How To Transfer Dragon User Profiles

DVDs don’t remember whether they’ve been read before, so installing Dragon NaturallySpeaking on a new computer is just like installing it the first time. If you are transferring your User Profiles from the old machine, though, you don’t want to redo General Training.

Instead, cancel out of the New User Wizard just after you have gone through the first steps that ask you about your age, your accent, and so forth (in other words, right before running Audio Setup). Move on to Import a User Profile. Then you’ll be able to go back and set up the rest of the files.

In case you’re wondering, a new User Profile requires about 140 MB of hard drive space. One of the easiest ways to transfer the files from one computer to another is to use a USB flash drive. This way, you can easily copy the files from the first computer and move them to another. Of course, if you have a preferred method for moving files, use that.

Note: You always move the User Profile from the original machine you created the profile on to the machine you are moving it to. This means that you use the Export function on the original machine and the Import function on the new machine.

Transferring your user files to a new machine involves a few basic steps. You have to go through this process for each user that you want to move to the new machine. Use the following steps:

1. Choose Profile→Manage User Profiles from the DragonBar or say, “Manage User Profiles on the Original Computer.”

   A User Profile window opens up, showing the names of the User Profiles on your computer.

2. Select your username and click the Advanced button.

   A submenu displays.

3. Click the Export menu.

   A Windows browser screen opens and asks you to click on the location where you want to save the User Profile files you want to move.

4. If you are using a USB flash drive as recommended earlier, double-click Computer and locate the drive.

   Make a new folder on the flash drive so you’ll have no trouble finding the files you transfer.

5. Click OK.

   The files are copied automatically to your flash drive. You should get a message that says the export was successful.

6. Close the User Profile window. Remove the flash drive and go back to the computer you are moving the profile to.

7. With NaturallySpeaking running on that computer, insert the flash drive.

   You see a message on the DragonBar that says No User Profile Is Loaded.

8. Choose Profile→Manage User Profiles on the DragonBar or say, “Manage User Profiles on the Original Computer,” and click the Advanced button.

9. Choose Import.

   The browser screen opens and asks you to select the username you just set up when you installed the software in Step 2.

10. Locate the USB drive and click on the file you copied onto it.

11. Click OK.

    The files are copied and you have successfully moved your User Profile from your original computer to your new computer.

Tip: The point of moving the old user files to the new machine is to avoid retraining. You don’t want to train the new user files that the wizard sets up. Rather, you just want the file structure to be set up so that you can replace the wizard’s generic files with the files you copied from your old machine.