[Originally submitted by quadrick on Sun, 2005-07-10 10:01.]

Make sure that "Run Hands Free" is NOT checked under DragonDictate's Options/Hands Free section.

Add [Switch to NaturallySpeaking] command to the System/Global Commands vocabulary in DragonDictate. Check "Execute Following Script" and add the following to the Resulting Action box:

SetMicrophone 0
wait 2000
SendSystemKeys "{F11}"

The microphone hot key for DragonDictate should be set to {NumKey+} and the microphone hotkey for NaturallySpeaking should be set to {F11}.

Create a "Switch to DragonDictate" command in your NaturallySpeaking voice files.

1. From the NaturallySpeaking's Tools menu, select "Add New Command" (this requires the Professional Edition of Dragon NaturallySpeaking).
2. Enter "Switch to DragonDictate" (without the quotes) as the "MyCommand Name".
3. For Group, select "User-defined".
4. For Availability, check "Global".
5. For Command Type, select "Advanced Scripting".
5. Enter the following three lines into the Script field between Sub Main and End Sub:

SetMicrophone 0
Wait 2
SendSystemKeys "{NumKey+}"

6. Click Save.

When in DragonDictate, just say [Bring Up Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8] to launch NaturallySpeaking. NaturallySpeaking will come up with some error messages about not being able to switch the microphone on. Don't worry... you are still in DragonDictate and can close the error windows. Now saying [Switch to NaturallySpeaking] will switch the microphone off in DragonDictate and microphone on in NaturallySpeaking. When you want to exit NaturallySpeaking, remember to switch control back to DragonDictate first by saying [Switch to DragonDictate] and then use DragonDictate to close NaturallySpeaking.

Well, this worked for me the last time I tried it. Hope it will be able to help you when you are trying out NaturallySpeaking for the first time. At least you know you are able to switch back to DragonDictate if you get lost or something goes wrong in NaturallySpeaking.