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Getting Started Guide

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Dictanote lets you effortlessly switch between using your voice and keyboard to type out information. Dictanote combines a Word-like editor with advanced speech recognition capabilities to give you a productivity boost in your everyday work. 

Before we being, make sure you are actually using Google Chrome. Dictation does not work on other browsers! It does not work on Edge / Chromium / Firefox / Brave / etc. 

This guide will walk you through the different components of the app. 

The App Layout

Below is the app you see after you log in:

ui.jpg

In Dictanote, your information is organized as a collection of notebooks, each notebook having a collection of notes. For example, in the window above the user has a notebook named "Travel" which two notes: "Miami Jan 2019" and "Paris June 2018". Each note described the plan for that trip. You can have multiple notebooks for different purposes: one for cooking recipes, one for meeting notes, one for conferences, etc. 

Now that we understand how information is organized, let’s dissect the different parts of the interface:

1. Note Editor

The note editor displays the contents of the active note. Dictanote has a feature-rich text editor which allows you to edit and format your note to your liking. It supports most of the formatting possible in MS Word-like headings, font styles, colors, etc. Dictanote autosaves the contents of your note as you edit (NOTE: there is no explicit save button).  

2. Dictate Button

Clicking the dictate button starts voice typing. Voice typing allows you to write out your notes using your voice. As your dictate, Dictanote automatically writes it out for you in the current note. 

When you start voice typing, the note editor interface changes like shown below:

Screen_Shot_2017-11-17_at_5.57.03_PM.png

The light grey text is a preview of the text you dictated. Once the system is sure of it, it gets added to your note. You can dictate for as long as you like. While dictating, you can edit the text in your note without shutting down voice typing. 

3. Notes Panel

The notes panel displays the notes in the current notebook with a short summary. You can click on a note to open it. To create a new note, click on the New Note button shown below:

Screen_Shot_2018-12-19_at_4.02.27_PM.png

You can use the selector at the top to switch between notebooks.

Screen_Shot_2018-12-19_at_4.02.24_PM.png

Finally, the options dropdown is used to select the sort order of the notes in the notes panel. It also allows you to rename the current notebook and/or delete the current notebook. 

4. Editor Settings

Editor Settings let you control the default behavior of the note editor.

With language settings, you can change your dictation language. 

With editor settings, you configure the default font and font size for your editor.

5. Voice Commands

Voice commands let you customize the voice typing to suit your needs. You can map particular words to transform to other words, for example, 'full stop' becomes '.'. There are special commands to execute specific actions like line break and undo. For example, you can map 'next line' to '<newline>' to get a line break when you say next line. Below is the voice commands modal you see when you click on the button:

Screen_Shot_2018-12-19_at_4.06.37_PM.png

Dictanote currently supports voice commands in many of the world’s common languages and has pre-built voice commands for English, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Hungarian, Arabic, and German. 

For more details, check out the complete guide on voice commands.

If you upgrade to Dictanote Pro, you can add your own custom commands too.

6. Transcribe Audio File

Dictanote provides a premium service called Transcribe. Transcribe lets you convert audio files into text. Transcribe supports all the 40 languages supported by Dictanote. It is an offline process. Once you submit your audio file, you will get your transcript within an hour. To know more click on the Transcribe symbol in the left toolbar (shown below) or alternatively go to https://dictanote.co/transcribe/.

7. Account Settings / Referrals / Help

Click on your name should show a dropdown like below:

Screen_Shot_2018-12-19_at_4.18.07_PM.png

Account Settings: You can access your account settings to change your email address, subscription details or to terminate your account. 

Referrals: Every time you refer a friend to Dictanote, both you and your friend get one month of Dictanote for free :) 

Help Center: We have a vast number of help articles at our help center https://support.dictanote.co. However, if you can't find what you are looking for, you can submit a help request at the link or email us at support@dictanote.co.

Dictanote Pro

Finally, to keep Dictanote up and running we do offer a Pro membership. Pro lets you unlock many features that will make you more productive with Dictanote. 

If you are a Pro member, you will see a golden bolt icon next to your name like in the interface. If you are not a Pro member, you will see an Upgrade option on the left. 

Screen_Shot_2018-12-19_at_4.15.51_PM.png

 

 

 

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