"Delete (the) entire text"
"Delete (the) entire sentence"
"Delete (the) entire paragraph"
"Delete (the) entire document"
"Delete (the) entire word"
"Delete (the) last letter"
"Delete (the) last character"
"Delete (the) last word"
"Delete (the) last sentence"
"Delete (the) last paragraph"
"Delete (the) next letter"
"Delete (the) next character"
"Delete (the) next word"
"Delete (the) next sentence"
"Delete (the) next paragraph"
"Delete (the) previous letter"
"Delete (the) previous character"
"Delete (the) previous word"
"Delete (the) previous sentence"
"Delete (the) previous paragraph"
"Delete (the) last [NUMBER] words"
"Delete (the) last [NUMBER] sentences"
"Delete (the) last [NUMBER] paragraphs"
"Delete (the) next [NUMBER] letters"
"Delete (the) next [NUMBER] characters"
"Delete (the) next [NUMBER] words"
"Delete (the) next [NUMBER] sentences"
"Delete (the) next [NUMBER] paragraphs"
"Delete (the) previous [NUMBER] letters"
"Delete (the) previous [NUMBER] characters"
"Delete (the) previous [NUMBER] words"
"Delete (the) previous [NUMBER] sentences"
"Delete (the) previous [NUMBER] paragraphs"
"Delete [WORD(S)]"
"Delete the word [WORD]"

Deletes text

"Correct last [NUMBER] words"
"Correct last word"
"Correct next [NUMBER] words"
"Correct next word"
"Correct previous [NUMBER] words"
"Correct previous word"
"Correct [WORD(S)]"
"Correct the word [WORD]"

Corrects text

"Spell (the) previous word"
"Spell (the) last word"
"Spell (the) next word"
"Spell last [NUMBER] words"
"Spell next [NUMBER] words"
"Spell previous [NUMBER] words"
"Spell [WORD(S)]"
"Spell the word [WORD]"

Selects words in order to provide a spelling for them

"Add hyphens to that"
"Add hyphens to last word"
"Add hyphens to the last word"
"Add hyphens to last [NUMBER] words"
"Add hyphens to the last [NUMBER] words"
"Add hyphens to previous word"
"Add hyphens to the previous word"
"Add hyphens to previous [NUMBER] words"
"Add hyphens to the previous [NUMBER] words"
"Add hyphens to next word"
"Add hyphens to the next word"
"Add hyphens to next [NUMBER] words"
"Add hyphens to the next [NUMBER] words"
"Add hyphens to [WORD(S)]"
"Add hyphens to the word [WORD]"

Adds hyphens to words

"Remove hyphens from that"
"Remove hyphens from last word"
"Remove hyphens from the last word"
"Remove hyphens from last [NUMBER] words"
"Remove hyphens from the last [NUMBER] words"
"Remove hyphens from previous word"
"Remove hyphens from the previous word"
"Remove hyphens from previous [NUMBER] words"
"Remove hyphens from the previous [NUMBER] words"
"Remove hyphens from next word"
"Remove hyphens from the next word"
"Remove hyphens from next [NUMBER] words"
"Remove hyphens from the next [NUMBER] words"
"Remove hyphens from [WORD(S)]"
"Remove hyphens from the word [WORD]"

Removes hyphens from words

"Move to (the) beginning of (the) sentence"
"Move to (the) beginning of (the) paragraph"
"Move to (the) beginning of (the) document"
"Move to (the) beginning of (the) word"
"Move to (the) start of (the) sentence"
"Move to (the) start of (the) paragraph"
"Move to (the) start of (the) document"
"Move to (the) start of (the) word"

"Go to (the) beginning of (the) sentence"
"Go to (the) beginning of (the) paragraph"
"Go to (the) beginning of (the) document"
"Go to (the) beginning of (the) word"
"Go to (the) start of (the) sentence"
"Go to (the) start of (the) paragraph"
"Go to (the) start of (the) document"
"Go to (the) start of (the) word"

"Move to (the) end of (the) sentence"
"Move to (the) end of (the) paragraph"
"Move to (the) end of (the) document"
"Move to (the) end of (the) text"
"Move to (the) end of (the) word"

"Go to (the) end of (the) sentence"
"Go to (the) end of (the) paragraph"
"Go to (the) end of (the) document"
"Go to (the) end of (the) text"
"Go to (the) end of (the) word"

