Slowly but surely the Mac version of DSS Player is coming up to speed against its more mature Windows counterpart – called DSS Player v7 Plus on Mac and DSS Player Pro v5 Dictation Module on Windows. However the Mac DSS software is still lacking a couple of keys features that Windows users enjoy, one key feature is auto email of dictation audio files. Most Mac users will simply puff out their chests as they huff that they are quite capable of sending an email without software doing it for them, still it is a handy feature, especially if you have multiple audio files, and a feature that people often ask about and look for.
I was prompted to write this blog post as a couple of hits recently had people looking at how you actually send an audio file from DSS Player v7 Plus, this is when I noticed that it is not entirely obvious in the software – there is no email button or file option. In true Mac fashion emailing a file or files is intuitive – you simply drag and drop from DSS Player Pro into your mail client or into your browser if you use Gmail via the web interface, that’s it. If you are one of those people who like to select the file from disk the quickest way to locate your dictation file and folder is to double tap (or right click if you have set this) on the audio file name in the right window pain in DSS Player Plus, select Property then expand out the File Path to open a Finder window showing your file location. All of these are covered below in detail:
Email Your Olympus Dictation Using Mac Mail
Start by composing your new email in Mac Mail then simply select one or more files from the DSS Player dictation window and drag the file(s) to the content area of your new mail message. The audio files will be copied straight in ready for your to send. Selecting multiple files can be done by holding down the Apple key ⌘ key as you click.
Email Olympus Dictation Using Gmail
If you use Gmail or Google Mail for Business then audio can be dragged into the message composition area of a new email. Again just like above single or multiple files can be selected.
Locating Your Olympus Dictation On Your Mac Hard Disk
If you prefer to find the location of your audio files on your Mac hard disk then this can be done by selecting an individual audio file (highlight it) then right-click or two finger tap to bring up the file properties. The full path of the audio file will be shown in the properties windows. To open a Finder window just click on the box with three dots, see below:
There are a couple of things to consider when you email your digital dictation files. First security, not all email clients encrypt attachments which means your audio could travel across the internet from server to server until it reaches its destination, the recipient(s). This means your audio could be sniffed meaning it could be access as it travels the web, unencrypted could then be listened to. This is unlikely but possible however if you audio is highly confidential consider encrypting the audio and/or your complete email message. Second, attachment file sizes. The maximum file size allowed per an email is usually defined by your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and for bigger companies with their own mail servers by internal policy. On average the maximum email attachment file size is anything between 5Mb to 10Mb. As .dss and .ds2 audio files are designed to be highly compressed it is unlikely that you will hit any restrictions however if your typist has not kept up with technology and is unable to play .ds2 audio files then files converted to .AIFF tend to be a lot larger in file size.