I am starting an FAQ about dragon for users who would like to keep their current version of Dragon going for as long as they can. (Dragon have closed down all their technical support, including their old forums.) Read on for details.
MacOS Catalina (version 10.15) is the sixteenth and, as of June 2020, current major release of macOS, Apple Inc.' S desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. It is the successor to macOS Mojave and precedes macOS Big Sur, which is planned to be released in the second half of 2020.It was announced at WWDC 2019 on June 3, 2019, and was released to the public on October 7, 2019.
Hope this helps at least a few people. I use Dragon Dictate 6.0.8, the last version available before Nuance pulled the plug on us. I installed it on this Mac (late 20`9 with Catalina) from a Time Machine backup of my older Mac. Dragon works just fine here, better accuracy than Apple Dictation and Voice Control. After 'upgrading' to High Sierra I found that both Dragon for Mac (6) and Enhanced Dictation had ceased to function properly. As a disabled user, dependent on speech to text to use and control my computer, I strongly prefer Dragon for Mac – its feature set is considerably richer than that of OS X's Enhanced Dictation.
Ten years ago Dragon finally arrived on the Apple Macintosh platform. It was the first ever usable speech recognition engine for Macintosh and a very exciting day for those Who had struggled through the days of Philips dictate and IBM ViaVoice! Since then Dragon has slowly but surely improved, with better accuracy and better stability with every release.
In the last couple of years however, Dragon seemed to falter. It became harder and harder for them to develop on the Apple platform. Not long before they stopped developing their Apple product a senior developer from Nuance contacted me to speak about their growing frustration with Apple. He had two lawyers in the room and was very limited to what he could say, I assume it was because of fear of being sued by Apple. I have heard this story again and again from developers who are trying to work with active. And I have sadly watched Nuance’s growing frustration with Apple that finally led them to stop supporting the OSX version of Dragon last year.
This is indeed a sad say, not just because of the loss of speech recognition but because this goes against everything Apple stood for. Steve Jobs was an advocate for the advancement of all kinds of creative technologies. I do not believe he would have allowed this to happen under his watch without either buying Nuance out or developing their own version of Siri used for dictation. But as it stands, there is no longer a version of Dragon for OSX being developed. Given the level of difficulty that Apple have caused Nuance, it seems unlikely that it will return anytime soon. This is the end. All we have left is the possibility of keeping our current version going as long as we can. (Or switching to a PC so as to have access to Dragon again.)
Will Dragon work with Catalina?
Yes the latest version of Dragon is 64 bit and works fine with Catalina. In fact, ironically, Dragon 6.0.8 Running under Catalina is the most stable version of Dragon that I have ever owned! So if you already have Dragon installed you can upgrade to Catalina and it should keep working.
I currently have Dragon version 6 working on my 2015 MacBook Pro as well as my 2018 Mac Mini, both running Catalina.
Can I still install a new version of Dragon on my computer?
Yes, but you need an existing serial number to activate it. Dragon’s registration database is broken. They are unable to add new serial numbers. So the only chance you have of getting your new working version of Dragon on your computer is to buy a second hand version and use the serial number that was already registered with Dragon. But make sure that the old computer is removed from the Dragon database to allow you to register the new one.
If I buy a new computer can I transfer my version of Dragon across to it from my old computer?
The activation engine is still working in Catalina. Dragon technical support are saying that it no longer works in Catalina but I was able to verify that it does work (see the screenshot below that I just took today – June 2020).
This means that you can deactivate your version of Dragon on one computer and then activate it using the same serial number on a different computer. I have done this multiple times and can confirm that it works. If anyone finds that this stops working please let me know!
You can activate your version, but when you get to this screen below you will have to do skip because the registration does not work.
How many different computers can I have my version of Dragon activated on?
I have Dragon activated on 2 of my computers – my laptop and my desktop. I tried to install it on a new laptop that I purchased and it would not activate until I went into my old laptop and deactivated it there. This leads me to believe that you can have it running on up to 2 computers at once.
It is possible that I deleted Dragon from various computers and I forgot to deactivate them first. This means that my activation is lost forever – I cannot recover them. So it may work on 3 or more computers, but I could not activate it on a third computer I could only use two.
If I have lost my old computer – can I get my serial number reset?
No. If you happen to sell your computer with it still connected to your Dragon account or your computer dies and you are unable to de-activate it, it is stuck forever. This is even the case if you formatted the hard drive and deleted dragon from the computer. One of your Dragon activations is still locked to the serial number of that computer. Unless you go in and deactivate Dragon on that computer, it is locked to that computer forever.
I rang Dragon to talk to them about this. I accidentally reformatted my hard drive and sold my laptop without deactivating Dragon first. Dragon no longer have access to the registration database. When they were still operating they were able to go into the database and reset your number of activations to zero again so that Dragon would stop working on your old computers but work on your new ones. But Dragon technical support told me that their database is not accessible to them so if you happen to lose your computer your Dragon activation is gone with it.
For this reason, if you want to continue you to use Dragon, you need to be very careful about your activations. If your computer looks like it is dying or if you plan on selling it make sure you deactivate your Dragon first so that you can use it in another computer.
How do I deactivate my Dragon serial number?
The Dragon serial number is linked to the computer that you activated on. The only way that you can deactivate it is by opening Dragon on that computer and selecting ‘Licence’ then ‘Deactivate.’
