Dragon Dictate comes with its own built-in word processor — Note Pad. A Note Pad window is a word processing window. But it’s a special kind of word processor: it is specifically aimed at dictation through Dragon Dictate.
Dragon Dictate lets you dictate into any application, but a Note Pad window is the easiest place to dictate, because it is designed for this purpose. A common technique is to dictate into a Note Pad window and then copy and paste into another application, although you can use the Express Editor window for that purpose too, when an application isn't compatible with Dictate.
Another big advantage of a Note Pad window is that Dragon Dictate can actually “see” what’s in it; Dragon Dictate always knows what the contents of a Note Pad window are.
To summon a new Note Pad window:
Say File New, New Note Pad, Make New Note Pad, or Create New Note Pad when Dragon Dictate is frontmost.
Choose File > New Note Pad.
To set the default font and size for a new empty Note Pad window:
Open a new Note Pad window, choose Format > Font > Show Fonts, specify the desired font and size, and close the Font palette and the Note Pad window.
Note Pad window contents are saved as .rtf files which can be opened for editing later with another word processor (TextEdit, Microsoft Word, etc.). You can also open an existing .rtf file into a Note Pad window (choose File > Open).