"Move to (the) top"
"Move to (the) top of (the) document"
"Move to (the) top of (the) text"
"Move to (the) bottom"
"Move to (the) bottom of (the) document"
"Move to (the) bottom of (the) text"

"Go to (the) top"
"Go to (the) top of (the) document"
"Go to (the) top of (the) text"
"Go to (the) bottom"
"Go to (the) bottom of (the) document"
"Go to (the) bottom of (the) text"

"Move forward [NUMBER] letter(s)"
"Move forward [NUMBER] character(s)"
"Move forward [NUMBER] word(s)"
"Move forward [NUMBER] sentence(s)"
"Move forward [NUMBER] paragraph(s)"

"Move down [NUMBER] letter(s)"
"Move down [NUMBER] character(s)"
"Move down [NUMBER] word(s)"
"Move down [NUMBER] sentence(s)"
"Move down [NUMBER] paragraph(s)"

"Move to (the?) next letter"
"Move to (the?) next character"
"Move to (the?) next word"
"Move to (the?) next sentence"
"Move to (the?) next paragraph"

"Move back [NUMBER] letter(s)"
"Move back [NUMBER] character(s)"
"Move back [NUMBER] word(s)"
"Move back [NUMBER] sentence(s)"
"Move back [NUMBER] paragraph(s)"

"Move up [NUMBER] letter(s)"
"Move up [NUMBER] character(s)"
"Move up [NUMBER] word(s)"
"Move up [NUMBER] sentence(s)"
"Move up [NUMBER] paragraph(s)"

"Move to (the?) previous letter"
"Move to (the?) previous character"
"Move to (the?) previous word"
"Move to (the?) previous sentence"
"Move to (the?) previous paragraph"

"Move to (the?) end of (the?) selectionn"
"Move to (the?) end of (the?) selection"
"Move to (the?) end of (the?) selection"
"Move to (the?) end of (the?) selection"
"Move to (the?) end of (the?) selection"
"Move to (the?) end of (the?) selection"
"Move to (the?) end of (the?) selection"
"Move to (the?) end of (the?) selection"

"Move to (the?) start of (the?) selection"
"Move to (the?) start of that"
"Move before (the?) selection"
"Move before that"
"Go to (the?) start of (the?) selection"
"Go to (the?) start of that"
"Go before (the?) selection"
"Go before that"

"Move to [WORD]"
"Move to the word [WORD]"
"Move before [WORD]"
"Move before the word [WORD]"
"Move after [WORD]"
"Move after the word [WORD]"

"Go to [WORD]"
"Go to the word [WORD]"
"Go before [WORD]"
"Go before the word [WORD]"
"Go after [WORD]"
"Go after the word [WORD]"

Moves the insertion point.

"All cap that"
"All caps that"
"Upper case that"
"Capitalize that"
"Cap that"
"Caps that"
"Capitalized that"
"No cap that"
"No caps that"
"Lower case that"
"Change that to all cap"
"Change that to all caps"
"Change that to upper case"
"Change that to cap"
"Change that to caps"
"Change that to capitalize"
"Change that to capitalized"
"Change that to no cap"
"Change that to no caps"
"Change that to lower case"

"All cap (the?) (entire?) text"
"All cap (the?) entire sentence"
"All cap (the?) entire paragraph"
"All cap (the?) entire document"
"All cap (the?) entire word"
"All cap (the?) last letter"
"All cap (the?) last character"
"All cap (the?) last word"
"All cap (the?) last sentence"
"All cap (the?) last paragraph"
"All cap (the?) last [NUMBER] letters"
"All cap (the?) [NUMBER] characters"
"All cap (the?) last [NUMBER] words"
"All cap (the?) last [NUMBER] sentences"
"All cap (the?) last [NUMBER] paragraphs"
"All cap (the?) next letter"
"All cap (the?) next character"
"All cap (the?) next word"
"All cap (the?) next sentence"
"All cap (the?) next paragraph"
"All cap (the?) next [NUMBER] letters"
"All cap (the?) next [NUMBER] characters"
"All cap (the?) next [NUMBER] words"
"All cap (the?) next [NUMBER] sentences"
"All cap (the?) next [NUMBER] paragraphs"
"All cap (the?) previous letter"
"All cap (the?) previous character"
"All cap (the?) previous word"
"All cap (the?) previous sentence"
"All cap (the?) previous paragraph"
"All cap (the?) previous [NUMBER] letters"
"All cap (the?) previous [NUMBER] characters"
"All cap (the?) previous [NUMBER] words"
"All cap (the?) previous [NUMBER] sentences"
"All cap (the?) previous [NUMBER] paragraphs"

