
CHAPTER 5
CUSTOMIZING outSPOKEN
Summary
This chapter explains how to adjust outSPOKEN's 
settings to best fit your needs. Section 5.1 
describes the use of the Preferences dialogs for 
adjusting outSPOKEN's voice parameters, as well as 
keyboard, graphics, new window, pointer movement, and 
punctuation feedback. Section 5.1.7 covers 
outSPOKEN's highlight and caret tracking features, 
and Section 5.1.8 describes some of outSPOKEN's more 
advanced and less commonly adjusted settings. Section 
5.2 explains how to rename graphics and edit graphics 
dictionaries.
5.1	outSPOKEN Preferences
The outSPOKEN Preferences dialog can be opened at any 
time by pressing SHIFT with the PLUS key on the keypad 
(SHIFT-KPD PLUS). From within this dialog, all of 
outSPOKEN's settings can be verified or changed. There 
are eight buttons in a column along the left edge of 
the dialog. Each button opens a sub-dialog containing 
controls related to that topic. Beside and/or below 
each button is printed information about the status of 
various settings within that sub-dialog. The rest of 
this section describes in detail each sub-dialog, its 
controls, and what they do.
Each button in the outSPOKEN Preferences dialog has a 
hotkey equivalent. This means that any of the sub-
dialogs can be opened by pressing the appropriate 
hotkey combination. The buttons and hotkeys are as 
follows:
Sub-Dialog	Hotkey
Voices	ALT-V
Keyboard	ALT-K
Graphics	ALT-G
Window	ALT-W
Movement	ALT-M
Punctuation	ALT-P
Tracking	ALT-T
System	ALT-S
OK	ALT-O
Cancel	ALT-C

Once the outSPOKEN Preferences dialog is open, the sub-
dialogs can be opened by clicking on the appropriate 
button, tabbing to the appropriate button and pressing 
oENTER, or pressing the hotkey combination for the 
appropriate button (e.g., ALT-V for Voices).
To exit from the preferences dialog, select either the 
OK or Cancel button, located at the bottom of the 
dialog. Pressing OK accepts any changes you have made 
to outSPOKEN's settings and saves the changes to disk. 
Pressing the Cancel button closes the dialog and 
discards any changes made to the settings while the 
Preferences dialog was open. Selecting Close from the 
Control menu of this dialog is equivalent to pressing 
the OK button.
5.1.1	outSPOKEN's Voices
Voice rate can be adjusted at any time by holding down 
the SHIFT and CTRL keys and pressing either KPD PLUS, to 
speed up outSPOKEN's speech, or KPD ENTER, to slow down 
the speech. Voice rate, and all other voice controls, 
can also be adjusted from the Voice Preferences sub-
dialog of outSPOKEN Preferences.
Selecting the Voices button in the outSPOKEN 
Preferences dialog opens the Voice Preferences sub-
dialog. From within the outSPOKEN Preferences dialog, a 
shortcut for selecting this sub-dialog is provided by 
the hotkey combination ALT-V.
All speech synthesizers have certain parameters that 
affect the sound of the voice they produce. The most 
basic of these are rate, volume, and pitch. Many 
synthesizers have additional parameters such as 
inflection, intonation, or language. These parameters 
can be set from the Voice Preferences sub-dialog of 
outSPOKEN Preferences. 
outSPOKEN uses a number of different voices to 
communicate different types of information. These 
voices are Text Voice, Graphic Voice, Focus Voice, and 
System Voice. Each of these voices is explained in 
detail below. In addition to these four voices, there 
is a Baseline Voice, which is like a master control on 
all the other voices. For example, all the voices can 
be slowed down at once by reducing the rate of the 
Baseline Voice.
outSPOKEN's use of multiple voices can take advantage 
of certain synthesizers, such as the DECtalk, which 
supply pre-programmed voices. Synthesizers which do not 
come with such voices can still be used by outSPOKEN to 
produce multiple voices. One voice can be distinguished 
from another by varying a parameter such as volume or 
pitch. For example, outSPOKEN's Graphic Voice has a 
higher pitch than the Text Voice. This makes it easy to 
differentiate written text from graphical objects.
