Dictation and Speech Recognition Blog
Dragon Copilot 5.1: Hands-Free “Hey Dragon” Recording, Foot Pedal Support, and AI Template Workflows (2026)
Dragon Copilot 5.1Hands-free recording, foot pedals, and AI templates that reach the chart
A release about keeping your hands on the patient — with one headline feature that stays switched off until your organization turns it on.
The documentation steps that still pull a clinician’s hands away from the patient are small ones: reaching for the record button, copying a memo into the chart, pasting a template’s output into the right field. Each takes seconds. Across a clinic day, they decide whether documentation happens during care or around it. Dragon Copilot 5.1 goes after exactly those steps — a wake word to start recording, support for workflows built around a foot pedal, and, on desktop, voice commands that carry AI-generated content into the EHR.
Where 5.1 sits
Standby mode: “Hey Dragon”
With standby mode on, Dragon Copilot listens for the wake word “Hey Dragon” and then opens the microphone without a button press, picking up in the mode the clinician used last, such as ambient capture or dictation. Saying “go to sleep,” “stop listening” or “stop recording” returns it to standby. Microsoft lists it across Dragon Copilot’s web, mobile, desktop and embedded experiences.
Listening for the wake word, not recording
Microsoft states that Dragon Copilot does not record audio while in standby: it listens for the wake word, and recording begins only after the wake word opens the microphone. Explain that distinction to clinicians plainly, so they can describe it accurately when a patient asks.
Two switches and a prerequisite
Standby is off by default. It is enabled for the organization in the Dragon admin center, then each user turns it on in their own microphone settings — with an option to launch Dragon Copilot in standby. It also requires 5.0’s new design (the enhanced interface) to be switched on first. Voice Automated can configure the organization-level setting as part of your rollout.
Where it does not apply
The United States and English-speaking Canada only. Standby is also unavailable when using a remote or mobile microphone — so check which microphones your clinicians actually use before anyone promises it.
Foot pedals come across
Dragon Copilot now recognizes the Ctrl+F10, Ctrl+F11 and Ctrl+F12 shortcuts, so a compatible foot pedal can drive Dragon Copilot actions through the existing keyboard-shortcut settings. For teams coming from Dragon Medical One with pedal-dependent habits, Microsoft describes the aim as a familiar hands-free workflow — though each user still maps the pedal to the actions they want.
The recommended pedal
Microsoft recommends the Start-Stop Pedal Power for Dragon Medical One, which ships preconfigured with the supported shortcuts — the most direct path to a working pedal.
Other compatible pedals
Microsoft also lists DAC USB foot pedals and the VEC Infinity-3 USB foot pedal as compatible. Both need third-party software to map pedal actions to the supported shortcuts before use.
Each user chooses the action
Users decide which Dragon Copilot action each pedal switch triggers in their shortcut settings. Available in all regions on web, desktop and embedded.
AI templates that reach the chart
Custom templates can cover any of the six supported note sections, plus documents such as referral letters. On Dragon Copilot desktop, 5.1 lets clinicians drive them by voice and send the output directly where it belongs.
Create, run and copy by voice
On desktop, voice commands now create a note-section or document template — including turning selected content into a template — run it, and copy the result, with clear feedback when a copy fails instead of a success message every time.
Transfer to the EHR
On Dragon Copilot desktop, a transfer command places generated note sections or documents at the cursor in the application you are working in.
Templates and prompts inside workflows
Workflows gain Run template and Run prompt steps, and a Transfer step can now send template and prompt output — not only notes, orders and memos — to the EHR. Users add these steps when creating a new workflow on desktop — it is a setup step, not automatic.
Arriving without a switch
Transfer a memo by voice
On desktop, open a memo, place the cursor where it belongs and say “transfer memo.” Pre-charting notes, reminders and results move into the documentation without copy and paste.
No more duplicate dictation memos
When a memo is already open and dictation lands in a field Dragon Copilot does not recognize, the text now joins the open memo instead of starting a new one. Fewer memos to manage and transfer. Web and desktop.
Undo in the template editor
Reverse the most recent change while creating or editing a template, instead of redoing the work by hand.
Diagnosis retrieval for inpatients
Inpatient notes can bring diagnoses entered in the EHR into the Assessment and Plan, making problem names more specific. By default these replace the ambiently captured diagnoses, which are still documented when applicable. United States.
Summary totals in usage reports
Administrators get aggregated totals in user-level reports on the Overview and User engagement details dashboards, updating with the selected date range and filters. United States — see the note on summary totals below.
What changed between the plan and the release
Our roadmap post described 5.1 from Microsoft’s published plan. Now that the release notes exist, here is where the two differ — so nobody plans around a feature that did not arrive. Roadmap references below are to Microsoft’s September 15 roadmap update.
