How to save, export, and import Dragon user profiles

Steps for Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 and 12:

To save your user files:

  1. From the DragonBar, click the “Profile” button.
  2. Select the “Save User Profile” option.

To export a user:

  1. From the DragonBar, click the “Profile” button.
  2. Select the “Manager User Profiles” option.
  3. Select a user listed in the “Manage User Profiles” dialog
  4. Click the “Advanced” button and then select “Export…”.
  5. Use the “Browse For Folder” dialog box to specify a location to save the exported user profile.
  6. Click “OK” to save the user profile.

To import a user:

  1. From the DragonBar, click the “Profile” button.
  2. Select the “Manager User Profiles” option.
  3. Click the “Advanced” button and then select “Import…”.
  4. Use the “Browse For Folder” dialog box to locate the user profile to import.
  5. Click “OK” to import the selected user profile.

Steps for previous versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking:

To save your user files:

  1. From the DragonBar, click the “Dragon” button (or the “NaturallySpeaking” button in Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 and previous versions).
  2. Select the “Save User Files” option.

To export a user:

  1. From the DragonBar, click the “Dragon” button (or the “NaturallySpeaking” button in Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 and previous versions).
  2. Select the “Manage Users” option.
  3. Click the “Advanced” button and then select “Export…”.
  4. Use the “Browse For Folder” dialog box to specify a location to save the exported user profile.
  5. Click “OK” to save the user profile.

To import a user:

  1. From the DragonBar, click the “Dragon” button (or the “NaturallySpeaking” button in Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 and previous versions).
  2. Select the “Manage Users” option.
  3. Click the “Advanced” button and then select “Import…”.
  4. Use the “Browse For Folder” dialog box to locate the user profile to import.
  5. Click “OK” to import the selected user profile.

Options to import and export user profiles may not be available in all editions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

By default, Dragon NaturallySpeaking will save the user profiles to the following folders based on the version of Dragon and Operating System:

  • Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12:
    • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking12\Users\  (Windows XP)
    • C:\ProgramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking12\Users\  (Windows Vista and Windows 7)
  • Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11:
    • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking11\Users\  (Windows XP)
    • C:\ProgramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking11\Users\  (Windows Vista and Windows 7)
  • Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10:
    • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking\Users\  (Windows XP)
    • C:\ProgramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking10\Users\  (Windows Vista)
  • Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9:
    • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking\Users\  (Windows XP
    • C:\ProgramData\Nuance\NaturallySpeaking9\Users\  (For version 9.5 on Windows Vista)
  • Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8:
    • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ScanSoft\NaturallySpeaking\Users\
  • Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7:
    • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ScanSoft\NaturallySpeaking\Users\  (For version 7.3)
    • C:\Program Files\Dragon\NaturallySpeaking\Users\  (For version 7.0)
  • Dragon NaturallySpeaking 6:
    • C:\Program Files\Dragon\NaturallySpeaking\Users\

Steps for Dragon Dictate:

To back up a user profile with MacSpeech Dictate or Dragon Dictate, please follow the steps below:

For a single user profile:

  1. Click on the Spotlight (magnifying glass) icon in the top right corner of the screen.
  2. Search Spotlight for the profile by using one of the following search terms: Depending on the version of Dictate being used: For Dragon Dictate:  .ddictateprofile For MacSpeech Dictate:  .dictateprofile. Do not press Return when searching, just type in the correct search query above.
  3. Click “Show All” and the Finder window will present the search results.
  4. The profile will appear as an icon with a silhouette of a person.
  5. Hold down the Control button on the keyboard and then click on the profile icon.
  6. Choose “Open Enclosing Folder”.
  7. Hold down the Control button on the keyboard and click the profile in the new window.
  8. Choose “Compress”.
  9. The profile is now compressed and the backup will have the same name as the profile, but it will end in “.zip” (for example: “profilename.ddictateprofile.zip”).
For multiple profiles:
  1. Create a folder named “Dictate Profiles” in your Documents folder where the backup profiles will be saved to.
  2. Click on the Spotlight(magnifying glass) icon in the top right corner of the screen.
  3. Search Spotlight for the profile by using one of the following search terms: Depending on the version of Dictate being used): For Dragon Dictate:  .ddictateprofile For MacSpeech Dictate:  .dictateprofile Do not press Return when searching, just type in the correct search query above.
  4. Click “Show All” and the Finder window will present the search results.
  5. The profiles will appear as icons with a silhouette of a person.
  6. Drag each profile into the new “Dictate Profiles” folder.
  7. Hold the Control button on the keyboard and click on the “Dictate Profiles” folder.
  8. Choose “Compress”.
  9. The profiles in the “Dictate Profiles” folder will be compressed into a file called “Dictate Profiles.zip”.

After backing profile(s), it is suggested to save the files to a backup location such as an external hard drive or burn them to a CD/DVD.

To use a backup profile, remove the original profile from the default folder, then extract the backup profile from the zip file and drag it to the Documents folder.

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