What's new in J-Say Pro 7.0
INTRODUCTION
This document describes the very latest features and improvements you will find within J-Say Pro version 7.0.
As always, we are very excited about this version of the product. This release contains all the many features you are used to using with J-Say version 6.1 and 6.2, however in using this version you will experience:
- Higher quality “human sounding” voices if you wish to use them;
- Some useful productivity tools to make working with documents even easier;
- The ability to make telephone calls using Skype;
- A different way in which you can browse the Internet;
- Being able to make friends using the Twitter social networking site.
J-Say Pro version 7.0 is a chargeable upgrade which will be priced at the usual upgrade cost available from your J-Say Pro distributor and unless previously agreed is distributed on CD-ROM media.
Before working through this document, you should be familiar with the use of the functionality contained within J-Say Pro version 6.1 or 6.2. The J-Say Pro “Learning Module”, provided in electronic, printed and DAISY formats as part of your J-Say Pro package, is the same as that provided for the version 6 series. In addition to giving you details of what is new in J-Say Pro version 7.0, this document should be used as a supplement to the “Learning Module” to provide you with necessary instruction. Some of the features listed below are quite complex in nature, and so you may feel it is beneficial to purchase even a minimum amount of training from a J-Say specialist company to ensure you are gaining the most from your upgrade.
The “Installation Guide” for J-Say has been fully updated to take account of the version 7.0 release.
J-Say Pro version 7.0 is directly compatible with the following technologies:
Access Technologies
- JAWS for Windows version 10.0 Build 1154.
- Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional version 10.1. Please note that this is not version 10.0 Service Pack 1!
Mainstream Technologies
- Microsoft Windows XP – all releases.
- Microsoft Windows Vista – all releases (including 64 bit).
- Microsoft Office 2003.
- Microsoft Office 2007.
New Features in J-Say Pro
Compatibility with RealSpeak Voices
This is a feature many of our customers have been asking for!
If you have never used a computer before, you may find it difficult to become used to hearing and understanding the Eloquence speech synthesiser – the default speech which forms part of the JAWS product. Understanding what is spoken back is very important with J-Say because, as you dictate, you need to immediately understand what has been recognised.
Freedom Scientific now have a wide range of RealSpeak Solo Direct voices from Nuance which can be used in conjunction with JAWS. These voices sound very natural and clear while providing an enhanced quality of speech output.
We have spent considerable time re-engineering parts of the J-Say Pro program especially to accommodate the new voices.
Any of the voices provided on the Freedom Scientific web site can be downloaded and installed by following the link below:
An audio sample of each voice is provided on the page which you can listen to prior to downloading it to your computer.
To use your chosen voice, please refer to the final section of this document
Text Variables
This feature will save you an immense amount of time, particularly if you have standard letters or blocks of text you need to reproduce on a regular basis, but where segments of the text need to be replaced, such as the date or a person’s name or address.
Text Variables are placeholders for fields which can easily be replaced with new data. For example, you may wish to create a frequently used letter or Email message, however certain components of it (such as the name of the recipient or date) will change.
Text Variables are contained in brackets which look like this:
[ ]
The text for the field is typed or dictated between the brackets. This is very important as will be described later because J-Say is going to echo this text as a reminder of the purpose of the field.
Text Variables can be created within J-Say Text Notes. As a reminder, Text Notes allow you to reproduce a large block of text with a single phrase – a feature we introduced within version 6.1. Text Notes and Text Variables can be used within Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook or a text edit environment such as Notepad.
Here is an example of a Text Note containing Text Variables:
[address]
Dear [name]
Thank you for purchasing the book entitled [book name] by [book author]. Etc.
End of Sample Text Note
When creating the Text Note, the variables can either be typed manually (as shown above), or they can be inserted by speaking the command
Store Item.
This command will bring into view an Edit Field and ask you for the name of the variable you would like to use. Simply type or dictate the name of the Variable, such as “Address”, then say
“Confirm That”,
Or press Enter on the keyboard.
The Variable name is now surrounded by brackets. The Text Note should be then saved in the usual way.
To move through the Text Variables, use the commands
“Next Variable”,
Or
“Previous Variable”.
When you use these commands, focus will move to the next or previous Text Variable, and the field name (such as “Address”) will be spoken. The text is automatically selected, making it possible for you to dictate the contents of the field immediately, thereby erasing the selected text which is the name of the Variable.
- Place the cursor at the start of the Text Note containing the Variables, and speak the command
“Next Variable”. - J-Say will move to the first Text Variable entitled “Date” (in our example), and will say the word “Date”. Speak the date or use the
“Get Date”
command. J-Say replaces the Text Variable entitled “Date” with the actual date. - Use the command
“Next Variable”
to move to the next text Variable. J-Say will say “Address”, etc. - Repeatedly move through the Variables in this way until they have all been replaced.