How do I install Dragon onto to a new computer?
The best ways to make sure that you have a copy of your original Dragon installer. So the best way is just to run the installer.
If for any reason that does not work you can copy the files across manually and they still work.
- The Dragon application is in the applications folder of your computer.
- The Speech engine data and licence key is in
Library/Application Suppport/Dragon - All your personal settings including commands and profiles are in
~Library/Application Support/Dragon
Whichever way you do it, using the installer or copying the files across manually, you will still need to activate the program when you first run it. This means you will need your serial number.
Is Siri or Google Dictate a good replacement for Dragon?
Siri and Google Dictate are remarkable pieces of software but they are not dictation software like Dragon was. This is because they do not adapt themselves personally to your voice. There is no way to correct their mistakes and train them to your own voice. Siri and Google Dictate are extremely versatile and have very high accuracy, in fact I would say that they are as good as Dragon is when Dragon first comes out of the box.
The problem is with Dragon, when it makes a mistake, if you correct it, it remembers that for ever and dictates it correctly the next time. Apple dictation (based on Siri) does not do this, nor does Google Dictate. They may adapt themselves to your voice, I am not sure, but they do not have their own trainable dictionaries based on your corrections and for this reason they continued to repeatedly make the same mistakes over and over again. There is no mechanism to correct them and train them like you do with Dragon.
Currently the only workable speech recognition for Apple is to run your old version of Dragon. I am so thankful that it was 64-bit compatible and continues to work with Catalina. Let’s hope that it keeps working for a little while longer.
If you have any further questions or comments or feedback please leave them in a comment below. It would be great to keep this document is updated for Dragon users.
Related posts:
Dragon Dictate version 4: ReviewDragon Naturally Speaking arrives on the Macintosh!Dragon Dictate Released!Dragon Dictate Version 4Dragon for Mac version 6 Review
Leave a Reply
Before you upgrade to OS X Catalina you may need to stop and assess the applications that will stop working. Catalina is what is called 64 bit. They are not at all compatible. Previous OSX version (e.g. Mojave) would have given you a warning about 32 bit applications that you are running. So I knew that Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and some other apps would stop working when I upgraded to Catalina. But I was not prepared for how many applications would stop working!
Here are just some of the apps that stopped working wth my upgrade to Catalina:
Bento
I used it a lot to edit my Apple Address book contacts. It’s the only program thatI know of that can interface directly with Apple address book and export your contacts into a CSV file. A shame that there is no alternative.
Quicktime player 7
I had the pro version which allowed me to do some nice video editing and compression. The newer versions of quicktime do not have a pro version.
Data Rescue
Requires $150 to upgrade to the newer version.
Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
These products now only come as a subscription so I purchased Affinity Designer to replace them.
SibeliusFirst and Dragon for Mac.
These still worked on OS X Catalina until I purchased a new laptop. The Serial number validators don’t run in Catalina. That means Dragon and Sibelius will continue to run as long as you keep the same computer. I just upgraded my laptop and both Sebelius and Dragon asked me to re-verify my serial number. There is no way to enter a valid serial number under Catalina. So Catalina killed those two apps even though the apps them selves are 64 bit.
Fujitsu Scansnap Scanner drivers.
I have a Fujitsu Scansnap S1500 scanner that I used to import all my documents into Devon think pro. The Fujitsu scanner drivers that work in Catalina do not work with older Fujitsu scanners so now my $800 scanner is rendered useless even though it was working perfectly.
The bottom line is when you install Catalina a lot of your existing apps may stop working and you may need to buy new ones or upgrade them. For some applications that just means forking out some money but there are other discontinued applications that there is no alternative for Catalina. (e.g. iDVD, Bento, Quicktime Player 7 Pro, CSSEdit.)
I’d suggest waiting till you have a fair bit of free time before upgrading to Catalina, and after you upgrade give all your Apps a test to make sure they still work.
Related posts:
How to get the Best Free OS X softwareEnable FTP Server in MavericksShould I upgrade to Yosemite?How to delete an application in OS XAdam RogersDragon For Mac Catalina 2017
says:February 14, 2020 at 12:44 pmHow can I run 32 bit app on OS X Catalina?
ReplyWaynesays:March 11, 2020 at 10:01 pm You cannot I’m afraid Catalina is the end of the road for 32 bit.
ReplyPetersays:February 28, 2020 at 1:06 pm Just discovered your website; looks quite useful. Noticed your copyright is dated below (2013).
In response to your Bento concern (it was a great app sadly killed I guess because there simply weren’t enough folks buying it; perhaps too complex for most), to export Contacts to CSV, try BusyContacts:
https://support.busymac.com/help/56820-exporting-and-importing-contacts
30-day free trial:
http://www.busymac.com/download/BusyContacts.zip
In response to your Bento concern (it was a great app sadly killed I guess because there simply weren’t enough folks buying it; perhaps too complex for most), to export Contacts to CSV, try BusyContacts:
https://support.busymac.com/help/56820-exporting-and-importing-contacts
30-day free trial:
http://www.busymac.com/download/BusyContacts.zip
I have no interest; they are just good folks who are trying to be reasonable (resisting the subscription model).
ReplyWaynesays:March 11, 2020 at 9:57 pm Dragon For Mac Catalina Island
Nice tip Peter!
Reply