Chapter 12
In This Chapter
Using Outlook to send e-mails
Dictating e-mail messages
Making appointments with the Outlook calendar
Creating notes in Outlook
E-mailing with Thunderbird
Interacting with Gmail
Using NaturallySpeaking to command your e-mail application is an effective way to be more productive. Nuance has made e-mail sending a priority. Several voice commands help you get things done faster. Programs like Outlook work with some Natural Language Commands. They’re easy to learn and well supported.
This chapter delves into four e-mail programs: Outlook, Outlook.com, Thunderbird, and Gmail. If your preferred e-mail program isn’t on my list, it may work with some common commands. Try them. Now, just dive right in and start e-communicating, the NaturallySpeaking way!
As you contemplate using NaturallySpeaking to send your e-mails, keep in mind these general recommendations that apply to most e-mail programs:
NaturallySpeaking works with Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox when you use a browser with your e-mail application.
If NaturallySpeaking insists on capitalizing the www portion of a web address, correct the capitalization by using the Correction dialog box. (NaturallySpeaking has an obsession about capitalizing initials.) Or say, “No Caps,” then, without pausing, speak the address. To absolutely, completely suppress all capitals within the address, say, “No Caps On No Caps w w w dot whatever dot com No Caps Off.”
Table 12-1 NaturallySpeaking Commands for E-Mail Applications
To Do This |
Say This |
Launch <program name>. |
“Start Microsoft Outlook.” |
Open your inbox. |
“Go To Inbox.” |
Look at new mail. |
“Check For New Mail.” |
Move to next e-mail. |
“View Next Unread Message.” |
Send e-mail. |
“Send Message.” |
Close e-mail. |
“Close All Items.” |
Mark message to follow up. |
“Flag Message For Follow-Up.” |
Open with e-mail address. |
“Send E-Mail To <person’s name>.” |
Add a file(s) to e-mail. |
“Attach A File.” |
Launch spell check. |
“Check Spelling.” |
Print e-mail. |
“Print Mail.” |
Reply to everyone in message list. |
“Reply To All.” |
Microsoft Outlook is the most widely used business e-mail client. When used in combination with NaturallySpeaking, it is a Full Text Control application that also provides some Natural Language Commands. Outlook keeps track of your personal information — at least appointments, addresses, and the like. Because of its extensive use in business organizations, I focus on several specifics that make using Outlook easier.
Outlook uses the basic three-panel window arrangement:
Move from one pane to another by pressing the Tab key or saying, “Press Tab.” Move in the opposite direction with Shift+Tab.
The folder list in an e-mail application behaves like the folder list in Windows Explorer. (See Chapter 15.) When the cursor is in this pane, use the “Move Up/Down” commands to select a folder or mailbox. For example, “Move Down Five” selects the folder or mailbox five places below the currently selected folder or mailbox. Folders that contain subfolders or mailboxes have a +/– check box next to their folder icons. To display the subfolders or mailboxes, select the containing folder and say, “Press Right Arrow.” To hide the subfolders or mailboxes, say, “Press Left Arrow.”
The message list is, first and foremost, a list. When the cursor is in the message list pane of the e-mail application window, select messages in the list by using the “Move Up/Down” commands. To select the message three places above the currently selected message, say, “Move Up Three.”
You can read a message in the reading pane of the application window, or you can get a little more reading room by opening a message window. Open a message window in Messenger by selecting a message in the message list and choosing File⇒Open from the menu. (Alternatively, you can say, “Open Mail Message” or “Open Message.”)
Whether the cursor is in the reading window or in a message window, the “Move” and “Go” commands move the cursor through the message. However, the most useful command when you’re reading a message is “Press Page Down.” It displays the next window of text.
Say, “Press Alt Tab” to cycle through the items on the taskbar. Switch to a new mailbox by selecting it in the folder list. You can also say, “List All Windows” or “List Applications” to see what’s open and select it from there.
You can use some Natural Language Commands with Outlook just like when you dictate text into a word processor (see Chapter 9). In Outlook, a message composition window consists of a number of textboxes: several one-line boxes corresponding to the various parts of a message header, and one large textbox for the body of the message.
Move the cursor from one textbox to another by using the Tab key or saying, “Press Tab.” Move in the opposite direction with Shift+Tab. You can also use the name of the field you want to access. To send your first e-mail, launch NaturallySpeaking and do the following:
Outlook (if it’s your default e-mail program) opens a new e-mail form and inserts the name George Foster into the ‘To’ field. When you send the e-mail, Outlook will automatically check that name against your contacts and associate the right e-mail address to the name. If you want to check and make sure before you send the e-mail, just say, “Check names.”
The cursor moves to the Subject field.
The cursor is now in the body of the e-mail and ready for you to dictate your complete message.
If you find mistakes, select and correct them as you would in any other dictation process. (See Chapter 5 for more on quick correction of dictation.)
Your message is sent. You can now move on to reading or sending other e-mails.
Your NaturallySpeaking assistant can read your e-mail to you. Isn’t that what you’d expect from a first-rate assistant? Use the text-to-speech feature to do this. Select the text you wish read to you and say, “Read That.” The text will be read back to you in the voice you have chosen from the options available to you. If you want to modify the voice of your assistant, go to Tools⇒Options⇒Playback/Text-to-Speech and look at the Text-to-Speech attributes. Where you see Voice, use the pull-down list to choose either American English Samantha or British English Serena.