At the top of the sub-dialog is a combo box titled 
Voices. This control is used to select which voice is 
having its qualities changed. A voice is chosen by 
first clicking on the combo button of the Voices combo 
box, then clicking on the desired voice. There are five 
parameters that can be adjusted for each voice. In 
order, they are: Rate, Volume, Filter, Inflection, and 
Auxiliary. Each of these voice qualities has an edit 
box displaying the current value for that parameter. To 
change any of these values, simply click in the 
appropriate edit box, delete any unwanted digits with 
BACKSPACE, and type a new value.
Please note that changing the setting of the 
combo box with the UP-ARROW and DOWN-ARROW keys 
displays a new voice name in the combo box, 
but the parameters for that voice are not 
displayed in the edit boxes below until one 
of the edit boxes is selected by clicking in 
it. 
Along the bottom of the sub-dialog are three buttons. 
From left to right they are: OK, Test, and Cancel. The 
Test button speaks the contents of the Test Text edit 
box, using the voice currently being modified. Pressing 
the OK button accepts any changes that have been made 
and closes the sub-dialog. Pressing the Cancel button 
rejects any changes to the settings, restores the 
previous settings, and closes the sub-dialog. Closing 
the sub-dialog with the Close option under the Control 
menu is equivalent to pressing the OK button. 
Baseline Voice:
The Baseline Voice is like a master control for all 
other voices. When the Voice Preferences sub-dialog is 
first opened, the Baseline Voice values are displayed, 
and the combo box at the top contains the title 
"Baseline Voice." The default value for each baseline 
parameter is fifteen out of an effective range of about 
thirty (depending on your synthesizer). These default 
values should correspond to the normal voice of your 
synthesizer. To change the voice, simply change any of 
the displayed values by clicking in the appropriate 
edit box and entering the desired value. Pressing TAB 
automatically moves to the next control and highlights 
the contents of the new edit box as it does so. The 
Baseline Voice is outSPOKEN's standard voice, so the 
user should set it to a comfortable rate and volume.
The non-baseline voices described below display a 0 for 
parameters that match the Baseline Voice. This 
indicates that the parameter has zero deviation from 
the baseline value. To raise such a parameter's value 
above the baseline, the user replaces the 0 with a 
positive number. To lower the value below the baseline, 
a negative number is used. Thus, if the baseline rate 
is set to 15, and the user wants a particular voice to 
be slightly faster than that, a small positive number 
(such as 3) might be used for that voice's rate 
setting. This would give that parameter an effective 
value of 18, which is 3 greater than the baseline value 
of 15. Generally numbers between -10 and +10 are best 
for non-baseline voice parameters. It is not necessary 
to use a plus sign when entering positive values. 
Text Voice:
The Text Voice is the voice that outSPOKEN uses to read 
text. All parameters are defaulted to match the 
baseline settings.
Graphic Voice:
The Graphic Voice speaks the names of graphical objects 
such as icons and symbols (Sections 3.2, 5.2). This is 
helpful in distinguishing the name of a graphic from 
text using the same words. For example, it is important 
to know the difference between a graphic which 
represents a printer and the word "printer" itself, 
since the graphic and the word have different uses. The 
Graphic Voice makes this distinction simple and 
intuitive. The default Graphic Voice has a higher pitch 
than the Text Voice.
System Voice:
The System Voice notifies the user about events and 
activities which occur in the Windows environment. 
These events are neither text nor graphics, so 
outSPOKEN uses a separate voice to communicate them. 
Feedback from outSPOKEN keys such as TOP and BOTTOM are 
spoken in the System Voice. When the pointer moves into 
a new control, such as an edit box, button, or group 
box, outSPOKEN speaks that information in the System 
Voice as well. This makes it clear that the words "edit 
box," for example, are not written on the screen, but 
rather that there is an object called an edit box into 
which the pointer has moved. There are many other 
instances in which the System Voice is used. Among them 
are pointer shape changes (Section 3.1), new window 
feedback (Section 5.1.4), and estimated numbers of 
blank lines skipped when navigating (Section 5.1.5). 
The default System Voice has a lower pitch than the 
Baseline Voice.
Focus Voice:
The Focus Voice speaks newly selected items as focus 
moves to them (Sections 4.8, 5.1.7). It is this voice 
which provides feedback when using built-in Windows 
commands, such as TAB and ARROW keys. The default 
settings for this voice match those of the baseline 
voice.