If you had moved to each Text Variable in turn in the example above, and spoken text to replace the variable name, the new text would look something like this:
6 July 2009
22 High Street, London, W1V 9AB
Dear Alison
Thank you for purchasing the book entitled “Voice Input/Output and everything In Between” by J S Dragon.
End of Sample Text Note
Keyboard Echoing Unwanted Characters
With previous releases of J-Say, (and if the JAWS keyboard echo had been set to echo characters or words when typing), J-Say would from time to time echo erroneous key labels which could become distracting when the computer was being controlled by voice.
We have therefore introduced a function called “Keyboard Processing”. Many users will not need to be concerned with this feature at all, and we recommend it is left at its default condition of being “Enabled”. However the following is an explanation of how it functions.
When “Keyboard Processing” is enabled, and when the microphone is active, the conventional JAWS keyboard echo setting is set to “none”, preventing any keyboard related activity from being spoken.
When the microphone is placed into a passive condition, the keyboard echo setting is returned to its original condition. Therefore, if you had activated the “Word” keyboard echo setting, this is the setting which would be invoked when the microphone is disabled.
The “Keyboard Processing” facility can be disabled or enabled, either from its appropriate setting in the “J-Say Configuration Wizard”, or by using the following voice commands:
“Keyboard Processing On”,
“Keyboard Processing Off”,
and
“Check Keyboard Processing”
To verify its status.
When the mode is disabled, all key labels will be spoken even when the microphone is active. To reiterate, disabling the function should not be necessary in most situations.
Changing the Keyboard Echo
Pressing the JAWS Key (usually the Insert key) together with figure 2 ordinarily rotates between the four keyboard echo modes within JAWS:
- Characters;
- Words;
- Characters and words;
- None.
However, J-Say now changes the setting permanently rather than temporarily within the JAWS session. In other words, the keyboard setting is retained even when the computer is re-started.
The keyboard echo preference can also be changed by voice with the following commands:
- “Keyboard Characters”,
- “Keyboard Words”,
- “Keyboard Characters and Words”,
- “Keyboard None”.
The command
“Check Keyboard”
Will verify the condition of the mode.
Changing the Rate of Speech
The commands
“Talk Faster”
And
“Talk Slower”,
Which have been in the product since version 1, would only change the rate of speech on a temporary basis until another application gained focus. These commands now set the rate of speech permanently so that most of our customers can easily set the rate of speech and not be concerned that it is going to change back to the default setting.
In addition to using the two voice commands above, you can press the J-Say Key followed by Page Up to increase the rate of speech or the J-Say Key followed by Page Down to decrease it. Again, the speech rate is saved permanently.
Outlook related Commands
If you are focused within a Word document, and having saved it you wish to attach it to an Email message, from within the body of the document say
Attach File to Message.
A new Email message will be created automatically with the attachment already in place, and you will be located within the “To” field.
This command has been very well received by our J-Say Beta Testers and saves time having to attach a file to a message after it has been created.
For messages which are difficult to read using HTML formatting, within Outlook 2007 use the command
“View in Browser”
So as to view it within a Microsoft Internet Explorer browser window. Pressing the J-Say Key followed by H will also activate this function.
You will notice that, when you open a message, jaws now just says the word
“message”
Rather than
“the message is open”.
This change was made to minimise the amount of speech output when opening messages.
Mozilla Firefox
Support for Mozilla Firefox version 3.0 or later is now available! All commands which traditionally you have been able to use within Microsoft Internet Explorer are now available for anyone wishing to use the Firefox web browser, with the exception of Position Capture Bookmarks referred to within the J-say “Learning Module”. Text capture Bookmarks can be used.
Dynamic Echo Changes
Previous releases of J-Say contained three modes for controlling what is spoken immediately following the dictation of text. These were “Echo Mode”, “Sentence Mode” and no dictation.
A fourth mode has now been added to echo back text phrase by phrase and also to echo sentences when they are completed by the use of the terms
- “Full-Stop”,
- “Period”,
- “Question Mark”, and
- “Exclamation Mark”.
In addition, the titles of the modes and commands have been changed to make them more descriptive of the function and have been added as a four-way selector within the “Configuration Wizard”.
The voice commands are as follows:
- “Echo On”
repeats each phrase as you dictate. - “Echo Off”
echoes no dictation at all. - “Sentences On”
speaks the entire sentence when it is completed as described above. - “Echo with Sentences On”
speaks each phrase as you dictate together with the entire sentence when it is completed.
