Dictation Tips

Toll Free Dictation Recording Tips

These tips for our toll free phone-in dictation system are given to address specific pitfalls which a dictator might fall prey to. It is extremely important that the dictator reads these tips so that they can save themselves the troubles that may occur in a situation as elucidated in the following tips:

Dictation Recording System (DRS) - Tip 1:

After completing a dictation, if you do not need to append to it later, then please don't just hang-up.

You should always "send" the file:
Press * after you have finished recording
Press 1 to send the file for transcription

Dictation Recording System (DRS) - Tip 2:

What happens when you are in Recording Mode and your call gets disconnected?

If you get disconnected without having given a specific disconnect command, the dictation server will "save" the file for accessing later rather than "send" it for transcription. This will help you to access that file once again and continue dictating and appending to it from where you were disconnected. You must connect again and "send" such "saved" files, otherwise they do not get forwarded for processing further.

Dial the toll free number and enter your access code followed by the # key as usual.If you have previously "Saved" files, the system prompts "You have saved recordings"

Press 2 to open and review previously saved but unsent dictation(s). The system plays 5 seconds of each of the previously saved recordings and provides you multiple options to manage them.

You should normally:
Press 3 to open the dictation you are looking to append to and the system will take you to the end of that saved dictation as if you were never disconnected.
Press 5 if you wish to listen to the last 5 seconds of the saved dictation to help you establish continuity. Make sure to let all 5 seconds play out before starting to record because if you do not, the dictated matter will get overwritten.
Press 9 to start recording (effectively appending to that file)
Press * after you have finished recording
Press 1 to send the file for transcription

Dictation Recording System (DRS) - Tip 3:

While in Recording Mode, there is a facility which enables a user to rewind and play the dictation from the start by pressing the key [1]. When you press key [1], the command makes you "Go to the dictation start and begin play" i.e. you start hearing the audio that you just recorded from the beginning. Most users simply want to hear a small part of the dictation just to make sure that the dictation went through properly. Once they hear a few seconds of audio they decide to continue dictating further.

Now from our logs we found that the mistake that users typically make is they press key [9] while the system plays back the audio. This is a dangerous thing because pressing command 9 will start recording from the current point where ever you are at. Since you are playing back the audio it will start recording from that point and not from the end of the dictation. Hence, this will result in almost the entire portion of what was previously recorded to get overwritten.

So what should be done to avoid this?
After you press 1 (to go to start of dictation for audio play back) and before pressing 9 (to continue recording), you should always ensure that you press 3 to go to the end of the dictation (unless you want to overwrite the remaining part of the dictation by choice). If 3 is not pressed, it will result in the loss of a portion of your dictation as it gets overwritten.