5.1.2	Keyboard Feedback
Selecting the Keyboard button in the outSPOKEN 
Preferences dialog produces a sub-dialog from which the 
level of feedback about keyboard activity can be 
adjusted. From within the outSPOKEN Preferences dialog, 
a shortcut for selecting this sub-dialog is provided by 
the hotkey combination ALT-K.
The Keyboard Preferences sub-dialog contains eight 
check boxes for turning on and off various keyboard 
echo features. The check boxes are labeled: Echo 
Characters, Echo Words, Echo Punctuation, Echo Toggles, 
Echo Function Keys, Echo Modifiers, Echo Cursor Keys, 
and Echo Other. At the bottom of the sub-dialog are the 
buttons OK and Cancel, for accepting or rejecting 
changes to the settings of the displayed controls.
Echo Characters:
When this check box is checked, outSPOKEN echoes all 
alpha-numeric keys, as well as most math symbols and 
accent characters, as the keys are pressed. From within 
the sub-dialog, the state of this check box can be 
toggled by pressing the hotkey combination ALT-H.
Echo Words:
When this check box is checked, outSPOKEN speaks each 
word as it is completed. A word is considered to have 
ended when the SPACEBAR, oENTER, or TAB key is pressed. 
From within the sub-dialog, the state of this check box 
can be toggled by pressing the hotkey combination 
ALT-W.
Echo Punctuation
When this check box is checked, outSPOKEN echoes 
standard punctuation characters, such as periods, 
commas, exclamation points, question marks, quotation 
marks, and apostrophes, as the keys are pressed. From 
within the sub-dialog, the state of this check box can 
be toggled by pressing the hotkey combination ALT-P.
Echo Toggles:
When this check box is checked, outSPOKEN speaks the 
state of all keyboard toggles as they are pressed. 
Toggle keys include the Caps Lock, Scroll Lock, and Num 
Lock keys. From within the sub-dialog, this feature can 
be turned on and off by pressing the hotkey combination 
ALT-T. 
Echo Function Keys:
When this check box is checked, outSPOKEN speaks the 
names of the function keys, F1 through F12, as they are 
pressed. From within the sub-dialog, the state of this 
check box can be toggled by pressing the hotkey 
combination ALT-F.
Echo Modifiers:
When this check box is checked, outSPOKEN echoes the 
SHIFT, ALT, and CTRL keys as they are pressed. From 
within the sub-dialog, the state of this check box can 
be toggled by pressing the hotkey combination ALT-M.
Echo Cursor Keys:
When this check box is checked, outSPOKEN speaks the 
names of cursor keys as they are pressed. Cursor keys 
are keys that move the caret, such as the ARROW keys, 
HOME, and END. From within the sub-dialog, the state of 
this check box can be toggled by pressing the hotkey 
combination ALT-U.
Echo Other:
When this check box is checked, outSPOKEN echoes keys 
which do not fit into any of the categories listed 
above. These keys include BACKSPACE, TAB, and oENTER. 
From within the sub-dialog, the state of this check box 
can be toggled by pressing the hotkey combination 
Alt-R.
Pressing the OK button accepts any changes that have 
been made and closes the sub-dialog. Pressing the 
Cancel button rejects any changes to the settings, 
restores the previous settings, and closes the sub-
dialog. Closing the sub-dialog with the Close option 
under the Control menu is equivalent to pressing the OK 
button.
5.1.3	Graphics Feedback
Selecting the Graphics button in the outSPOKEN 
Preferences dialog brings up the Graphics Preferences 
sub-dialog. This sub-dialog contains controls for 
setting the level of feedback about icons and symbols 
when reading (Section 4.3). From within the outSPOKEN 
Preferences dialog, a shortcut for selecting this sub-
dialog is provided by the hotkey combination ALT-G.
The Graphics Preferences sub-dialog contains a group 
box, titled "Spoken Graphics," which contains three 
radio buttons. The radio buttons are labeled Verbose, 
Normal, and Off. At the bottom of the sub-dialog are 
the buttons OK and Cancel, for accepting or rejecting 
changes to the settings of the displayed controls.