The command
“Check Echo”
Will verify the condition of the dynamic echo setting.
When each change is made, as with all J-Say-related settings it is retained until you change it, even if the computer is re-started.
Train Correction
Advanced users of J-Say technology may wish to use the new facility of being able to “voice train” words and phrases which the system is finding difficult to recognise. This can be very useful if you have a particular way of pronouncing a word or phrase but consistently it is being misrecognised and where correcting the item using the Correction Box or “My Words” utilities is not giving the results you need.
Please follow this example to use the “Train Correction” facility.
- Within a dictation environment such as a Microsoft Word document, dictate the phrase
“Hello Terry”.
J-say thinks you said
“Hello Kerry”. - Use the command
“Correct Kerry”. - The word “Kerry” is brought into the Correction Box and J-Say says
“box Ready”. - Spell or type the word “Terry”.
- Use the command
“Train Correction”. - J-Say will say
“The item to be trained is Terry. J-Say thought you said Kerry. Say, Start Training, to begin recording your speech”. - Speak the phrase
“Start Training”. - J-Say will then count down from three to one in order that you can prepare yourself to say the words it requires.
- J-Say will then ask you to say the item which needs to be trained, in this case “Terry”. Speak the word when prompted.
- J-Say will then ask you to say the original item, in this example “Kerry”. Speak the item, whereupon J-Say will announce that the training process is complete.
Making a Phone Call with Skype
It is now possible to make a phone call in one of two ways using Skype as the communicator for the call. Please note that you must have Skype credit in order to make calls. We recommend version 3.8 of Skype at this time.
Storing a Phone Number or Skype User Name As a J-Say Contact
You can store Skype user names or phone numbers to call in exactly the same way as you can store Email addresses when creating J-Say Contacts. Here’s how to do it.
- Ideally, launch a Microsoft Word empty document and ensure the Skype user name or telephone number you wish to store has been dictated or typed. If storing a phone number, you will need to ensure it is within the international dialing format, for example:
+44208123456.
Note that when dictating numbers, it may be useful to use the command
“Numbers Mode On”
Prior to dictating the telephone number in the international dialling format, and say
“Numbers Mode Off”
when wishing to resume normal command and control. - Select all of the text with the command
“Select Everything”. - Copy it to the Windows clipboard by saying
“Copy Item”. - Begin the Contact creation process with the command
“Store Contact”. - Into the edit Field which is in focus, please dictate the name of the person you would like to store as the Contact, for example John Smith.
- Say
“Confirm That”
to create the contact. - Re-start the computer or Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
In order to call the Contact, ensure Skype is running although you do not need to be focused within the Skype application for the command to function.
Say
“Call John Smith”
Or the name of your contact. After a short pause, you should hear the call being made.
Making Skype Calls Manually
In order to make a Skype call manually, with Skype running (but not necessarily in focus) speak the command
“Make Call”
Or press the J-say Key followed by the letter K.
Dictate the Skype user name or telephone number in the international dialling format, and then say
“Confirm That”
To initiate the call.
Note that when dictating numbers, it may be useful to use the command
“Numbers Mode On”
Prior to dictating the telephone number in the international dialling format, and say
“Numbers Mode Off”
When wishing to resume normal command and control.
Pressing the Pause Key to Activate the Microphone
When you press the Pause key to activate and deactivate the microphone, J-Say will quickly advise you of the new microphone condition, by saying “awake” or “asleep”.
Using J-Say with Twitter!
As a J-Say user, you now have the perfect opportunity of getting involved with the most topical social networking site at the moment, Twitter.
Twitter is a social networking or micro-blogging tool which allows you to compose short status updates of your activities in 140 characters or less. Twitter is a way for friends, family and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. You can restrict delivery of updates to those in your circle of friends or, by default, allow anyone to access them.
The question which Twitter asks is “what are you doing?” A literal answer to that question is sometimes used for conveying even mundane activities, (such as “I am eating a sandwich”), however there are a large number of other ways in which Twitter can be used, for example for exchanging messages, for promoting products, to name two of many.
You can monitor the status of updates from your friends, family or co-workers (known as following), and they in turn can read any updates you create, (known as followers). The updates are referred to as Tweets. The Tweets are posted to your Twitter profile or Blog and are searchable using Twitter Search.
If you are a Microsoft Outlook user, you probably have it open all the time. An interface has been developed by the company Techhit called TWInbox, allowing you to take control of (and manage) your Twitter updates within Microsoft Outlook 2003 or 2007.
J-Say makes it easy to appreciate the status of the updates you receive from Twitter and ensures you have voice commands and keystrokes to access the most important parts of the TWInbox interface.