Undo, not version history
The plan described template versioning with a restore option. The 5.1 release notes describe undo of the most recent change — not a version history or restore. A summary line on Microsoft’s page still mentions template versioning, so check your own environment before relying on it. Version history is no longer listed on the roadmap, which is not the same as cancelled.
Psychology note updates are not in 5.1
The plan listed talk-therapy-focused note updates for September without a version number. They do not appear in the 5.1 release notes, and they are no longer listed on the roadmap — which does not necessarily mean they were cancelled.
Summary totals: check whose dashboards
The plan put summary totals on nursing dashboards in 5.1 and physician dashboards in 5.2. The 5.1 notes list the totals as shipped, label them for physicians, and include no nursing items — while the roadmap still lists physician-analytics totals for 5.2. If reporting depends on them, look at your own dashboards before building around them.
Inpatient diagnoses: replaced, not added
Our roadmap post described EHR diagnoses joining those heard in the recording. The 5.1 notes are specific: by default, EHR-entered diagnoses replace the ambiently captured ones, which are still documented when applicable.
Four additions that were not on the roadmap
Template and prompt steps in workflows, memo transfer by voice, duplicate-memo prevention and the full set of template voice commands were not on the published plan. They shipped in 5.1.
Where 5.1 fits in your move from Dragon Medical One
None of this is a reason to pause Dragon Medical One. Pedal support makes an eventual move easier for teams that depend on one; it does not make today’s DMO deployment any less complete.
Weighing the move from DMO?
Our living, version-by-version breakdown shows where each capability stands today — the practical view, not the roadmap view.
Not on 5.0’s new design yet?
Standby mode depends on it, and so does most of 5.0. Start with the release that introduced it.
What’s after 5.1?
Microsoft’s roadmap lists 5.2 for October — patient matching (desktop, for one EHR integration), a Spanish (US) nursing preview, and an enhanced flowsheet profile manager. Planned, not installed.
Why go through Voice Automated
Microsoft makes the product; we make it work in your clinic. Voice Automated is an authorized Microsoft partner with three decades in healthcare voice — and a long-time implementer of Dragon Medical One, the product named Best in KLAS six consecutive years (2021–2026). We scope the right setup for your specialty, handle rollout and training, and support your team after go-live — because new capabilities succeed on adoption, not just installation.
Rolling out Dragon Copilot 5.1?
Fifteen minutes with our implementation team — whether to turn on standby mode, which microphones and pedals your clinicians can use with it, and how the new template workflows fit your EHR.
Frequently asked questions
Dragon Copilot 5.1 centers on hands-free work for physicians. Its headline is standby mode, which lets clinicians start recording with the wake word “Hey Dragon.” It also adds foot pedal support through the Ctrl+F10, Ctrl+F11 and Ctrl+F12 shortcuts. On Dragon Copilot desktop, it adds Run template and Run prompt steps in workflows, transfer of AI-generated template and prompt output to the EHR, voice commands to create, run, copy and transfer custom templates, and memo transfer by voice. On web and desktop, it prevents duplicate dictation memos. Across Dragon Copilot, it adds undo in the template editor, intelligent diagnosis retrieval for inpatient notes in the United States, and summary totals in user-level analytics reports.
No. Standby mode is disabled by default. An administrator enables it for the organization in the Dragon admin center, and each user then turns it on in their microphone settings. It also requires the new Dragon Copilot design (the enhanced interface) introduced in 5.0 to be enabled. Standby mode is available in the United States and English-speaking Canada, and it is not available when using a remote or mobile microphone. Voice Automated can configure the organization-level setting as part of a rollout.
According to Microsoft, no. In standby mode Dragon Copilot listens for the wake word but does not record audio. Recording begins only after the wake word activates the microphone, in the mode the user last used, such as ambient recording or dictation. Users can return to standby with voice commands such as “go to sleep,” “stop listening” or “stop recording.”
Microsoft recommends the Start-Stop Pedal Power for Dragon Medical One, which comes preconfigured with the supported keyboard shortcuts. Microsoft also lists DAC USB foot pedals and the VEC Infinity-3 USB foot pedal as compatible; they require third-party software to map pedal actions to the supported shortcuts. In every case, users choose which Dragon Copilot action each pedal switch triggers in their keyboard shortcut settings.
The published 5.1 release notes describe undo of the most recent change while creating or editing a template, not a version history or restore. Microsoft’s earlier roadmap described template versioning with a restore option, and a summary line on Microsoft’s 5.1 page still mentions template versioning, so check your own environment before relying on version history.
Dragon Copilot is deployed on Microsoft Azure services that maintain HITRUST and SOC certifications. Product-level certification is not claimed; the platform is the correct scope. Voice Automated is an implementation partner for these certified platform services.
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