The Verbose radio button, which can be selected with 
the hotkey combination ALT-V, tells outSPOKEN to speak 
all graphics 128 pixels square or smaller as it reads. 
The Normal setting, which can be selected with the 
hotkey combination ALT-N, tells outSPOKEN to ignore 
certain graphics (Section 5.2.1). The Off setting, 
which can be selected with the hotkey combination ALT-
F, tells outSPOKEN to ignore all graphics as it reads. 
outSPOKEN always ignores graphics larger than 128 
pixels square.
Pressing the OK button accepts any changes that have 
been made and closes the sub-dialog. Pressing the 
Cancel button rejects any changes to the settings, 
restores the previous settings, and closes the sub-
dialog. Closing the sub-dialog with the Close option 
under the Control menu is equivalent to pressing the OK 
button.
5.1.4	New Window Feedback
Selecting the Window button in the outSPOKEN 
Preferences dialog produces a sub-dialog from which 
feedback about new windows, dialogs, and menus can be 
adjusted. From within the outSPOKEN Preferences dialog, 
a shortcut for selecting this sub-dialog is provided by 
the hotkey combination ALT-W.
The Window Preferences sub-dialog contains three group 
boxes titled Window, Dialog, and Menu. Each of these 
group boxes contains three radio buttons labeled Voice, 
Tone, and Off. At the bottom of the sub-dialog are the 
buttons OK and Cancel, for accepting or rejecting 
changes to the settings of the displayed controls.
Each group box title refers to a different type of 
window which can be announced as it opens: normal 
windows, dialog boxes, and menus. The selected radio 
button inside each group box indicates the level of 
notification outSPOKEN provides for that type of new 
window. If, for example, the Voice radio button is 
selected in the Dialog group box, outSPOKEN says the 
word "Dialog," followed by the title of the dialog, 
whenever a dialog box opens. If the Tone option is 
selected, outSPOKEN produces a tone from the PC speaker 
whenever a dialog box opens. The button labeled Off 
tells outSPOKEN to provide no feedback at all for that 
type of new window.
When the Voice option is selected in the Window group 
box, outSPOKEN says "Window," followed by the name of 
the window, for each window that gets created. If the 
Voice setting is selected in the Menu group box, 
outSPOKEN says "Menu" each time a menu is opened, and 
"Leaving menu" when the menu closes.
Pressing the OK button accepts any changes that have 
been made and closes the sub-dialog. Pressing the 
Cancel button rejects any changes to the settings, 
restores the previous settings, and closes the sub-
dialog. Closing the sub-dialog with the Close option 
under the Control menu is equivalent to pressing the OK 
button.
It is important to note that in order for any 
of the Tone options to function properly, the 
Enable System Sounds check box, at the bottom 
of the Sound Control Panel, must be checked. 
The Control Panel is a utility provided by 
Windows for setting various Windows 
parameters. It can be found in the Main 
window of Program Manager. If tones are not 
being produced when any of the above 
notification levels are set to Tone, verify 
that system sounds are enabled.
5.1.5	Movement Feedback
Selecting the Movement button in the outSPOKEN 
Preferences dialog produces a sub-dialog from which 
feedback about outSPOKEN's pointer movement across 
empty space can be adjusted. It also contains controls 
for setting capitalization feedback. From within the 
outSPOKEN Preferences dialog, a shortcut for selecting 
this sub-dialog is provided by the hotkey combination 
ALT-M.
The Movement Preferences sub-dialog contains three 
check boxes. The first is titled New Line Tone, the 
second is Line Approximation, and the third is Capital 
Letter Notification. At the bottom of the sub-dialog 
are the buttons OK and Cancel, for accepting or 
rejecting changes to the settings of the displayed 
controls.
New Line Tone:
This feature is available only if a sound card or sound 
generating software is installed. When the New Line 
Tone feature is on, it causes a tone to sound when 
reading across a line boundary with LEFT (KPD 4) or 
RIGHT (KPD 6). This means that when reading by word or 
character to the right or left, a tone sounds if the 
next word or character to be read is on a different 
line. This check box can be selected with the hotkey 
combination ALT-N. 