"Change (the?) (entire?) text to all cap"
"Change (the?) entire sentence to all cap"
"Change (the?) entire paragraph to all cap"
"Change (the?) entire document to all cap"
"Change (the?) entire word to all cap"
"Change (the?) last letter to all cap"
"Change (the?) last character to all cap"
"Change (the?) last word to all cap"
"Change (the?) last sentence to all cap"
"Change (the?) last paragraph to all cap"
"Change (the?) last [NUMBER] letters to all cap"
"Change (the?) [NUMBER] characters to all cap"
"Change (the?) last [NUMBER] words to all cap"
"Change (the?) last [NUMBER] sentences to all cap"
"Change (the?) last [NUMBER] paragraphs to all cap"
"Change (the?) next letter to all cap"
"Change (the?) next character to all cap"
"Change (the?) next word to all cap"
"Change (the?) next sentence to all cap"
"Change (the?) next paragraph to all cap"
"Change (the?) next [NUMBER] letters to all cap"
"Change (the?) next [NUMBER] characters to all cap"
"Change (the?) next [NUMBER] words to all cap"
"Change (the?) next [NUMBER] sentences to all cap"
"Change (the?) next [NUMBER] paragraphs to all cap"
"Change (the?) previous letter to all cap"
"Change (the?) previous character to all cap"
"Change (the?) previous word to all cap"
"Change (the?) previous sentence to all cap"
"Change (the?) previous paragraph to all cap"
"Change (the?) previous [NUMBER] letters to all cap"
"Change (the?) previous [NUMBER] characters to all cap"
"Change (the?) previous [NUMBER] words to all cap"
"Change (the?) previous [NUMBER] sentences to all cap"
"Change (the?) previous [NUMBER] paragraphs to all cap"

"All cap [WORD]"
"All cap the word [WORD]"
"All caps [WORD]"
"All caps the word [WORD]"
"Upper case [WORD]"
"Upper case the word [WORD]"
"Capitalize [WORD]"
"Capitalize the word [WORD]"
"Cap [WORD]"
"Cap the word [WORD]"
"Caps [WORD]"
"Caps the word [WORD]"
"Capitalized [WORD]"
"Capitalized the word [WORD]"
"No cap [WORD]"
"No cap the word [WORD]"
"No caps [WORD]"
"No caps the word [WORD]"
"Lower case [WORD]"
"Lower case the word [WORD]"
"Change [WORD] to all cap"
"Change [WORD] to all caps"
"Change [WORD] to upper case"
"Change [WORD] to cap"
"Change [WORD] to caps"
"Change [WORD] to capitalize"
"Change [WORD] to capitalized"
"Change [WORD] to no cap"
"Change [WORD] to no caps"
"Change [WORD] to lower case"
"Change the word [WORD] to all cap"
"Change the word [WORD] to all caps"
"Change the word [WORD] to upper case"
"Change the word [WORD] to cap"
"Change the word [WORD] to caps"
"Change the word [WORD] to capitalize"
"Change the word [WORD] to capitalized"
"Change the word [WORD] to no cap"
"Change the word [WORD] to no caps"
"Change the word [WORD] to lower case"

Changes the case of the appropriate text.

Windows Speech Recognition: General commands

robch — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 18:57:00 GMT

As part of the "Every single thing WSR is listening for" series, here's a list of general commands.

"Start listening"

Tells WSR to start listening to your commands/dictation.

"Stop listening"

Tells WSR to stop listening for your Speech.

"How do i [TASK NAME]"

Allows you to ask a question to your computer. The task name is used to open the help window in Windows. For example, "How do I delete my internet cookies?".

"Open [APPLICATION NAME]"
"Start [APPLICATION NAME]"

Tells WSR to start any application installed on your computer using Speech. For example, "Open Internet Explorer"

"Show Speech Recognition Options"
"Show Speech options"

Opens the Speech Recognition context menu showing various settings for the application.

"Open Speech Recognition"
"Show Speech"
"Show Speech Recognition"
"Restore Speech"
"Restore Speech Recognition"
"Maximize Speech"
"Maximize Speech Recognition"

Opens the Speech Recognition top level user interface if it's hidden or minimized.

