How to Migrate from Dragon to Sprecho: Vocabulary, Commands and Shortcuts Step by Step (2026)

Migrate from Dragon to Sprecho without losing the years you invested in your Dragon profile: this guide walks you through exporting your Dragon vocabulary, rebuilding your custom words, auto-texts and commands in Sprecho, setting a push-to-talk hotkey and rolling the result out to a whole firm. For a single user the whole move takes about 30 minutes; a team of twenty is usually done in an afternoon.

Last verified: October 2026.

Sprecho is a voice dictation app from Melo Designer GmbH (Germany) that dictates into any application on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android, with recognition and AI formatting processed on EU-only infrastructure. Dragon Professional 16 is Nuance's Windows-only desktop dictation software, released on 28 February 2023 and, as of October 2026, still without a successor version.

• Step 1: export your Dragon custom words (TXT or XML).
• Step 2: add them to the Sprecho Dictionary, or send the list to support for conversion.
• Step 3: rebuild Dragon auto-texts as Sprecho Snippets.
• Step 4: set your dictation hotkey and choose hold or lock mode.
• Step 5: learn the command differences (the half-second pause).
• Step 6: set a writing style per app for Outlook, Word and your practice or case software.
• Step 7: roll out to your team with a shared dictionary and an AVV.

Why migrate from Dragon now?

Because Dragon's desktop line has stopped moving while the platforms around it have not: there has been no major Dragon version since February 2023, the Mac edition ended in 2018 and the mobile app stopped selling on 1 July 2026. The facts below come from Nuance's own advisories and store listings.

• No Dragon 17: Dragon Professional 16 shipped on 28 February 2023. Three and a half years later there is still no new major version.
• Old versions are unsupported: all support for Dragon v14 ended on 1 September 2023, and Nuance warns that unsupported versions "may increase your exposure to security risks or impact your ability to meet compliance obligations" (Nuance product advisory).
• Windows 10 is over: Microsoft ended Windows 10 support on 14 October 2025. Nuance says v15 and v16 remain supported there, but if an issue is caused by Windows 10 the user must move to Windows 11 and Dragon v16.
• Mac is gone since 2018: Dragon Professional Individual for Mac 6 was discontinued on 22 October 2018, and Dragon Professional does not support ARM-based Windows 11, so it cannot run under Parallels on Apple Silicon.
• Mobile is gone since July 2026: the App Store listing for Dragon Anywhere states that as of 1 July 2026 it is no longer available for sale and renewals are no longer possible.
• Dragon's successors are cloud subscriptions: Dragon Professional Anywhere and Dragon Medical One run on Microsoft Azure, a US legal entity subject to the CLOUD Act regardless of data-centre location.

To be fair, Dragon still does some things better, and you should know them before you switch:

• Fully offline recognition: Dragon Professional 16 recognises speech 100 % on-device. Sprecho processes audio on its servers in the EU.
• The richest command grammar: Select, Correct That, Cap That, Insert Before/After and MouseGrid have no Sprecho equivalent.
• A perpetual licence: you pay once (about $699.99 in the US, roughly 699 € netto for the Individual ESD at German resellers) instead of a subscription.

If those three points outweigh everything else for you, stay on Dragon for now. If you need Mac, mobile, team features or ongoing updates, read on. For the full head-to-head, see our Sprecho vs Dragon comparison; for the wider market, our ranking of the best Dragon alternatives for 2026.

What do you need before you start?

You need three things: access to your Dragon user profile, a Sprecho account (the 14-day Pro trial needs no card) and about half an hour. Nothing has to be uninstalled first; Dragon and Sprecho can run side by side while you test.

• Dragon open with your profile loaded: the export only works from inside the profile that holds your custom words.
• A list of your auto-texts: open the Command Browser (DragonBar > Tools > Command Center > Command Browser) and note the custom commands you actually use.
• Sprecho installed: native apps for Windows, macOS and Linux; on macOS grant Microphone and Accessibility permission.
• Your microphone: keep the headset you used with Dragon. A wired headset is the cheapest real accuracy upgrade; a quiet room with a modern laptop mic also works.
• A free hotkey: Sprecho uses Insert on Windows by default. If you use Insert for overtype, plan a different key.

Step 1: How do you export your Dragon vocabulary?

You export your Dragon vocabulary from the Vocabulary Center, which writes your custom words and phrases to a TXT or XML file. This is Nuance's documented path (Nuance help: exporting custom words):

1. Open the profile: in the DragonBar choose Settings > Profile > Open User Profile and load your profile.
2. Open the Vocabulary Center: choose Tools > Vocabulary Center.
3. Export: select Export custom word and phrase list.
4. Pick the format: TXT is the easiest to read and edit; choose XML if you want to keep word properties, as Nuance recommends.
5. Save it somewhere safe: this file is the only part of your Dragon investment you will carry forward, so keep a copy.

