VoiceScribe™ Screen Captures

The window has 6 pull-down menus (File, View, Dictations, Dictator, Settings, Utilities, and Help). The window also has fifteen buttons and an icon which you can use to start a new instance of your word processor. This icon is only enabled when a dictation has been selected. Additionally, the check box which turns AutoGet on and off is found in the lower right corner of this screen.

Click on Dictations to display VoiceScribe™ Dictations Window. From here you can view and manage your dictations. VoiceScribe™ Dictations Window provides more control over dictation/transcription than VoiceScribe™ Main Window.

There are four types of dictation in VoiceScribe™: Current, Completed, To Send, and Picked-Up. VoiceScribe™ Dictations Window shows one type at a time. Current dictations are shown when the window is first opened. Use the Dictation Type menu to switch between these dictation types. The order that the dictations appear may be changed from the Order menu. You can choose to order by Subject ID or by Date. The final menu is Other and contains one item, Return Untranscribed. Use Return Untranscribed to send jobs back to a dictator without marking them Transcribed. These jobs then become available for other transcriptionists to download and type. You might use this at the end of your shift if you still have jobs remaining to be transcribed. Instead of keeping the jobs until your next shift, you can return them untranscribed and others will be able to type them. Return Untranscribed is supported only for dictators using VoiceWare Server®.

The Dictator window in VoiceScribe™ basically matches the corresponding window in VoiceDoc®. When you configure the Doctor in VoiceScribe™ you match the MT to the Dictator via ID number and password.

General Settings allows you to customize VoiceScribe™ according to your own preferences for doing transcription. Read Buffer Size lets you specify the amount of random access memory (RAM) to be reserved for loading chunks of the dictator's voice dictation. The default value is 500,000 and should be changed only if you are encountering RAM-related problems.

Rewind (Secs) lets you specify the number of seconds that the dictation is rewound for each unit of time that the foot pedal rewind button is depressed. The default value is 1. Forward (Secs) lets you specify the number of seconds that the dictation is fast-forwarded for each unit of time that the foot pedal fast-forward button is depressed. The default value is 1. Button Sensitivity lets you specify the how long the foot pedal buttons must be depressed to achieve one rewind increment or one fast forward increment. A value of one maximizes the amount of time that the foot pedal button must be held down for one increment of rewinding or fast-forwarding. A value of one makes the foot pedal the least sensitive. A value of 10 makes the foot pedal the most sensitive. The default value is 5. Rewind On Pause (Secs) tells VoiceScribe™ how many seconds to rewind the dictation when it is paused, either by pressing the Pause button or by releasing the center foot pedal. Minimize Application On Selecting Voice lets you minimize VoiceScribe™ Main Window when you select a dictation. Some transcriptionists prefer to use the foot pedal and see only the word processor. They would check this option. Others want to use the voice control buttons provided and see where they are in the voice file as it plays. They would leave the option unchecked. Stop And Return To Beginning When Reach End Of Voice makes VoiceScribe™ move to the beginning of the dictation once playback reaches the end. Normally you will want to remain close to the end of the file, so this option would remain unchecked. Select Word Processor lets you specify the program you want to use for transcription. Highlight the selected drive and directory for your transcription word processor on the left side of the screen, then highlight the name of the .exe used to start your word processor on the right side of the screen. You can also specify any parameters that need to be passed to the word processor when it starts by filling in the Command Line Parameters box. Check Use Typing Module if you have installed a Typing Module and wish to use it to aid in transcription. If you check this box, you will need to choose from the list of installed Typing Modules to indicate which one to use.

The Foot Pedal Port window lets you specify which communications port on your PC you want to use for your foot pedal. Communications ports are sometimes called comm ports, serial ports or I/O ports. They usually are nine-pin connectors on the back of your PC, and can be used to connect devices such as an external modem or mouse to your computer. You can see what comm ports are available on your PC if you click on the Start button, go to Settings, then Control Panel. Double-click the System icon and select the Device Manager tab. Click the icon labeled Ports to see the list of ports.