Full configuration notes for downloading, installing and configuring the free TWInbox utility are provided within the J-Say Pro 7.0 “Installation Guide”.
Composing a New Tweet Update
Composing a new Tweet is simple!
- Use the voice command
“New Tweet”
or alternatively press the J-Say Key followed by the letter N for “New”. A Dialog Box will appear and J-Say will announce the words “What are you doing>?, 140, edit”. This is TWInbox asking you to answer the question “What are you doing”, and the number “140” which is spoken refers to the number of characters available for dictating your Tweet update. - Begin to dictate your Tweet into the Edit Field which is in focus. You can review the composed text with the standard navigation voice commands or the Arrow Keys if you wish to verify the accuracy of your dictation.
- Pressing the J-Say Key followed by I (or saying
“Speak Information”)
will report the number of characters remaining prior to exceeding the 140 character limit. J-Say will say the words “X characters remaining”, where “X” is a number between 1 and 140. - If you continue to add text, and the number of characters exceeds 140, J-Say will say the word “Stop” every time you press a key on the keyboard. Pressing the J-Say Key followed by I (or saying
“Speak Information”)
will advise you how many characters should be erased so that the Tweet is within the 140 character limit. J-Say will say “The Tweet is X characters too long”, where “X” represents the number of characters exceeding the limit. - Preferably press the Backspace Key, say
“Press Backspace”,
or use other text editing methods, to erase as much text as necessary. - When the Tweet is to your liking, press Enter to activate the “Update” Button or say
“Confirm That”.
Your Tweet will then be posted to the Internet. Please note that you will not be able to edit a Tweet once it is posted. However, you can delete it from your Twitter profile page on the Internet.
Reviewing Incoming Tweet Updates
When the people you are following send Tweet updates, they will be delivered to your Microsoft Outlook Email client. This is either within your Inbox or within specifically created or designated mail folders. Within the TWInbox “Options” Dialog Box referred to within the “Installation Guide”, you can configure how Tweets are filtered if necessary. By default, they will arrive in your Inbox.
As you move through your regular Email messages and Tweets which have arrived, because J-Say is being used it will announce the word “Tweet” if a Tweet is focused. If the J-Say Sounds scheme is enabled, the sound of a Garden Thrush bird will be heard. J-Say will then announce the name of the author of the Tweet together with as much of the 140 character content as can be accommodated on the screen in the list of displayed messages.
To read the full content of the Tweet, press Enter or say
“Open Message”
to open it. The “Subject” field will be in focus and J-Say will announce the entire body text of the Tweet.
If you wish to repeat the text you have heard, either:
- Press Up arrow or say
“Previous Line”; - Press Down Arrow or say
“Next Line”; - Press the JAWS Key+Up Arrow, or say
“Speak Line” or; - Press the JAWS Key+Tab or say
“Speak Control”.
If you wish to review the text more slowly, you could theoretically use the standard text navigation commands, such as
“Speak Next Word”,
Or the Arrow Keys to explore the contents of the “Subject” field which has focus. However, you may find that some of the text of long Tweets is not available to you in this field. Therefore, pressing the JAWS Key+Tab twice quickly or saying
“Virtualise Tweet”
will bring the contents of the Tweet into the JAWS Virtual Viewer, whereupon you can read it in full. Pressing the Escape Key or saying
“Cancel That”
will return focus to the “Subject” field and Tweet body text.
The Virtual Viewer also contains the following information:
- Username;
- Location;
- Web address;
- The number of people the person is following;
- The number of people following the person;
- The number of updates which have been made;
- Biographical information.
To close the Tweet and return to the mail folder, press Escape or say
“Close Message”.
If the Tweet contains a URL (or web/FTP address), with the Tweet open and focus in the “Subject” field, press Enter or say
“Confirm That”.
The web site referred to within the Tweet will be launched in your default web browser.
Replying to a Tweet Publicly
People say lots of things on Twitter and sometimes you want to say something back!
If you wish to reply to a Tweet you have received, and you wish all your “followers” to be able to read it, press Control+Shift+R or say
“Public Reply”.
An Edit Field will appear which is exactly the same as the Field for composing a new Tweet. However, the first part of the text (occupying your 140 character limit) will be the syntax comprising an “At” symbol followed by the Twitter name being replied to, such as “@tandttechnology”. This syntax distinguishes between “normal updates” and those being replied to.
Following the “@Reply” syntax, type or dictate the reply and press Enter to send or say
“Confirm That”.
Direct Messages
Direct Messages are private messages sent from one person to another and are not viewable by anyone following you except of course the intended recipient. You can only send a Direct Message to anyone following you.