Line Approximation:
outSPOKEN's Line Approximation feature estimates the 
number of blank lines crossed when the pointer is moved 
with outSPOKEN commands. For example, if outSPOKEN is 
reading a document which contains three blank lines, 
outSPOKEN says "three lines" at that point in the 
document. When FIND (KPD 1) (Section 4.4) is being 
used, outSPOKEN also estimates the number of lines 
between the point where the search is initiated and the 
location at which the item is found. The number of 
estimated lines is always spoken in the System Voice 
(Section 5.1.1). This check box can be selected with 
the hotkey combination ALT-A.
Capital Letter Notification:
When Capital Letter Notification is turned on, 
outSPOKEN says the word "cap" in the System Voice 
(Section 5.1.1) before capital letters, when reading by 
character (SHIFT-KPD 4, SHIFT-KPD 6) or when spelling a 
word (CTRL-0). If the current letter is capitalized, 
this feature also speaks the word "cap" when reporting 
font information (KPD PERIOD). This check box can be 
selected with the hotkey combination ALT-L.
Pressing the OK button accepts any changes that have 
been made and closes the sub-dialog. Pressing the 
Cancel button rejects any changes to the settings, 
restores the previous settings, and closes the sub-
dialog. Closing the sub-dialog with the Close option 
under the Control menu is equivalent to pressing the OK 
button.
5.1.6	Punctuation Feedback
Selecting the Punctuation button in the outSPOKEN 
Preferences dialog produces a sub-dialog from which 
outSPOKEN's level of announced punctuation can be 
adjusted. From within the outSPOKEN Preferences dialog, 
a shortcut for selecting this sub-dialog is provided by 
the hotkey combination ALT-P.
The Punctuation Preferences sub-dialog contains three 
radio buttons labeled All, Some, and None. At the 
bottom of the sub-dialog are the buttons OK and Cancel, 
for accepting or rejecting changes to the settings of 
the displayed controls.
When All punctuation is turned on, outSPOKEN reports 
all punctuation as it reads. This feature can be 
quickly selected from within this sub-dialog by 
pressing the hotkey combination ALT-A. The Some 
punctuation setting filters out such characters as 
dashes, apostrophes, question marks, and exclamation 
points. For a full list of the characters that are not 
spoken when this setting is turned on, see the list 
below. This setting can be selected by pressing the 
hotkey combination ALT-S. The None setting for 
punctuation feedback does not announce any punctuation 
when reading with most outSPOKEN commands. This setting 
can be selected with the hotkey combination ALT-N.
Characters Omitted When Punctuation Feedback is Set to 
Some:
apostrophe	dollar sign	question mark
asterisk	equals	quote
back quote	exclamation point	semicolon
braces	greater-than	tilde
brackets	less-than	underscore
colon	parentheses	vertical bar
dash	plus
It is important to note that these settings 
do not apply when reading by character 
(SHIFT-KPD 4, SHIFT-KPD 6), getting font 
information (KPD PERIOD), or spelling current 
word (CTRL-KPD 0). In these cases, all 
punctuation is always spoken.
Pressing the OK button accepts any changes that have 
been made and closes the sub-dialog. Pressing the 
Cancel button rejects any changes to the settings, 
restores the previous settings, and closes the sub-
dialog. Closing the sub-dialog with the Close option 
under the Control menu is equivalent to pressing the OK 
button.
5.1.7	Pointer Tracking
Selecting the Tracking button in the outSPOKEN 
Preferences dialog produces a sub-dialog from which 
outSPOKEN's highlight and caret tracking features can 
be adjusted. From within the outSPOKEN Preferences 
dialog, a shortcut for selecting this sub-dialog is 
provided by the hotkey combination ALT-T.
The Tracking Preferences sub-dialog contains four check 
boxes. The first two, Follow Caret and Read Caret, 
determine outSPOKEN's response to movement of the text 
insertion cursor. The second two check boxes, Speak 
Focus and Track Focus, govern outSPOKEN's response to 
changes of highlighting and focus. At the bottom of the 
sub-dialog are the buttons OK and Cancel, for accepting 
or rejecting changes to the settings of the displayed 
controls. 
Follow Caret:
The Follow Caret check box toggles on and off a feature 
which is sometimes referred to as "cursor tracking." 
