Benb2012
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: can't download the Enhanced Dictation Engine

 

This is self explanatory. I get the error "An unexpected error occurred when I try to enable the Enhanced dictation engine." Note that this is not just turning dictation on; this problem occurs when I try to check the box that says: "Use enhanced dictation."  This engine is supposed to enable you to use dictation with no Internet access available.  It's one of the great things about Mavericks :-) It's a 785 MB download ....

 

Verifed several times that I have Internet access; so, clearly something is wrong at the Apple end.  Tried to do this several times at different times today. This problem has persisted the whole day today. (10/24/2013) 

 

I wanted to make an error report to Apple but I was unable to find the place at the apple support site where I can file a bug report about Mavericks and its components. 

 

Can someone else try to enable the enhanced dictation engine and see if you get the same error.  I'd like to see if this is an isolated case or it is a more global problem.Untitled.jpg

 

Thanks.

OSX Mavericks Enhanced Dictation, OS X Mavericks (10.9), Enhanced Dictation (offline engine)

Posted on Oct 24, 2013 7:35 PM

by Benb2012,Solvedanswer
Benb2012 Benb2012
Level 1 (0 points)
A:

Happy to say this is the final update,

 

I'm actually dictating this note using enhanced dictation.  I have to say I do love Mavericks so far, and the additions, Updates, and enhancements are fabulous.

 

 

The suggestion from Crownofthorns17 works. All credit goes to him.

 

This is his post quoted below:

 

 

Crownofthorns17

 

 

Did you follow each of the instructions above?

 

1. Press these keys simultaneously: (shift ⇧+command⌘+G)

2. In the dialog box that appears after step 1, copy and paste the following :~/Library/Preferences

3. Hit return/enter

4. You will be presented with a ton of files, but you should be able to find thecom.apple.assistant.plist

5. Move it to the Trash and Empty your Trash

6. Open Dictation & Speech preference panel and turn off dictation

7. Restart your computer

8. Open Dictation & Speech preference panel, turn on dictation

9. Select Enhanced Dictation

10. Download should begin and install correctly

 

I hope this helps.

 

 

 

Step number 7 was critically important. Without that step the instructions do not work.  I guess the instructions have to be followed religiously: 

 

Here is proof that the instructions work:

 

Downloading:

downloading_enhanced.jpg

Downloading progress:

More_Progress_downloading_enhanced.jpg

 

Finally installing:

 

Installing_enhanced.jpg

 

Thank you all and good night:-)

Posted on Oct 26, 2013 9:22 PM

Close
Benb2012

Q: can't download the Enhanced Dictation Engine

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Page 1 of 6 last Next

  • by Crownofthorns17,

    Crownofthorns17 Crownofthorns17 Oct 24, 2013 9:50 PM in response to Benb2012
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Oct 24, 2013 9:50 PM in response to Benb2012

    I have had the same problem since Mavericks launched. So far I have been unable to find a way to download the enhanced dictation manually.

  • by alexonline,

    alexonline alexonline Oct 25, 2013 3:16 AM in response to Benb2012
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 3:16 AM in response to Benb2012

    I'm also having the same issue, but with the "English Australia" dictation engine. I've tried selecting and de-selecting options, restarting, looking for download issues for the Mavericks offline dictation engine and this appears to be the only spot on the Internet where anyone's talking about it.

     

    Apple, please help! A manual download option would be great, or simply a working automatic download capability. :-)

     

    Thank you!

  • by marcobg,

    marcobg marcobg Oct 25, 2013 3:35 AM in response to Benb2012
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 3:35 AM in response to Benb2012

    i cant download italian voices

  • by marcobg,

    marcobg marcobg Oct 25, 2013 3:36 AM in response to alexonline
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 3:36 AM in response to alexonline

    i have the same issue! APPLE, HELP US!!!

  • by Evan_Beezy,

    Evan_Beezy Evan_Beezy Oct 25, 2013 12:16 PM in response to Benb2012
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 12:16 PM in response to Benb2012

    With me i usually just get a download that finishes all 785 Mb and then the download box just dissapears. When i press the key to activate dictation the download box comes up again and tries to download all over again. I only got an error box once, the last time i tried. Please fix Apple, idk why this wasnt included in the OS download,

  • by alex349,

    alex349 alex349 Oct 25, 2013 5:11 PM in response to Benb2012
    Level 3 (659 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 5:11 PM in response to Benb2012

    I am getting the exact same error. I have tried a couple times a day since installing Mavericks and never get beyond the "finding dictation download" (or whatever that exact text is) stage. Apple, please fix this so that we can use proper dictation, as we see fit to use it, on our Macs. I too don't understand why this wasn't just built into the OS install.

  • by Crownofthorns17,Helpful

    Crownofthorns17 Crownofthorns17 Oct 25, 2013 5:12 PM in response to Benb2012
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 5:12 PM in response to Benb2012

    I just got my enhanced dictation to download - finally!

     

    If you are having the same issue, try going to this link: https://discussions.apple.com/message/23513414#23513414 or just follow these instructions:

     

    1. Go to ~/Library/Preferences ( ⇧+⌘+G )
    2. Locate com.apple.assistant.plist and move it to the Trash
    3. Open Dictation & Speech preference panel, disable dictation
    4. Reboot
    5. Re-enable Dictation & Speech.

