Do you have a newer keyboard with commands embedded in certain ones? Don't think 5.1 had anything

• WP51 help - Trish
  • WP51 help - FC-Ray
  • I've had this happen when I was running Win98 - me
    • WIN 98 - Trish
  • Not sure, as I have not worked in WP for years, but.... - AllieCat
  • I have no idea, but there is a way of setting - sm - Laura E.
  • Do you have a newer keyboard with commands embedded in certain ones? Don't think 5.1 had anything - My new Logitech does weird stuff, too..nm

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Hi there, I would really appreciate some help here...I am transcribing on a word document, the sound file has been e-mailed to me, I am listening to the dictation in Windows Media Player.  I don't have my footpedal working with this---but am just trying to use keyboard commands and when I do, the keyboard commands are being utilized by the word program.  In other words, play/pause is CNTL P and when I do that, I get the print window.  Is there a way to alleviate this conflict?  They sent me a sound file player but Windows Media keeps overriding it and there is too much dumb in me tech wise to figure out how to use the other sound file player.  If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it.  I just get a teeny bit of this guy's work but it's a big pain in my big behind to keep grabbing the mouse and stopping/starting etc.....thanks in advance!!!

Ignore 'Shroom.  Don't let yourself get into that mentality.  Life is what you make it.  MT CAN be a very profitable profession.  It's not for everyone and not everyone can do it.  But if you are good at spelling and grammar, and you can type fast, and you are dedicated to really learning and not just doing a crap job as fast as you can so you can get paid more, your patience and hard work will pay off.

My #1 advice is:  Get a job in a hospital transcription department.  Not acute care at home for a service.  Get a job with a hospital.  The pay not NOT be as much as you could make at home for a service, but that experience will prove invaluable.  Work there for a few years.  Learn the ropes.  Learn to do all types of reports - the basic 4 plus everything else.  I have worked for a service and for a hospital and I learned so much more at the hospital.  The service was about production; the hospital was about quality.  They wanted us to really KNOW what we were typing and when there were words no one could get, the MT supervisor would ask the doctor and we would get it straight from them.  Doctors would also come down to talk to us and explain things to us sometimes, and that was a big help.  I worked at a hospital and a service at the same time and there were so many things (terms) that the service MTs didn't know that I knew only because of my hospital experience. 

Now I own my own service.  I get all my accounts through word of mouth, partly (actually MOSTLY) from my contacts that I developed back when I worked IN a hospital.  I have never had to advertise.  I have always been praised for being an excellent MT.  The hospital supervisors at the hospital where I used to work know that.  When they get a call from doctors or other hospitals asking who they recommend for transcription services, guess whose number they give out?  Yep, mine. 

When I first started out I didn't make much money at all.  But I worked hard and learned everything I could.  I never had an attitude like some on this board, that I wasn't being paid fairly, or that someone owed me more money, or that I was being cheated.  I worked and gained knowledge and experience, and made sure my quality was excellent, and added to my expander, and developed new ways of using shortcuts, and kept looking for the next opportunity that would move me up a little more.

I never make less than $25 an hour.  I usually make $35 to $40 an hour.  I have had an occasional hour where I made over $100 - yes, $100 - and no, I am not lying.  It was a surgery center account and one day a week I would transcribe routine cataract extractions with lens implantations.  I had that I had a template for and all I had to do is pop in the patient's name, right or left eye, and the size of the lens used.  I would do one right after the other, over and over, and make over $100 in an hour.  Would have been nice to do that all day long, but after an hour I was done with the cataract surgeries. 

Anyway, don't sit there thinking you are never going to make any money in MT.  Don't listen to the people who want to bring you down.  Don't waste time thinking your glass is half empty.  Look at the opportunities that are in front of you and start taking them.  Maybe you make 8 cpl now.  Do the best work you can do for that company.  Be valuable to them.  Become an asset to them instead of a liability.  And when you find something that's a little better, do the same thing there.  Work your way up. 

After you get the experience (hospital preferably), keep working and honing your skills.  Then decide "Okay, I am going to spend X hours a week working on getting my own accounts."  Maybe 4 hours every Saturday.  So you set aside that time and you think of points you want to make to potential clients.  Set up a business number or a separate phone number to receive business calls.  Put a business message on the line so if you miss a call they can leave a message.  Figure out how you will receive dictation - dictation system, TASP, or whatever.  Make flyers.  Drive around and check out potential clients in your area.  Go through the phone book or the little blue book of doctors in your area and start sending out flyers or walking door to door.  Every Saturday spend 4 hours doing the next step.  Decide you'll send out or deliver 20 flyers a week, or whatever you want.  You may not see results right away.  Don't get discouraged, just devote 4 hours a week to it, every week. 

There is money to be made in MT.  You have seen people on this board tell you how much they make.  They didn't answer an ad for an MT school on a matchbook and suddenly they are making $35 an hour.  It takes time and patience and a good attitude.

would not send them to the "z" section of a book or any website.  Maybe a Google search would have worked, but I didn't try it to see.

How about lightening up on the new MTs asking questions on the Word Board.  I am not a new MT (20 years), and I've asked questions.  I'm not so sure there is a "level of word asking."  Why be so brusk and hard on the new MTs?  Are you afraid they will take your job?  Don't worry there is plenty of work to go around.

I would hope if you had a question on the Word board, someone does not go on another board and post how horribly incompetent you must have been to ask that question on the Word board.