This setting has an effect only when a caret is present 
(e.g., in a word processor or edit box). When this 
feature is turned on, the mouse pointer automatically 
moves to follow the caret any time the caret changes 
position. This allows outSPOKEN navigation to pick up 
from the location of the most recent text changes. When 
the caret is not moving, the pointer can be moved with 
outSPOKEN commands to read different areas of the 
screen, but as soon as the caret moves again (i.e., if 
text is typed or cursor keys are used) the pointer 
immediately moves to follow the caret. This check box 
can be selected from within the sub-dialog with the 
hotkey combination ALT-F. 
Read Caret:
The Read Caret feature enables outSPOKEN to speak 
characters, words, and lines when the caret is moved 
with cursor keys (e.g., ARROW keys, HOME, and END). This 
check box can be selected from within the sub-dialog 
with the hotkey combination ALT-R. This setting has an 
effect only when a caret is present (e.g., in a word 
processor or edit box). When this feature is on, cursor 
keys announce the character, word, or line at the 
caret's new location. When this feature is on and a 
cursor key is pressed, outSPOKEN moves the pointer to 
the caret and speaks the indicated item. If this 
function is not active, all caret movement commands 
work properly, but outSPOKEN provides no accompanying 
voice feedback. These functions, and the voice feedback 
provided by outSPOKEN, are summarized in the table 
below. 
Key Name	Standard Caret	outSPOKEN
	Movement	Feedback
LEFT-ARROW	Back one character	Read current character
RIGHT-ARROW	Forward one character	Read current 
character
CTRL-LEFT-ARROW	Back one word	Read 
current word
CTRL-RIGHT-ARROW	Forward one word	Read 
current word
HOME	Beginning of line	Read first word of line
END	End of line	Read last word of line
PAGE UP	Scroll to previous window	Read current 
line
PAGE DOWN	Scroll to next window	Read current line
DELETE	Delete next character	Read deleted 
character
BACKSPACE	Delete previous character	Read deleted 
character

It is important to note that some 
applications do not use the standard Windows 
caret, but draw something that looks 
identical. In these situations, outSPOKEN 
needs to let the caret cycle through at least 
one on-off-on sequence before the caret can 
be identified. Consequently, increasing the 
Cursor Blink Rate in the Desktop Control 
Panel will allow outSPOKEN to more quickly 
find the caret and may remedy sluggishness in 
such applications. In other cases where non-
standard carets are used, the Read Caret 
feature may not function properly. Within 
most Windows applications, the cursor keys 
have standardized functions, but not all 
applications use them. For information on a 
specific application's treatment of the above 
commands, consult that application's 
documentation.
Speak Focus:
The Speak Focus check box specifies whether or not 
outSPOKEN announces newly highlighted items and 
controls. It can be selected from within the sub-dialog 
with the hotkey combination ALT-S. This feature 
facilitates the use of Windows' built-in commands, such 
as TAB and ARROW keys, for highlight and focus shifting 
within dialog boxes. For example, as the user TABs to 
each new control in a dialog box, outSPOKEN announces 
the control type (in the System Voice) and speaks the 
newly highlighted item in the Focus Voice (Section 
5.1.1). Highlighted items are spoken regardless of the 
method used to select them (e.g., ARROW keys, typed 
letters, or mouse clicks). Speak Focus works in 
virtually all situations, including dialog boxes, 
menus, Program Manager, File Manager, and all other 
standard applications.
Please note that dimmed menu items are not 
spoken when they are highlighted, regardless 
of the setting of Speak Focus. To read these 
items, use outSPOKEN's reading commands.
Track Focus:
The Track Focus feature moves the pointer to the end of 
any newly highlighted item or control. This feature can 
be selected from within the sub-dialog with the hotkey 
combination ALT-T. It is frequently used in conjunction 
with Speak Focus. The difference between these two 
features is that Speak Focus speaks the highlighted 
item without moving the pointer, while Track Focus 
moves the pointer to the highlighted item without 
speaking. If both features are enabled, outSPOKEN both 
speaks and points to the newly highlighted item. Track 
Focus facilitates the use of outSPOKEN's reading and 
navigation commands by moving the pointer to the item 
of most probable interest. The user can then 
investigate the surrounding area with outSPOKEN's 
navigation keys.
