Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Support Group

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) describes a sense of exhaustion and post-exertion malaise, even when you have gotten enough rest and sleep. The disease is characterized by six months of incapacitating fatigue experienced as profound exhaustion and extremely poor stamina, and problems with concentration and short-term memory. The cause is unknown, but it is a...

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featherjack 04/02/2015

You ever type a long message or note, or *any note, and accidentally delete it? Or DS eats it? I know I have, and I see I'm not the only one. It pisses me off, and that doesn't make me feel better or happier.

So instead, I type my note on a text editor (notepad, Word, Open Office Text) on my computer, and name it Scratch or whatever else makes sense to me. Then I write my message and hit Ctrl-S (Command-S on a Mac) like they vote in Chicago: early and often.

That way you've taken DS's gremlins out of the equation and if you ARE suddenly overcome with FSFS (Fat Stupid Finger Syndrome) like I am so often, you haven't lost the *whole thing.

Hth,
Jack

p.s. Ctrl (Cmd)-Z is your friend too -- it undoes the last stupid thing that happened. Sometimes that's just enough.
Save Early. Save Often.

RichieD 04/02/2015

I never hit those yellow buttons on DS without first holding down the control key and pressing a c home in sequence. In Windows, that saves the text that was highlighted to the scratch pad. Using the home key as the last in the sequence takes me to the beginning of the text so I can proof it.

To retrieve the text, place the cursor where you want to insert it and press Control V.

It's a good habit, and it can literally be done in less than a second. Please don't try to tell me that you can't spare a second of your time.

featherjack 04/02/2015

Another good solution. You're absolutely right, Richie, both of these can be made such habits that they are almost instinct, and losing what you've spent the last 20 minutes typing is worth it.

I see I left out the last, most important step of mine -- copy (Ctrl-C) from your doc and paste (Ctrl-V) into DS!

triunfadora 04/03/2015

Thank you for this information. DS is constantly eating my stuff. I work hard, not only to type it, but to come up with what I am going to say. Chances are I won't remember it to write it out again. I should start doing what you suggest here. Thanks.

spacepony 04/04/2015

Ugh, DS has eaten some lengthy posts! Thanks for the tips xx

Nina1959 04/05/2015

Great idea. Many times I am using Dragon Naturally Speaking to type by speaking as my hands won't work. Doing it on word would be easier as well. :)

featherjack 04/05/2015

Nina, how do you like Dragon? I have it but haven't worked with it at all (which is kinda stupid, actually). I heard it takes a lot of training, the the software AND the user. Has that happened to you?

jcpmoore 04/06/2015

I love Dragon. I use the mobile version on my iPhone to record my blogs. It does take some correcting afterward, but not too much. Then I can copy and paste into my blog app without having to type everything. i really want to try it for my pc. I used it ages and ages ago (like last millenium) and it did need a lot of training. No idea if it still works this way.

featherjack 04/06/2015

That sounds awesome. I'll have to reinstall and practice. Thanks!! :-)

Nina1959 04/07/2015

I like it. They upgraded it recently and it's much better. I do find I have to have two of them installed for us as both of us use it and it learns one persons style of speaking and then gets confused by a second person (they are apparently working on that).
Teaching it isn't that bad. Speaking to it is a bit slower than typing if you have to do punctuation but if you aren't being fussy, like for a journal, etc, you can speak pretty normally.
Family can usually tell when I have used it because my usual fussy punctuation is missing. I'm too lazy to go back and fix it.
I think as time goes on they will get better and better at these things, but for now it's very helpful.

featherjack 04/07/2015

Nina, it seems to me I have Dragon Home Premium 12 (or not...) and that you can create different profiles for different users/speakers. You have to load the right profile, and of course it's moot because you already have the 2nd copy -- Did I understand that right?

Nina1959 04/07/2015

I think i have 10, we have two computers so I loaded it on both, he uses the desktop unit and I use the laptop, good to know they fixed that glitch, thanks :-)

2097Maris 04/08/2015

Hi Guys!
So, if I have this right, you are saying on a Mac I should hit Command, then S then SEND or ADD REPLY? I am not very computer savvy , so I have to ask these little questions for clarification. Thanks in advance!!! And, yes, I too, have typed out lengthy responses and had them disappear. Very, very annoying. It' bad enough to be wiped out and typing, only to have all that thought and effort fly out the window (no pun intended)....Thanks!

featherjack 04/08/2015

Denise, on your Mac Command-S saves the file you're writing *in a word processor*. You're typing a document on your own machine that you save to your hard drive periodically (often).

When you're done typing, press Command-S one more time to save all those precious keystrokes.
Press Command-A to highlight the whole doc, and
Command-C to copy all those precious keystrokes.
Then pop over here, put your cursor in the appropriate field (reply, comment, journal, whatever) and press
Command-V to paste your lovely keystrokes and brilliant insights where they should go.

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