This is a wonderful resource. 

I got a C-phone manual (PDF) online, but it doesn't have any info as to key pad strokes to use to call into a system. Do you have that info that you could share? I'm getting desperate!

Thought I'd put my 2 cents in - I have been with Transolutions for about 4 months now, and I agree with the statements about how nice they are - they really are.  I am working really hard to increase my production and get up to level 5, which is the higher pay.  Dolfan, do you have any suggestions on that?  You said you just stay there no matter what it takes - does that mean you just put in as much time as it takes to get that many lines in?  Does it usually take you significantly over your scheduled time?  I keep resolving to do that, but then I get tired and end up between level 2 and 3.  I am still adding docs to my glossary on a daily basis, so I keep hoping that I will get there eventually. 

I agree also about the benefits - I am part time (25 hours/week), but I am earning PTO, holiday pay, etc.  When you do have to work a holiday, you get benefit pay, PLUS time and a half - I think that is fairly unusual for an MT company. 

The scheduling is flexible, too.  I worked for as an IC before, but I actually found that I needed a schedule or I would leave work too late and burn out.  But, that is just me.

Hope that is informative, and Dolfan, thanks for any help in advance!  (Or any other Transolutions people out there reading this, if you have any suggestions.) 

Melissa

Good Morning Ladies and Gents:

I am a reasonably expert user of Dragon, having used it for about four years. I recently bought a new computer, and put Dragon 7.30 on it. I got the new XP 64 bit. Wow, what a dream for the Dragon.

However, while I had no problem with this with my previous computer, with this one it will not follow the command "new line" when I want the cursur to drop down to the beginning of the next line.

It keeps typing the word "united." It will however follow the command "new paragraph." When I ask it to correct "united," it gives me options, none of which are the one I want.

I would appreciate any help.

Thanks,

John

>Anyone know if InstanText can handle "code" (like WordVBA >macros) in the Expanders like SH8 can?

Instant Text lets you add commands and macro keyboard shortcuts into a glossary entry. You can use easy-to-type short forms for these entries that execute a command or a macro. 

These command and macro entries are also very much used for editing.  See post below. 

Marianne
Textware Solutions

volume down, Alt+Shift+Down Arrow  and I'd guess the up arrow to increase volume. I have a microsoft ergo keyboard with volume up and down keys ... so I usually keep my "volume" at max and just tone it down ... Personally, I'd love a key command to "jump forward" for my endlessly pausing dictators (and a  "jump back" for when I overshoot their FINALLY figuring out what they want to say .... I'm watching your post in hope that someone knows something....

Could someone explain to me how to create a command/macro in Instant Text for changing a period to a comma and uncap the next letter in a sentence?  Please do not high tech words because that just confuses me. Lol 

If anyone knows of any other command/macros that can be used in Instant Text to help with improving line counts I would greatly appreciate hearing about them. 

Yes, I do know about the the forum at textware and productivity talk but they are so high techy over there that I am lost. 

Thanks a bunch

To take your example, you can copy the following entry into the Add window of your glossary (it is usually good to have a separate command glossary that you include wherever needed):
{command}{Shift Left}{Shift Left}{Shift Left}{Delete},{Space}{Shift Right}{Shift F3}_

The short form could be something easy to remember like periodtocomma (when you use marker keys to expand, you don't have to type the whole short form, you can type petco, percom, ...). 

The commands are word-processor dependent. This should work for MSWord. To make it work your cursor needs to be right in front of the capitalized word, and with this entry I assume you have 2 spaces after the period. It is easy to adapt the entry if you only have 1 space after a period. Just delete one {Shift Left} 

You can email me if you need further help. 

Marianne  

PS Below is a link to Cheryl's site. She has created and sells an extensive command glossary for MSWord.   

That key printing never wear down because the letters are part of the key itself.  They just don't make them that way anymore because it is too expensive to make.  Some of the mechanical keyboards like Cherry have what they double shot key imprinting and the letters are part of the key itself and don't wear off. That IBM keyboard is very noisy from the type of keyswitch it has so you may not like that.  Logitech and Belkin make some membrane switch keyboards that are supposed to have longer lasting key imprints.  I have a logitech that has the longer lasting key imprints and it is pretty good.  You have to look on the specs to find out if has the longer lasting key printing.

I have experimented so much with keyboards and have done a lot of research.  Way too much info.  

Okay, any lefties use this keyboard? How long did it take to get used to? I use my left thumb for the space bar and I notice on a diagram of the keys that I would always be hitting the backspace key.

I'm really interested in getting a better keyboard. I destroyed my left hand and wrist the other week when I fell because I'm becoming a real klutz.

I bought the Soft Flex gloves, but they only help a little bit. My production is down because of it and it's driving me crazy. I can only type an hour without stopping and then have to rest the hand for some time.

I did buy a Microsoft 2000 keyboard but have yet to recieve it. Is this a good one?

Do you use a keyboard tray with it or just set it on the desk? Do you think a kayboard tray would be the least expensive item right now that would help with a straight keyboard?

Any info you can provide to help me in making any decision would be greatfully appreciated.

'Scuse me for being old school, but I've only ever used a straight keyboard.

For longtime comfort which is best - split keyboard mounted on chair arms or split keyboard to be used on the desk?

Also, why the preference over split keyboards that come totally apart versus split keyboards that are permanently connected at the top?

I want to revamp my office and there are so many different options.