Dragon Professional

What You Get and What It Can Do

Work More Efficiently With Powerful Dragon Professional

 

Voice recognition is very popular at the moment. You have various virtual assistants which can make quite a few of your daily tasks significantly more convenient. However, the application of this technology stretches beyond mere convenience.

For many people out there, the average day comes with a fair bit of typing. And yet, not everyone is a great typist. Some are simply too slow while others have difficulties transforming their ideas into written text. For them, advanced speech recognition software can be a lifesaver.

But it goes even further than that. Even if you don’t have any issues when using a keyboard, dictating will always be faster than typing. Either way, speech recognition is a great way to boost your productivity under the right circumstances. And in this regard, Nuance’s Dragon software is a great choice. Particularly its Professional edition.

What is Dragon Professional?

Once you’ve settled on the Dragon software, you will notice that you still have quite a few editions to choose from. Unless you’re in those specific fields, you can quickly rule out the highly-specialized versions like Dragon Medical or Dragon Legal. However, that still leaves you with the universal option of using Dragon Professional.

Dragon Professional 16 is the more advanced choice, more complex than the Home edition with a next-generation speech engine leveraging Deep Learning technology. Of course, its price tag reflects this.

By going for Dragon Professional, you get a piece of software which can cover a wide range of speech recognition needs. But first and foremost, you get a dictation tool which allows you to quickly transform your speech into written words.

To put it in another manner, you get speed and accuracy. With regard to the speed, the equation is simple. As already mentioned, it doesn’t matter how many words per minute you can type. The simple fact is that you cannot match the speed of your speech. Dragon makes use of this and allows you to work three times as fast.

However, accuracy is just as important. Dragon can reach an accuracy rate of 99% but there is more to this. What truly stands out is the deep learning technology it employs. Simply put, Dragon gets more accurate the more you use it. As you dictate and edit, Dragon learns from this and adapts to your speech pattern.

Other Features

While all editions of the Dragon software share the same underlying technology, there are some features which make Dragon Professional stand out when compared to the basic Home version.

Excel and PowerPoint Support
With the professional edition, you can use your voice to handle spreadsheets and presentations. If you rely heavily on these two programs, this can be a tremendous timesaver.

Advanced Correction
Professional can play back your dictation while you edit. This is essential when you’re working on longer texts. It also allows you to see if Dragon made a mistake or you misspoke. With this feature, corrections are easier and more accurate, and as we already mentioned, Dragon learns each time you correct it. Plus, you can save the audio for later sessions (another advantage of Professional edition) so you don't need to do the dictation and editing in one sitting.

Transcription
Just because you’re away from your computer doesn’t mean your work has to stop. Simply record yourself (or any other single person) and let Dragon Professional transcribe it when you get back behind your desk.

Personal Administration
With Professional, you can import and export your custom word lists if you need to switch profiles or make other changes.

Custom Commands
You can also create simple shortcuts to quickly insert certain graphics or pieces of text you frequently use.

Final Words

Dragon Professional is a robust software package which manages to get the best of both worlds. It is packed with features but also affordable. And unless you are a very advanced user, it will easily cover all your needs.

Therefore, if you are looking to enhance your productivity and spend less time typing, Dragon Professional will allow you to truly put your voice to work.