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How To Use Dragon In Acrobat

Voice dictation software like Dragon NaturallySpeaking by Nuance is a game-changer for anyone who wants to boost productivity, avoid typing fatigue, or most importantly need it for accessibility. When combined with Adobe Acrobat, it becomes a powerful tool for navigating, annotating, and filling out PDF forms hands-free.

 

However, many users run into issues where Dragon doesn’t seem to work properly with Adobe Acrobat--commands don’t register, text won’t dictate, accessibility features fail altogether. The fix is surprisingly simple:

 

You need to run Dragon NaturallySpeaking as an Administrator.

 

This blog post walks you through the full process, step-by-step.

 

Why Run Dragon as Administrator?
Dragon uses hooks and accessibility APIs to interact with other software. Adobe Acrobat, especially in its DC (Document Cloud) version, runs with elevated permissions. If Dragon is launched normally (without admin rights), it won't have the required access to control or dictate into Acrobat. Annoying, right?

 

Bottom line: If Dragon doesn’t have the same or higher permissions as Acrobat, it won’t work correctly.

 

Step 1: Close Both Programs
Make sure both Dragon and Acrobat are completely closed. Check your system tray or Task Manager to ensure no background processes are running, especially for Dragon.

 

Step 2: Launch Dragon as Administrator
Click the Start Menu.

 

Type Dragon NaturallySpeaking (or Dragon Professional, depending on your version).

 

Right-click on the Dragon app and select “Run as administrator.”

 

When prompted by User Account Control (UAC), click Yes.

 

Optional Tip: To always run Dragon as admin:

Right-click the Dragon shortcut --> Properties --> Compatibility tab --> Check “Run this program as an administrator.”

Click OK.

 

Step 3: Open Acrobat
Once Dragon is running with elevated privileges, open Acrobat as you normally would.

This order matters. Running Dragon first ensures that it can properly hook into Acrobat’s processes and interface.

 

Step 4: Dictate, Navigate, and Control
Now you can use voice commands. Our favorite to use with Acrobat include:

 

  • “Click File”
  • “Scroll down”
  • “Click Tools”
  • “Insert text here”
  • “Select paragraph”

 

Dragon should now respond reliably within Acrobat, whether you're filling out forms, annotating PDFs, or issuing navigation commands.

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