"Hide Speech"
"Hide Speech Recognition"
"Minimize Speech"
"Minimize Speech Recognition"

Hides the Speech Recognition top level user interface.

"Move Speech Recognition to top"
"Move Speech Recognition to the top"
"Move Speech Recognition to bottom"
"Move Speech Recognition to the bottom"
"Move Speech Recognition"

Moves the Speech Recognition top level user interface to a specified location, or simply alternates between the top and the bottom positions.

"Show reference card"
"What can I say?"

Opens a window containing a list of commands you can say.

"Open Speech Dictionary"
"Launch Speech Dictionary"

Opens the Speech Dictionary where the user can add, remove, or block words for dictation.

Windows Speech Recognition in Vista: Every single thing WSR is listening for

robch — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 18:52:00 GMT

About a year ago I put together a list of every single thing Windows Speech Recognition in Windows Vista is listening for, but that was before all the code was final, and before we reacted to some feedback from users. So... That list is a little stale, now. Time for a refresh!

But ... Because the list is so large, I decided to break it up into multiple sections this time. I'll update this post with each new link as it goes live:

General commands
Dictation commands
Correction panel commands
Spelling commands
UI commands
Show Numbers
Mousegrid commands
Switch to application commands
Typing commands
Window commands

As always, if you have questions, just let us know.

TechRepublic article on Speech Recognition in Windows Vista

robch — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 06:46:00 GMT

Deb Shinder just posted a new article up on TechRepublic about Speech Recognition in Windows Vista. It's one of the most complete articles I've seen yet. I really like how detailed the article is.

If you want a good overview (with juicy details and plenty of pictures) you can check it out here.

Oliver Scholz does a demo of Windows Speech Recognition on on10.net

robch — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 21:13:00 GMT

Oliver's going to become a celebrity here pretty soon with as many demos as he's been doing showing off the cool new Windows Speech Recognition feature in Windows Vista. Here's another one, this time on Microsoft's own on10.net.

Transferring Windows Speech Recognition profiles from one machine to another

robch — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:26:00 GMT

Today a customer wrote in and asked: "I was wondering if you knew if Vista stores its data files of a users speech pattern in such a way so it can be transferred to other computers; in particular if I was to re-install my operating system."

Good question!

The good news is that not only does Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) store the data files in just such a way, if you can actually use a feature in Windows Vista to do it for you automatically. The feature: the Windows Easy Transfer wizard. This wizard allows you to specify exactly what data you want to copy from one machine to another.

To use the Windows Easy Transfer Wizard:
1. Click Start
2. Type "Easy Transfer" into the search box
3. Click on "Windows Easy Transfer"
4. Click "Next"
5. Click "Start a new transfer"
6. Click "My old computer"
7. Pick a way to transfer the files (transfer cable, using a network, or removable media)
8. Answer the specific questions about that mode of transfer
9. Click "Advanced options" on the "What do you want to transfer" page
10. Uncheck all the items in the list
11. Expand the node in the tree that corresponds to your log on user name
12. Expand the "Windows Settings" node
13. Expand the "Sound and Speech Recognition" node
14. Check the "Speech Recognition" node
15. Click "Next"

That's it... All your WSR profiles will be backed up/moved.

Now, this isn't as easy as I'd like it to be for WSR users, and that's why I hope to update a tool on microsoft.com/downloads in the near future to make this 2-3 steps, instead of 15 steps... Stay tuned for more info!

Cool new Windows Speech Recognition Video

robch — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 18:11:00 GMT

There seem to be a lot of videos of Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) floating around the internet these last few days since the final release of Windows Vista. Some are intended to be funny. But some are really good demonstrations of WSR in action.

One particular video I found this morning was by Richard Costall, who runs a user group in the UK called NxtGenUG. It's a good demonstration of the power and accuracy of the system.

He even demonstrates one of my favorite features that we added based on feedback from users: Hovering the mouse over an item. In the video, he gets to a point on his own web site that requires the user to mouse over an item to disclose the next level of menu. However, if the user clicks on that item (a different action would happen), thus the user that's using speech really needs to just move the mouse. Richard uses that feature in combination with the Show Numbers feature, by bringing up the numbers, choosing the item by number, and then saying "Hover". If the item has a name, he could have also said "Hover [item name]", or "Move mouse to [item name]".

Thanks for the video Richard. It was nicely done...