If for any reason your application doesn’t work that way, just copy the text of the message from the reading pane of your e-mail application into the NaturallySpeaking Dictation Box and say, “Read Document.” The NaturallySpeaking voice and diction won’t compete with James Earl Jones’s voice, but you will understand what it is saying.
After you send an e-mail, you don’t need to stop using voice commands in Outlook. You can schedule appointments through Outlook’s Calendar window. Bring up the Calendar window (shown in Figure 12-1) by saying, “Create a New Appointment.” Opening the Calendar window adds the Calendar menu to the menu bar. Use this menu for all of your calendar-related activities. To create a new appointment in Outlook, do the following:
The Outlook Appointment Form opens and the cursor is positioned in the Subject field.
Complete your message.
Six additional common commands you can use with Outlook appointments are as follows:
Outlook Tasks are visible in the Calendar window, but they are most easily added and deleted using the Task window. To open the Task window, say, “Open, Tasks.” Opening the Task window adds the Task menu to the menu bar. To add a new task, say, “New Task.”
Whether you add an appointment or a task, a dialog box with a number of fields to be filled in confronts you. When the cursor is in a textbox, you can dictate just as you would dictate into a word processor. Don’t be afraid to use those Full Text Control capabilities (see Chapter 8) to edit or correct your entries.
Outlook keeps track of much more than e-mail addresses. As marketers like to say, “The money is in the list.” They usually mean your customer mailing list — but for many people, their contacts list is their customer mailing list.
In this context, a contact is not one of those clear round things that falls out of your eye during a basketball game. It’s a person you have contacted at some point in your life and created and stored his e-mail address (plus any other optional info you add).
Outlook handles contacts via the Contacts window. Open it by saying, “View Address Book.” As an added bonus, the Contacts menu is appended to the menu bar. Anything you want to do with your contacts list is handled by this menu. For example, to add a new contact, say, “Create New Contact.” Outlook responds by displaying the New Contact dialog box, shown in Figure 12-2.
The New Contact window looks intimidating because it contains spaces for everything you may know about a person other than hat size. Nevertheless, the only field you have to fill out is Name. Other than that, you can skip around, using the hotkeys to pick other fields to fill. For example, to skip to the Web Page textbox, say, “Press Alt W.” The New Contact window begins with the General tab on top. To switch to another tab, say, “Press Control Tab.”
Outlook Notes is a great place to jot down important things you don’t want to forget. It works well with NaturallySpeaking because its main purpose is dictation, just like any word processor. If you want to dictate notes in Outlook, make sure that NaturallySpeaking is running and then do the following:
The Outlook application opens.
A note opens for you to dictate into.
After you dictate the note, proofread it for mistakes and make corrections as you would with any other type of dictation.
If you want to view your note, say, “Click Notes List” to select the radio button and view your missive.
Easy, huh? If you like to create sticky-note reminders, this is much quicker (and neater and environmentally friendly and cheaper, but I digress!). Instead of sticking notes on your screen, use this.
NaturallySpeaking plays nicely with Outlook. In Dragon 13, you also get some additional commands for Outlook.com, Thunderbird, and Gmail. If you use these e-mail applications, you’ll be happy to know that voice commands are an option for them, too.
If you use Thunderbird, Mozilla Foundation’s free e-mail client, you know that it’s an open source application and works cross-platform. This means that it is created by developers who donate their time and share code. It can be used with Windows, Mac, or Linux.
If you haven’t used Thunderbird, consider it if you want to aggregate e-mails across several e-mail accounts. Thunderbird doesn’t send e-mail on its own. It lets you combine your accounts and work from one main source. It has several add-ons and lets you configure your e-mail account in a way that makes sense for you.
After you set up and open Thunderbird, you notice that it looks like most other e-mail clients. It uses the three-panel window configuration: the folder list, a message list, and a reading pane.
You will find that using Thunderbird is like using the DragonPad. If you can navigate that, you already know how to navigate Thunderbird. Thunderbird acts like a Full Text Control application. You can navigate by saying the menu and submenu names. You can use voice commands for each one by saying “Click” and then the menu name. For example you can say the following as you follow along the top menu:
When writing e-mails, you say “Go to the Address Book and Pick a Name.” Then you say, “Go to Subject,” and dictate the subject. Then you dictate the body of the message by saying “Move to Message Field.”
In NaturallySpeaking 13, Gmail can be used with Rich Internet Application (RIA) extensions. You look at that in Chapter 13 when you use the following browsers:
When you open your Gmail account in one of the browsers listed here, you will know if RIA extensions are enabled by looking to see if there is a green quote mark next to some of the commands.
Gmail, like Thunderbird, is another Full Text Control application that doesn’t work with Natural Language Commands. But it gets the job done, and if Gmail is your application of choice, fear not. It can work for you.
One secret to using Gmail with NaturallySpeaking is to use the “Click” command. Doing so enables you to manage e-mail tasks quickly. For example, you can say, “Click Reply,” “Click Delete,” or “Click Report Spam.”
The Gmail program doesn’t have a reading pane, but closely follows the other structures of other e-mail programs. To send mail in Gmail after launching NaturallySpeaking and your Gmail window, follow these steps:
The e-mail window opens with the cursor in the address box.
Move through the subject field the same way.
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