I was searching for ways to use my computer (running Windows XP) at times when I will be holding my 5-month old baby.

Then the thought occurred: What if we can speak to the computer and give commands like “click”, “next”, “explorer” etc? I scoured the net for hours and finally found a good free program called Shoot (portable, requires no installation). Before proceeding further, you might want to look at the video below for an idea on some of the voice activated actions we are going to achieve by the end of this tutorial.

Shoot will basically interpret your voice and look in a XML file for the corresponding phrase. When a match is found, it sends the associated key strokes for that command.

Here are the steps to launch programs and do basic tasks by speaking to your computer:

1. Download Shoot from here. As of today, the latest stable version is 1.6.4. Extract the contents of zip file to any folder.
2. Shoot is a .NET 1.1 application that is not compatible with .NET 2.0. So you will need to download a replacement file for ‘shoot.exe.config’. It can be downloaded from here (free registration needed). If you would rather not sign up just to download one single file, grab it from here (No. of hits: [drain file 1 hits]). Replace the existing ‘shoot.exe.config’ file with the replacement file.
3. Go inside ‘profiles’ folder, copy any existing xml file to a new file and rename it (like yourname.xml)
4. Open the xml file in your favorite text editor (I recommend notepad++ because it has syntax highlighting and provision for collapsible code blocks)
5. Modify the existing commands to your desired ones between <command-list> and </command-list>. Specify the toggle switch (a key) to activate and deactivate Shoot in <push-to-talk> and </push-to-talk>. You might want to use the XML file I have put together. Download it from here (No. of hits: [drain file 2 hits]). The corresponding AutoHotKey file is here (No. of hits: [drain file 3 hits]).

   Want to read more about Shoot’s XML syntax? Check this link out.

6. Now run shoot.exe. Ctrl+O and select your profile XML file. Ensure that Shoot is active (this icon should be at the bottom window corner: and not this: ). Now Shoot is ready to take your voice commands and put them into action.

Make Shoot even more powerful with AutoHotKey

You can really take Shoot to the next level by using AutoHotKey.

Here is the workflow: Shoot translates your voice into key presses and then AutoHotKey takes over and performs the corresponding action.

If you have downloaded my XML profile file, you might have noticed that I use keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl+Alt+Shift+3, for example, to open Chrome. How does this work?

I have this in the profile XML file:

<command name="Chrome" phrase="chrome">
            <key type="CTRL ALT SHIFT 3" />
        </command>

and in the AutoHotKey file:

^!+3::
	IfWinExist ahk_class Chrome_XPFrame
	{
	    WinActivate
	}
	else
	{
	    Run "%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"
	    WinWait ahk_class Chrome_XPFrame
	    WinActivate
	}
	Return

The above code will check to see if Chrome is already running. If it is, it will be made the active window. If not, it will be launched.

Tips & Observations

• There’s a GUI for editing Shoot’s profile XML files called Shoot Profile Editor (No. of hits: [drain file 4 hits]). I used it initially to get a hang of the commands and how Shoot works but soon found that I am faster editing the XML file in notepad++ by hand. When the cursor is in ‘Key’ field of the profile editor, press F1 to bring up a keyboard diagram from which you can click on the key sequence to be set.

  

  

• After making changes to your profile, Shoot has to be restarted.
• You can start Shoot directly with your profile loaded by appending the relative/absolute path of the XML file after shoot.exe. With the XML file inside ‘profiles’ folder, this didn’t work for me when using Executor. So I placed the XML file where shoot.exe is and it works fine.

  

Conclusion

Shoot is a good free program to launch programs and controlling your browser via voice. While you may not find yourself using it 100%, it’s good to run it at the end of the day when you are tired of all the typing/clicking and would rather have a friendly chat with your computer Don’t hesitate to share how Shoot works for you by commenting below.

Related posts:

1. How to search in google from any windows application easily
2. How to paste and go in Chrome using keyboard
3. How to quickly launch programs and remove windows start menu button

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