• Old profiles: profiles from Dragon v13 or v14 cannot be opened directly in v16; Nuance recommends exporting the vocabulary first. The export above works for that.
• Custom commands: the Command Browser's Manage mode can import and export commands (Nuance help: Command Browser). Sprecho cannot read that file, but it is a useful checklist for Step 3.
• Clean the list: delete entries you no longer need (former clients, old projects). Most Dragon users find that 50 to 150 words do 90 % of the work.

Step 2: How do you bring your words into the Sprecho Dictionary?

You add your words in Sprecho's Dictionary, one entry at a time, or you send the exported file to Sprecho support and they convert it for you. There is no self-service bulk import for Dragon files today, so for long lists the support route is the fastest.

Add a word

1. Open Sprecho and click Dictionary in the sidebar.
2. Click Add new.
3. Type the term under Add a new word exactly as it should appear, capitalisation included.
4. Click Add word.

Turn recurring errors into misspelling rules

Where Dragon kept writing one specific wrong form, use a replacement rule instead of a plain word:

1. In the same dialog, switch on Correct a misspelling.
2. Fill in Misspelling (what comes out) and Correct spelling (what you want).
3. Save. From now on "schmitt" becomes "Schmidt" and "mueller" becomes "Müller" automatically.

Long lists, pinning and automatic learning

• Long Dragon lists: send the exported TXT or XML to Sprecho support and they convert it into dictionary entries for you.
• Pin to recognizer: the recogniser receives up to 200 of the most relevant entries per dictation. Use Pin to recognizer on the handful of names you cannot afford to get wrong.
• Learning from corrections: when you edit a dictation in your history, clear corrections are learned immediately (with Undo) and less certain ones land in Suggestions on the Dictionary page.
• Details: our dictionary guide explains every button.

Step 3: How do you rebuild Dragon auto-texts as snippets?

Dragon auto-texts and text-type custom commands become Sprecho Snippets: a spoken trigger phrase that expands into your signature, an address or a full paragraph of boilerplate. You say the trigger in the middle of a dictation and the text lands in its place.

1. Click Snippets in the sidebar, then Add new.
2. Fill in Trigger phrase, the words you will say (for example "my closing formula").
3. Fill in Expands to; this is a rich editor for paragraphs, headings, quotes and links.
4. Click Add snippet.

• {date}: inserts the current date, ideal for file notes and letter headers.
• {time}: inserts the current time, useful for call notes and time records.
• {clipboard}: inserts whatever is on your clipboard, for example a case number you just copied.
• Trigger choice: pick two or three words that never occur together by accident; "address" fires mid-sentence, "my postal address" does not.
• Short triggers: triggers of one to four characters need an exact spoken match; five characters or more tolerate small variations.
• One snippet, every app: Outlook receives rich text, Slack and WhatsApp receive markdown. More in the snippets guide.

Step 4: How do you set the push-to-talk hotkey?

Sprecho starts dictation with one global key, Insert on Windows, fn on macOS and Control+Space on Linux, and you can change it in Settings. Unlike Dragon's always-listening microphone, Sprecho only records while you ask it to.

1. Open Settings > General.
2. Under Keyboard Shortcuts, click the Dictation Hotkey field.
3. Press the key or combination you want; it saves immediately. If it cannot be registered, another program owns it.
4. Optional: add a secondary shortcut, for example a foot pedal or a thumb key on an external keyboard.

• Hold-to-talk: hold the key, speak, release. Best for a sentence, a subject line or a quick reply.
• Lock mode: tap the key once (under about a third of a second) and recording stays on hands-free; press again to stop and insert. Best for a full letter or a long Befund.
• Cancel: Escape discards a running recording; nothing is transcribed or inserted.
• Paste again: Ctrl+Alt+V on Windows and Linux (Control+Cmd+V on macOS) re-inserts your last dictation.
• More: see hold-to-talk vs lock mode.

Step 5: Which Dragon commands work in Sprecho?

Punctuation and layout commands carry over almost one to one, "Scratch that" exists, and the selection, correction and mouse commands do not. The table translates the commands Dragon users say most often.

• The half-second rule: finish your sentence, pause for about half a second, then say the command. Without the pause, "new line" is written as words, because Sprecho decides from context whether it is a command.
• Exact wording: "new paragraph" is a command, "paragraph" alone is an ordinary noun and stays in the text.
• Stop dictating commas: Sprecho punctuates automatically from the meaning of the sentence. Only say a mark when you need it exactly there, such as in a statute citation.
• Language matters: a German command inside an English-configured dictation is treated as text; check your dictation language.
• Reference: the full voice command list also covers slash, hyphen and underscore.

Step 6: How do you set a writing style for Outlook, Word and your PVS?

You set it once on the Models page: Sprecho recognises which app you are dictating into and applies the formatting model you chose for that category. Dragon applies one set of formatting options to every application.

1. Click Models in the sidebar.
2. Choose a tab: Personal messages, Work messages, Email, Code or Other.
3. Pick Standard (keeps your wording, cleans punctuation and layout) or Thinking (rewrites for grammar and readability without changing meaning).
4. Repeat per tab. Changes apply to your next dictation.

