It is all about editing. Or should I say reducing editing. There are three things that we count on, our skills, the software, and the machine. Today we will focus on the machine. If we can get the machine to understand the stroke, then there is less time spent editing.

There are four categories we can focus on to reduce time spent editing, stacking, splitting, dragging in a letter, and dropping a letter. Before you make any adjustments to your writer, I would challenge you to gather some data first. Have a piece of paper next to your computer keyboard with four columns. Label the columns, stacking, splitting, dropping, and dragging. As you go through a transcript, if there is a split or stack, put a hash mark under one of those columns. If there is a drop or a drag of a letter, write that letter in the appropriate column. When you have finished the transcript, you can look at the sheet and identify where there are issues, if any, based on their frequency. Address the one that is happening the most frequently or determine if adjustments are even needed.

The thumbwheel on the left side of your writer adjusts depth of stroke. It can be used for reducing stacking. Simply roll the thumbwheel up, away from you, a click or two, or even three. Rolling the thumbwheel up gives a longer/deeper stroke which is less likely to stack.

The thumbwheel on the right side of your writer adjusts tension of stroke. It can be used for reducing individual keys from dragging in. I look at it as giving you more control of the keys, because adding tension requires you to be more deliberate with your stroke to make the keys register. A couple clicks up, away from you, will add tension and give you a tighter feel.

Check out the video below to learn more about adjusting your Luminex II.