Utterly Voice
Customization Overview
Utterly Voice is highly customizable. All settings are saved in text YAML files, which you can edit directly. If you are not already familiar with YAML, be sure to read the YAML Tutorial before editing any settings files.
Text Editor 
For editing YAML files, you can use nearly any basic editor that saves the content as plain text. You should avoid editors like Microsoft Word that do not handle plain text very well.
The Windows Notepad application will work fine on Windows 10, however Notepad on Windows 11 has some bugs that affect dictation when using Utterly Voice and other dictation applications.
Using a text editor that is designed to edit code will give you a better YAML editing experience. Code editors highlight keywords with colors and help you with proper indentation. If you have never used a code editor, we recommend Notepad++. It is one of the easiest code editors to learn. Utterly Voice includes a "notepad plus plus" mode for this application.
If you already have experience with code editors, use whichever editor you like. Utterly Voice includes an "emacs" mode if you happen to be familiar with that editor. We use this mode for application and website development.
General Settings
With general settings,
you can update the license key, microphone settings,
recognizer settings, and define special words.
These settings are found in the
config\settings.yaml
file.
For more information,
see
General Settings.
Number Settings
With number settings,
you can customize how words are interpreted as numbers.
These settings are found in the
config\numbers.yaml
file.
For more information,
see
Number Settings.
Mode Settings
You can edit any of the existing commands
or define your own commands in the mode settings files.
These files are found in the
config\modes
directory.
Each mode defines many related commands,
and each mode is defined in its own file.
If you want to create your own mode,
just create a new mode file in the same directory as the existing mode files.
For more information,
see
Mode Settings.
Apply Settings Changes
There are three ways to update your settings:
| Method | Applicable settings | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Setup window |
This method only applies to the
licenseKey,
microphoneThreshold, and
utteranceGapMilliseconds
settings in the
config\settings.yaml
file.
|
See the Setup Window document for details. This method does not require direct editing of settings files. |
| Reload settings command |
This method applies to the
config\numbers.yaml file and any mode files found in
config\modes.
|
This method is useful when experimenting with number or mode file changes while the application is running. Make your changes, save the settings files, then say "reload settings" to apply the updated settings. For more information, say "open help global", then scroll down to the "reload settings" command description. |
| Restart application | This method applies to all settings data. | Make your changes, save the settings files, then restart the application. |
Troubleshooting
If you edit a settings file, and Utterly Voice displays an error about the file at startup, you probably entered invalid YAML. The easiest way to find the problem in your file, is to use an online YAML validation tool. These tools will show you exactly where the problem is. There are many tools that perform this. One recommended tool is YAML Lint.