    Best of luck!

  • by MacroBres,

    MacroBres MacroBres Oct 25, 2013 5:50 PM in response to Crownofthorns17
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 5:50 PM in response to Crownofthorns17

    I have the same problem, and that solution didn't work for me.

     

    For me when I select "Start Dictation" from the "Edit Menu", I get a dialog box that gives the following messages:

     

    Finding Enhanced Dictation…

    Preparing to Download

    Installing Enhanced Dictation…

     

     

    And then nothing.

     

    When I select "Start Dictation", I just get the dialog again with the same messages.

     

    Wouldn't it be nice if an Apple representative could chime in to help right about now.

  • by Evan_Beezy,

    Evan_Beezy Evan_Beezy Oct 25, 2013 8:31 PM in response to Crownofthorns17
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 8:31 PM in response to Crownofthorns17

    I don’t have the com.apple.assistant.plist anywhere listed

  • by alex349,

    alex349 alex349 Oct 25, 2013 8:52 PM in response to Crownofthorns17
    Level 3 (659 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 8:52 PM in response to Crownofthorns17

    Well, that fix did indeed work for me.

     

    However, I went a step further and deleted all the "com.apple.assistant" plists. Not just the one listed in the steps above, but also the ".support" and ".token" ones before rebooting. Perhaps that will help you.

     

    I think that I first tried downloading Enhanced Dictation right after installing Mavericks when my Mac was slowed down by Spotlight reindexing, and had to cancel the download.

     

    My guess about what happend is that the token used to get the download was never deleted in that first attempt for some reason and therefore the subsequent attempts couldn't get passed finding the download because of an issue with the token used to authenticate being outdated but since one was there it couldn't get a new one from Apple. But that is just my educated guess.

     

    Now I have real dictation (used to "type" this out in part) on my Mac rather than the iOS-style Siri-backed thing that wouldn't work for long chunks of speech. Thanks for the steps to fix this and I hope my additional steps here help those for whom the first set of steps fail.

  • by Crownofthorns17,Helpful

    Crownofthorns17 Crownofthorns17 Oct 25, 2013 9:02 PM in response to Evan_Beezy
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 9:02 PM in response to Evan_Beezy

    Did you follow each of the instructions above?

     

    1. Press these keys simultaneously: (shift ⇧+command⌘+G)

    2. In the dialog box that appears after step 1, copy and paste the following : ~/Library/Preferences

    3. Hit return/enter

    4. You will be presented with a ton of files, but you should be able to find the com.apple.assistant.plist

    5. Move it to the Trash and Empty your Trash

    6. Open Dictation & Speech preference panel and turn off dictation

    7. Restart your computer

    8. Open Dictation & Speech preference panel, turn on dictation

    9. Select Enhanced Dictation

    10. Download should begin and install correctly

     

    I hope this helps.

  • by marcobg,

    marcobg marcobg Oct 26, 2013 1:21 AM in response to Crownofthorns17
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 26, 2013 1:21 AM in response to Crownofthorns17

    it doesnt work thanks anyway ... just italian voices Dont work

  • by DVD33,

    DVD33 DVD33 Oct 26, 2013 11:40 AM in response to alex349
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 26, 2013 11:40 AM in response to alex349

    I tried the fix with deleting the com.apple.assistant.plist - still getting error message "An unexpected error occured while downloading . . . " and cannot get further.

     

    I cannot locate any files with ".support" or ".token" in preferences.

     

    Anyone with any other ideas?

    Thanks

  • by Benb2012,

    Benb2012 Benb2012 Oct 26, 2013 7:01 PM in response to Crownofthorns17
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 26, 2013 7:01 PM in response to Crownofthorns17

    Hi there,

     

    Thank you for your help.  I didn't try that.  I don't want to risk deleting a file when I have no idea what it does.  I suggest others wait for a bit for now as well.   I did look at:

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/23513414#23513414

     

    This gentleman "Bassham"  Pops up out of the blue.  He has only one post about this topic, and a total of 4 posts in 5 years. None of them of a highly technical nature.  Says that he has the same problem, and then magically responds to himself that he found the solution, and it happens to be deleting a very specific file. 

     

    No explanation what the file is, or what it does?!  Just go there and delete it and see what happens?  Really?

     

    What if someone with 4 posts in 5 years said that the answer to forgetting your login password is deleting a single file ... oh it's just /etc/passwd. Don't worry it'll self generate if you delete it ... NOT!!! 

     

    I know it's a gross exaggeration and ~ is local files to one particular user; but, I hope you get my point.  Deleting random unknown files, no matter how innocuous, will eventually bite you in the rear sooner or later. 

     

    People have had mixed results with this solution so far.  That's too much variability.  For myself, I will wait until we hear from Apple proper, or someone who can point out a whitepaper, or a legit apple support document that states the solution to this problem is ... "X."  We all get 90 days of free tech support for Mavericks. I plan on calling tomorrow or Monday.  I'll update the thread when I know more ...

     

    My $0.02 ... we are all adults please let us all know what happens.

     

    Thanks.

Page 1 of 6 last Next