If you receive a Tweet from someone, press Control+R to reply to it or say
“Direct Message”. Rather than replying publicly, this replies to the person using the Direct Message format. Again, the standard Tweet composition Edit Field will appear. However, the syntax at the start will comprise the letter D followed by a space, then the Twitter name, such as “D tandttechnology”.
Following the Direct Message syntax, type or dictate the Tweet and press Enter or say
“Confirm That”
to send.
Another method of being able to send a Direct Message to a person is to create a new Tweet rather than replying to an existing one. Simply prepare a new Tweet by either pressing your keystroke for doing so predefined within TWInbox’s “Options” Dialog Box, or by pressing the J-Say Key then N, or of course by saying
“New Tweet”.
When the Edit Field is displayed, type the letter D, then leave a space, then type the Twitter name of the person to whom the Direct Message is to be sent, such as “D tandttechnology”.
Alternatively, launch the Spell Box by saying
“Spell”,
Then spell out the letter D, followed by a space, then the screen name, such as tandttechnology. Finally, say
“Confirm That”
To close the Spell Box.
A quicker way of working through that process would be to create a text note with an appropriate title, such as “Direct message to T and T Technolgy”. The Text Note would look like this:
D tandttechnology
This would save you a great deal of time if you wish to send direct messages to friends with whom you frequently correspond.
If a person sends you a Direct Message, J-Say will announce the words “Direct Message” when it is focused in your mail folder.
Re-Tweeting
If you wish to send a Re-Tweet, (a copy of a Tweet you have received), simply focus upon it in your mail folder and press the J-Say Key followed by the letter R or say
“ReTweet”.
The Edit Field of TWInbox will appear with the letters “RT” preceeding the Tweet text. For example, if you were Re-Tweeting a message from Sophie, the text would look something like “RT @Sophie I had a really good holiday”.
What is a “Mention?”
You can refer to (or “mention”) anyone using Twitter within the text of the Tweet, not just at the start of it as when replying. Assuming the “At” sign is used preceding the correct username, the Tweet is automatically directed to that person as well. This concept is similar to replying to someone in that it is not sent as a Direct Message.
For example, within your Tweet you could say when replying to your friend Mary who was commenting on a song she likes, “@Mary I love that song too, as does my brother @Tom”. This will send a reply to Mary’s original comment, however the message will also be sent to Tom as his username was mentioned.
Upgrading From J-Say Pro 6.2 to 7.0
Because J-Say Pro version 7.0 technology is being installed into a new release of JAWS, version 10.0, you will need to install the program as if it was a new product rather than an upgrade to an existing one.
The full directions for installing J-say Pro 7.0 are given within the “Installation Guide” accompanying your J-Say Pro product. However, the following is a quick useful summary of points to note:
- As directed in the “Installation Guide”, ensure you have JAWS version 10.0.1154 and Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 10.1 installed on the computer to host J-Say 7.0. Links to these programs can be found on the J-Say page of our web site.
- Prior to installing J-Say 7.0, you should uninstall the version of J-Say currently residing on the computer you will use, for example version 6.20. If you do not uninstall the previous J-Say release, you will be prompted to do so when you run the installation CD for the first time.
- Install the J-Say Pro 7.0 program which will have been provided to you on CD unless otherwise agreed with your J-Say supplier.
- When the computer is re-started, you may wish to install any RealSpeak voices as directed earlier in this document. Similarly, you will find a link on the J-Say page of our web site which will take you to the Freedom Scientific web site where all the voices are accommodated. Simply choose the voice or voices you wish to use by downloading and installing them.
- To activate one of the Realspeak voices:
- Press Insert+J to set focus to the JAWS window.
- Select “Options”.
- Select “Voices”.
- Select “Global Adjustment”.
- In the “Synthesiser Name” Combo Box, select “RealSpeak Solo Direct”.
- In the “Person” Combo Box, choose the voice you wish to use. All installed voices are listed here.
- Select the “OK” Button to apply the change.
If you do not wish to create a new Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice profile, there are two further steps you will need to take:
Launch the J-Say “Configuration Wizard” by pressing the J-Say Key followed by the letter W.
From the list of available choices, set focus to the option entitled “Restore J-Say Default Settings”, and either press the Space Bar on this item or click the “Execute” Button. You will be advised that J-Say has restored settings to their defaults.
Finally, set the keyboard typing echo to your liking. Press the JAWS Key (usually the Insert key) with figure 2 repeatedly. Each time you do this, you will rotate between the four available settings: “Characters”, “Words”, “Characters and Words” and finally “None”. Press the keys repeatedly until the keyboard echo is set to your preference.