Where is Speakable Items now?

so, all this means i won't lose all my custom simple Speakable Items commands when i finally update my old mac from mountain lion to yosemite? or el capitan? ...Is there an easy way to transfer my custom commands to another mac?

I think whatever capability still exists is under Accessibility System Prefs, Dictation section.

I’m guessing that you will need to recreate any ApplesScript-based items to Automator Workflows.

I stumbled across this today. http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/2993/yosemites-speakable-scripts

Short, but better than what I offered.

Tom Willis wrote:

Thanks for the help, Barney-15E. But it doesn't address the fact that Speakable Items (SI) was perfectly able to run scrips. All one needed to do was to save the script, select its file in the Finder, press the SI key and say "Make this speakable." A pop-up asks for a name, whatever you personally like to call it. Then, simply press the SI key and say its name and the script runs.

Yes, security tends to be a pain in the rear.

A similar process has befallen all of the things that once could run an Applescript without any safeguards.

You just have to copy the functional part of your Applescripts into an Automator Run Applescript Action. Then, create the speaky part.

Applescripts can be imported into System Preferences/Accessibility/Dictation. Create a new item and under "Perform" select "run workflow" and locate the script. That's it. I had to add a .scpt extension to some scripts to prevent them from just being opened in ScriptEditor instead of being run.

Most of my old scripts were automatically added to the new system, but some weren't. Not sure how this works or how to add new ones more easily. I have a bunch of scripts stored somewhere else and I'd like to batch import them instead of having to do it one by one.

The traditional speakable items found prior to Yosemite, is now configured differently.

1. The logindir/Library/Speech/Speakable Items/ folder is empty on Yosemite

   Add previous AppleScripts in the above folder

2. System Preferences > Accessibility > Dictation
   1. Click Dictation Commands button
   2. Click Enable Advanced Commands
      1. Click + symbol to add your command
         
      2. Fill in content on the right.
         1. When I say: - keep it simple, remember Dictation has to figure out what you are saying
         2. While using: - Choose the default (shown) or be specific
         3. Perform: Pick the location and name of your AppleScript
         4. Click Done.
         5. Example: Recite my current battery percentage and remaining charge time (custom AppleScript).
            
3. System Preferences > Dictation & Speech

   Dictation On

   1. Optional: Use enhanced dictation
   2. Make certain audio is working on the Finder Menubar
4. Where appropriate, press your Dictation activation key (default: fn fn)
5. Speak clearly and slowly, the “When I say” words for the command you want recited
6. If the script has no errors, you will hear the result.

In the Finder, when I press fn fn, the dictation monitor appears. I say, “Battery Charge” and my MacBook Air then speaks:

“Currently on battery power with 80 percent charge, and 7 hours and 24 minutes remaining.”

Thanks for the detailed explanations.

I'm still confused about where user scripts are stored. The user scripts that show in Dictation Commands under Accessibility are most, but not all, of what I have in the folder ~/Library/Speech/Speakable Items/. I don't know why some scripts don't appear in Dictation Commands. But more puzzling is that:

1. I emptied the user Speakable Items folder and nothing changed in Dictation Commands. The User script list in Dictation Commands is unchanged.

2. I added scripts to the folder but they were not added to Dictation Commands

3. I deleted scripts from Dictation Commands and they weren't removed from the Speakable Items folder

So there is now a full disconnect between the Speakable items folder and Dictation Commands.My guess is that there was a one-time scan of what was in the user Speakable Items folder when Yosemite was installed and after that everything is stored somewhere else. I'd like to know where that is so I can transfer scripts across computers.

My December 21 post was regarding Yosemite only — and by default, in your login directory, the Library/Speech/Speakable Items folder is empty. This is because Apple has repurposed those pre-installed AppleScripts in prior OS X releases, and made them named command strings in a preference list (.plist) internal to the Dictation executable. It is these (and possibly new additions) that appear as Accessibility Dictation selection command strings. You do not migrate these from earlier releases of OS X.

You would only migrate those scripts that you wrote, or added to the older Speech hierarchy. If you placed scripts into the older Application Speakable Items, I would not replicate that older folder hierarchy, and just copy those user added, application specific scripts into the Yosemite Speakable Items folder.

Your user scripts will be added to the User section of Accessibility > Dictation > Dictation Commands if you press the + symbol and add them into the list of User commands. Simply dropping the scripts into the Speakable Items folder will not be sufficient. Review my post, as there was an example of this.

Removing User entered scripts in Accessibility > Dictation > Dictation Commands does not remove them from the Speakable Items folder.