Category: Siri

More Fun With Siri Dictation

by jimin Paperless, Siri

After figuring out how to use Siri dictation to quickly add items to a list in Paperless, I discovered some other commands it recognizes – based on this article about Dragon Dictation (a third party app for dictating text).

Here are the dictation commands that have worked for me with Siri.

Import ListFor Paperless users: If you’d like your very own “pocket guide to Siri dictation commands”, open this web page on your iOS device, then tap this link to import a list titled “Siri Dictation Commands” into Paperless.

Say this …

… to do this
new line move to the next line (like pressing “Return” on a keyboard)
new paragraph to start a new paragraph
cap to capitalize the next word

For example, saying:
I named my pet pig cap bacon

produces the text:
I named my pet pig Bacon

(interestingly, if you say “Kevin Bacon”, Bacon is automatically capitalized for you)
caps on … caps off to capitalize a section of text

For example, saying:
caps on twenty five ways to eat bacon caps off

produces the text:
25 Ways to Eat Bacon
all caps to make the next word all uppercase

For example, saying:
I am hungry feed me all caps now please

produces the text:
I am hungry feed me NOW please
all caps on … all caps off to make part of what you say uppercase

For example, saying:
I am hungry all caps on feed me now all caps off please

produces the text:
I am hungry FEED ME NOW please
no caps to make the next word lowercase

For example, saying:
I like no caps Mike

produces the text:
I like mike
no caps on … no caps off to make sure part of what you say is all lowercase

For example, saying:
Our friends no caps on Steve and Tina no caps off live in California

produces the text:
Our friends steve and tina live in California
space bar to prevent a hyphen from appearing in a normally hyphenated word

For example, saying:
This restaurant is first space bar class

prevents first-class from being hyphenated, and produces the text:
This restaurant is first class
no space to prevent a space between words

For example, saying:
This is the best no space tasting bacon ever

produces the text:
This is the besttasting bacon ever
no space on … no space off to prevent a section of text from having spaces between words

For example, saying:
This is no space on the best tasting bacon no space off ever

produces the text:
This is thebesttastingbacon ever
“period” or “full stop” to place a “.” at the end of a sentence
dot .

For example, saying:
The dot number pi is three dot one four

produces the text:
The.number pi is 3.14

(note the subtle difference between saying point and dot… dot works between words)
point .

For example, saying:
The point number pi is three point one four

produces the text:
The point number pi 3.14

(note the subtle difference between saying point and dot… dot works between words)
“ellipsis” or “dot dot dot” …
comma ,
double comma ,,
“quote” or “quotation mark” ”

(although, if you need to place some text within quotation marks, using the “quote … end quote” commands may be more accurate)
“open single quote…close single quote” to place single quotes around a section of text

For example, saying:
Open single quote this is the best ice cream ever close single quote comma said Sally

produces the text:
‘this is the best ice cream ever’, said Sally
apostrophe ‘

(although in many cases, apostrophes are automatically inserted, like when saying Sam’s new iPhone)
exclamation point !
inverted exclamation point ¡
question mark ?
inverted question mark ¿
ampersand &
asterisk *
open parenthesis (
close parenthesis )
open bracket [
close bracket ]
open brace {
close brace }
dash –

For example, saying:
This dash is dash my dash cheese

produces the text:
This – is – my – cheese

(note the difference in spacing between this and when saying hyphen)
hyphen –

For example, saying:
This hyphen is hyphen my hyphen cheese

produces the text:
This-is-my-cheese

(note the difference in spacing between this and when saying dash)
em dash —
underscore _
plus sign +
minus sign –
equals sign =
percent sign %
copyright sign ©
registered sign ®
section sign §
dollar sign $
cent sign ¢
euro sign €
yen sign ¥
degree sign °
caret ^
at sign @
pound sterling sign £
pound sign #
greater than sign >
less than sign <
forward slash /
back slash
vertical bar |
“smiley” or “smiley face” or “smile face” 🙂
“frowny” or “frowny face” or “frown face” 🙁
“winky” or “winky face” or “wink face” 😉
e.g. (pronounced as “e g”) e.g.

For example, saying:
e g when you learn to ride a bike

produces the text:
E.g. when you learn to ride a bike
i.e. (pronounced as “i e”) i.e.

For example, saying:
i e when you learn to ride a bike

produces the text:
I.e. when you learn to ride a bike

Dictating Text With Siri On The iPhone 4S

by jimin Paperless, Siri

There has been a lot of talk about Siri, the “personal assistant” feature included with Apple’s new iPhone 4S. While much of that discussion has centered around seeing what responses you can get from Siri by asking it things like “What is the meaning of life?” or “Where is the best Thai restaurant?” – it also offers a very useful dictation feature, which works with any app that uses the standard iOS keyboard.

I wanted to see how Siri’s dictation feature could be used with Paperless, and it turns out that it can be used to quickly add items to a list. Here’s how:

First, open the list you want to add items to (a grocery list in this example), and tap the “+” button:

That will bring up the Add Item screen. Next, tap on the arrow…

… which will switch to the Import Items screen.

Now press the microphone button to start dictating, and say each item’s name along with the words “new line” in-between each one. For example, you might say:

“bread new line apples new line carrots”

(Saying “new line” to make a carriage return took me a few minutes to figure out, as I haven’t seen in mentioned elsewhere… not even in Apple’s iPhone User Guide.)

After you’re finished saying the items, press the Done button – and if all goes well you’ll end up with the text of each item on a separate line (as shown in the screenshot below).

Finally, press the Import button…

… and the items you dictated will be added to the list. Easy!

I think this feature will be very useful to a lot of people. Apple was very smart in adding Siri dictation to the standard iOS keyboard.