Pressing the OK button accepts any changes that have 
been made and closes the sub-dialog. Pressing the 
Cancel button rejects any changes to the settings, 
restores the previous settings, and closes the sub-
dialog. Closing the sub-dialog with the Close option 
under the Control menu is equivalent to pressing the OK 
button.
5.1.8	System Settings
Selecting the System button in the outSPOKEN 
Preferences dialog produces a sub-dialog which contains 
settings for a number of infrequently used, but 
important, settings. From within the outSPOKEN 
Preferences dialog, a shortcut for selecting this sub-
dialog is provided by the hotkey combination ALT-S.
The System Preferences sub-dialog contains four check 
boxes labeled Automatic Text, Automatic Graphics, 
Character Substitution, and Read Windowed DOS Sessions. 
The first two, Automatic Text and Automatic Graphics, 
allow text and graphics to be spoken as they are drawn 
to the screen. Character Substitution replaces 
punctuation and math symbols with their text 
equivalents, as well as performing character counting. 
Read Windowed DOS Sessions allows outSPOKEN to 
interpret text inside DOS windows. At the bottom of the 
sub-dialog are the buttons OK and Cancel, for accepting 
or rejecting changes to the settings of the displayed 
controls.
Automatic Text:
The Automatic Text feature reads text as it is written 
to the screen. It is most useful in windows which 
contain command line interfaces, such as DOS windows or 
terminal emulators. Using this feature, it is possible 
to hear each new prompt as it appears. Microsoft 
Windows has an unfortunate tendency to draw and re-draw 
the same item numerous times. If Automatic Text is 
turned on, this tendency leads to more text being 
spoken than one desires. For this reason, it is usually 
best to leave this feature turned off. From within the 
System Preferences sub-dialog, the hotkey combination 
ALT-A turns this feature on and off. Automatic Text can 
be toggled on and off from any location (inside or 
outside the preferences dialog) with the outSPOKEN 
command SAY-ON (CTRL-KPD ENTER). The state of SAY-ON, 
however, does not get saved in the outSPOKEN 
preferences file.
Automatic Graphics:
The Automatic Graphics feature speaks each graphic as 
it is drawn to the screen. It is most useful when 
tabbing or arrowing between non-standard buttons that 
are drawn as icons. As each graphic is highlighted, it 
is redrawn, and outSPOKEN says its name. Often the 
button being tabbed away from is spoken as well. As 
with Automatic Text, some graphics may be drawn 
numerous times. This control can be toggled on and off 
from within the sub-dialog with the hotkey combination 
ALT-G.
Character Substitution:
outSPOKEN's Character Substitution filter replaces 
punctuation such as period (.) and exclamation point 
(!) with their text names (point and exclamation), 
rather than sending the punctuation character itself to 
the speech synthesizer. Also incorporated into this 
filter is the ability to count repeating characters. 
For example, a line of dashes forty characters long is 
reported as "forty dash" when Character Substitution is 
active. When this feature is off, outSPOKEN passes all 
characters to the synthesizer as they are. Thus, in the 
above example, the word "dash" would be spoken forty 
times. 
Character substitution preempts any punctuation filters 
or abbreviation interpreters that are hard-wired into 
your synthesizer. If you want to use the features built 
into your synthesizer, Character Substitution should be 
turned off. If you want outSPOKEN to interpret 
punctuation and count characters, this filter should be 
turned on. From within the System Preferences sub-
dialog, this control can be selected with the hotkey 
combination ALT-H.
Read Windowed DOS Sessions:
The Read Windowed DOS Sessions check box lets outSPOKEN 
know whether or not it should read DOS windows. If this 
feature is turned off, outSPOKEN turns over control of 
these windows to any DOS screen reader that may be 
running underneath Windows. By providing this option, 
outSPOKEN offers maximum flexibility for use of a DOS 
screen reader in conjunction with Windows. This check 
box can be selected from within the System Preferences 
sub-dialog with the hotkey combination ALT-R. 
Pressing the OK button accepts any changes that have 
been made and closes the sub-dialog. Pressing the 
Cancel button rejects any changes to the settings, 
restores the previous settings, and closes the sub-
dialog. Closing the sub-dialog with the Close option 
under the Control menu is equivalent to pressing the OK 
button.