• Outlook and Gmail (Email): Thinking, the shipped default, gives fuller prose for client letters.
• Word, practice and case software (Other): most word processors, PVS/KIS fields, DATEV and RA-MICRO fall into Other. Standard is the faithful choice for Befunde and pleadings; switch to Thinking if you write long free text there.
• Teams and Slack (Work messages): Standard keeps your short replies sounding like you.
• Per device: the setting is stored on each device, so a work laptop and a private Mac can differ. See per-app style settings.

Step 7: How do you roll Sprecho out to a whole firm?

You roll out with a team: one shared dictionary and shared snippets for everyone, an admin console for seats, and an AVV that names a German GmbH as processor. Teams start on Pro; Enterprise adds the administration features IT departments ask for.

• Shared dictionary: switch on Share with team when adding an entry; it appears under Shared with team for every member.
• Who edits what: owners and admins can edit any shared entry; members can add entries and edit their own.
• Shared snippets: one wording for the standard Mandantenanschreiben or discharge paragraph across the firm.
• Enterprise: admin dashboard, licence management, SSO/SAML, MDM deployment, audit-log export and payment by invoice.
• AVV / DPA: a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR, available in German and English, with Melo Designer GmbH as processor.
• Devices: each licence covers 3 devices, so a lawyer can use the office PC, a MacBook and a phone.

1. Collect: ask three or four heavy Dragon users for their exported lists; the overlap is your first shared dictionary.
2. Convert: send the merged list to support for conversion, then mark firm-wide terms as shared.
3. Pilot: run a 14-day test with one department.
4. Deploy: roll out via MDM (Enterprise) or the standard installers.
5. Review: after a month, check usage counts and remove stale entries. Details in shared team dictionary and snippets.

What transfers from Dragon, and what does not?

Your words, auto-texts and punctuation habits transfer; your acoustic profile, macros and mouse commands do not. For most professionals the parts that stay behind are the parts that Sprecho no longer needs.

• No training session: Dragon builds a per-user acoustic profile and offers training through its Accuracy Center. Sprecho's recogniser is not trained per user, so a new colleague dictates productively on day one.
• No profile to corrupt: Dragon profiles must be upgraded or rebuilt between major versions. Sprecho keeps your dictionary and snippets in your account across devices.
• 100+ languages: Dragon supports six languages; Sprecho detects the language automatically, which helps with English terms in German letters.
• Honest limit: if your daily work depends on voice-driven macros or hands-free mouse control, Sprecho is not a drop-in replacement for that part.

Migration checklist: who does what, and how long does it take?

A single user finishes in about 30 minutes; a team adds roughly one hour for the shared list and rollout. Print the checklist and tick it off.

• Run in parallel: keep Dragon installed for two weeks while you compare results on real letters.
• Measure: count how many corrections you make per page in week one and week two.
• Decide: retire Dragon seats only when the team is comfortable.

What does Sprecho cost after the switch?

Sprecho Pro costs 12.99 € per month, or 10.99 € per month billed yearly (prices brutto incl. 19 % VAT; 10.92 € and 9.24 € netto). Enterprise costs 25.99 € or 21.99 € per month brutto. All plans are listed on Sprecho pricing.

• Free Forever: 2,000 words per week, no card, enough to test the migration.
• 14-day Pro trial: no card required.
• Compared with Dragon: Dragon Professional 16 is a one-time purchase (around 699 € netto at German resellers; the upgrade from v15 costs 449 € netto). Dragon Professional Anywhere is quoted by resellers at around 59 € per month netto on a 24-month term.
• On-premise: available on request for larger deployments.

Who benefits most from migrating?

Firms with mixed Windows and Mac fleets, mobile staff and confidentiality duties benefit most, because Dragon no longer covers Mac or mobile and its cloud successors run on US-owned infrastructure.

Law firms

• § 203 StGB and BRAO: a German GmbH as processor avoids handing client secrets to a US-controlled provider.
• Any app: dictate straight into RA-MICRO, Word and Outlook. See Sprecho for law firms.

Medical practices and clinics

• GDPR Art. 9: health data dictated into a PVS or KIS is special-category data; EU-only processing keeps it out of US jurisdiction.
• Snippets for Befunde: standard findings paragraphs by voice. See Sprecho for healthcare.

Tax advisors and public administration

• Tax advisors: dictate into DATEV text fields and client letters; also bound by § 203 StGB. See Sprecho for tax advisors.
• Public administration: Linux support and EU-only processing for authorities. See Sprecho for public administration.

Conclusion

Migrating from Dragon is less about software and more about carrying over what you built: your words, your auto-texts and your habits. Export the vocabulary, rebuild the snippets, learn the half-second pause and you will be dictating productively in Sprecho within half an hour, on Windows, Mac, Linux and your phone, with processing kept in the EU. If you depend on Dragon's macros or fully offline recognition, keep a Dragon seat for those cases. For everyone else, start your free 14-day Sprecho Pro trial today and bring your Dragon word list with you; compare the details first in our Sprecho vs Dragon comparison.