Attachments are files sent along with dictation voice and data files from dictation originators (VoiceWare Server® or VoiceDoc®). These files may or may not be related to the dictation with which they are sent. The goal is to allow any kind of file to be transferred from the dictation originator to the transcriptionist. VoiceScribe™ lets you specify what to do with these attachments. At this time you can either do nothing with them, or move them to a location on your hard drive that you specify.

Transfer Limit indicates the maximum number of jobs to receive per communications session. For example, if this number is set to 2 and you dial into a dictator, you will receive a maximum of 2 jobs, even though the Dictator may have many more ready for you to take. Remote Wait Times indicate how long Communications Module will wait before timing out for the specified events. Connect is the time it takes to establish a connection with the remote computer. For modem connections, this involves handshaking between the two modems as well as synchronizing to begin data transfer. For internet connections, this involves the time it takes for your initialization information to flow from your computer to the remote computer. Start Sending Files is the time it takes for the remote side to determine what needs to be sent and to start the flow of this information. VoiceDoc® is very quick to determine these files. On the other hand, VoiceWare Server® will take a little while to gather all the information because it needs to process simultaneous requests and access other systems to get this information.

Internet Dialing tells Communications Module how to proceed for internet connections. Normal procedure is to use the parameters found in the selected Windows phonebook entry to establish the connection. These phonebook entries are created and maintained through Windows' Dial Up Networking. The password field is optional but is recommended. To get onto the internet, you generally need an ID and password. Host Mode Access determines if dictators can dial into your PC to drop off new dictation and pick up finished transcription. Usually the transcriptionist will control the flow of dictation/transcription, so the dictator will not need access to VoiceScribe™. Select Dial-Up for modem-to-modem communications; select Internet-for-internet communications; and select None if you are communicating with VoiceWare Server® or if you are controlling the flow and do not wish to have anyone else accessing VoiceScribe™ from outside. Note that you must specify a port number if you choose Internet access. This port number should be greater than 10,000 and it must agree with the port that the dictator has specified in your Transcriptionist Information.

Archiving is an important step in running an efficient VoiceScribe™ system. Each job that VoiceScribe™ receives consists of voice, compressed voice, demographics, and the word processing document that you create, and possibly other related files. In order to maintain space on your hard drive you will need to periodically archive your jobs. Archiving a job means writing information about the job to an archive database and deleting some or all of the associated files. This screen lets you define when, what, and how to archive. VoiceScribe™ allows you to choose if you want to automatically archive jobs or manually run the process. Automatic archive occurs either when you first start the application or when you are shutting it down.

Select Get Dictations from the Utilities menu to create a communications session that will look for new dictation. You will be asked to select the dictator from whom you wish to get this new dictation. Note that if there is only one dictator in VoiceScribe™, you will not be prompted - the session will be created for that one dictator automatically. The Communications Module will then attempt to get dictation from the dictator in the background, leaving you free to do other tasks in VoiceScribe™.

AutoGet is a feature intended to increase transcription productivity. It can be turned on or off from VoiceScribe™ Main Window by simply clicking the box named AutoGet. With this feature enabled, every time you complete a job for a dictator, VoiceScribe™ will check the number of dictations left to be transcribed for that dictator. If this number is below the threshold defined for the dictator, a Get/Return communications session is automatically created to return completed jobs and get new dictation. This lets the transcriptionist concentrate on typing, as he/she will not need to check the number of jobs left to transcribe to see if he/she is running out of work. The threshold is defined for each dictator in their Dictator Information Window. A value of zero essentially disables AutoGet for that dictator, as there will never be less than zero jobs to transcribe. Typically, AutoGet is shut off towards the end of the transcriptionist's shift, to avoid getting new dictation that he/she will not have time to type. Remember that jobs must be returned manually by pressing the Return button on VoiceScribe™ Main Window when AutoGet is not enabled. The "Get" button is located on the main VoiceScribe™ interface.

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