Word 2007 + Windows Speech Recognition

robch — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 20:34:00 GMT

If you're using Windows Speech Recognition in Windows Vista, and you're also using Microsoft Word 2007, you might be wondering... How can I access things that are on different tabs in the new Microsoft Word UI with just one command, instead of two. This very question came up this week on the Yahoo! MS-Speech newsgroup.

Here's what I do:

For commands that I perform regularly that either might be on a different tab or are macros (which dont' really show up easily in the new Word 2007 UI -- IMO) I display the "Quick Access Toolbar". Then I customize it, and add my frequently used commands to that toolbar.

To display the Quick Access toolbar:
- Say, "Right click Home", then "1 OK"
- Say, "Show Quick Access"

To put things on the Quick Access toolbar:
- Say, "Right click [thing that's visible you want to add]"
- Say, "Add to Quick Access"

To put a macro on the Quick Access toolbar:
- Say, "Right Click Home", then "1 OK"
- Say, "Customize Quick Access"
- Say, "Choose commands"
- Say, "Macros"
- Say, "Click [name of macro]"
- Say, "Click Add"
- Say, "OK"

Windows Speech Recognition - A little known security "feature"

robch — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 09:26:00 GMT

We take security seriously here at Microsoft. For example, every single developer, program manager, and tester that I know has taken several security training courses in the last few years. In fact there's even an online system here at Microsoft that shows who has taken security courses recently, and more importantly who hasn't. Then, as a manager, I can direct people that haven't taken a "refresher" course to go do so.

Because of that intense attention to security, it should be no surprise that we've thought about how Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) interacts with security features in the operating system. As a result there's a cool security "feature" for securing your workstation if you're not going to be around and you're worried that somebody might interact with your PC while you're away. It's also a feature that's been in Windows for a long time. And, now, in Windows Vista, it works with WSR.

Have I got you interested yet? :-)

"What's the feature?" Good question. It's the secure screen saver. Yeah, that's right. The secure screen saver.

"How's that a speech recognition security feature?!" – Ah, my young reader... You shall soon see... :-)

OK. Let's consider the keyboard and mouse and their interaction with screen savers on Windows.

When the screen saver kicks in, there obviously needs to be a way for the user to dismiss the screen saver. How do you do that? Well, I just wiggle my mouse. Then the screen saver disappears and one of two things happens. Either my user desktop comes back to life, or ... If I've configured the screen saver to be secure, the OS will ask me for my log on password.

The same thing happens (and has happened for probably 10+ years of Windows versions that I can recall) when the screen saver is running and you press a key. The specific key you press is thrown away (it's actually intercepted by the screen saver itself) and the screen saver dismisses itself. Again, one of two things happens. Either your user desktop comes back to life, or ... If you've configured the screen saver to be secure, the OS will ask you for your log on password.

OK. That's great and all for the mouse and keyboard, but how does speech recognition fit into this? Again, good question.

In a similar (but not identical) way, when the screen saver is running if the user says something that can be recognized by the OS, whatever they say is thrown away. If the screen saver is configured to be secure, that's the end of the story. The log on screen isn't even shown. That's because it wouldn't matter much if we did show the user the log on screen, because currently (as of Windows Vista) the Windows Speech Recognition user experience doesn't run on the secure desktop (where the log on prompting happens).

However, if you don't have the screen saver configured to prompt you for your log on information, we'll just dismiss the screen saver, and put the speech recognizer into the "off" mode (which could actually be "Off" or "Sleeping" depending on a number of things).

So what does all this really mean? Well, for me, since I work on one of the world's most important pieces of software I like to have my PC locked down. I, therefore, have my screen saver set to require me to enter my log on information when it resumes from the screen saver. And ... I have my PC set to show the screen saver after just 3 minutes of idle time. Thus, for me, there's no chance of anybody walking down the hallway controlling my PC using WSR by shouting "OPEN EXPLORER", "SELECT ALL", "DELETE", "OK"... :-) [not to mention the fact that I generally mute my microphone when I'm not talking to my PC]

So what should you do if you want to require some user interaction before letting WSR control your PC?

Turn on the screen saver,
Configure it to start after a short duration, and
Ensure that the "On resume, display the logon screen" checkbox is checked.

It's that simple.

Here's how you can do that using WSR:

"Start Listening"
"How do I password protect my screen saver"

And follow the instructions ...