The Dictation app is limited to 30 seconds. Ok. But when I reach 30 seconds, the app closes and deletes my prior 30 seconds of dictation. Is there any way to set Dictation so that when it reaches the 30-second limit, it will process the words it already has?
MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.7.5), iPhone 4 (Verizon); iPad
No, you must press the finish key (Default Key is fn) once before the 30 seconds.
No, you must press the finish key (Default Key is fn) once before the 30 seconds.
Thank you for solving this riddle; it's been aggrivating me for months!
However, this is bad design - if a user initiates Dictation one would assume an expectation for the software to transcribe his or her speech, regardless of a secondary-command to stop, and especailly if the software has a built-in 30-second timeout. Why would the assumption be the opposite? - Namely that the user, because they didn't tell it to stop recording, doesn't want the previous 30-seconds of dictated text transcribed? This is either a foolish oversight or a neglected engineering mistake...
Bodycalming wrote:
No, you must press the finish key (Default Key is fn) once before the 30 seconds.
I too have discovered this behavior while attempting to dictate in Apple Mail.
I would just like to add that this behavior is juxtaposed to what iOS dictation does. When an iOS dictation times out, it captures and transcribes the previous 40 seconds worth of dictation.
In and interesting twist, I began dictating this paragraph (using Safari on a MacBook Pro with iOS 10.8.3) and I watched the time. While my iOS device (4s & 6.1.2) can record for 40 seconds and, in any app, faithfully transcribe my verbal input, indeed this recording timed out at 30 seconds. What's interesting is that my transcription did appear after it timed out!
So, we now know that this behavior is specific to certain apps (like Apple Mail) so, I will go now to Apple Mail preferences to see if there is a setting I can change. This may be a security related setting.
I'm back and I have this to report:
There are no dictation preferences in Apple Mail. So, I went to system preferences and reviewed the general dictation preferences. nothing there that was relevant.
However, when I went back to Apple Mail, after dictating here in this Apple discussions forum using Safari, Apple Mail suddenly began remembering and transcribing my text!
So, clearly there is a bug and I will attempt to report same to Apple by linking to this discussion but it is a self repairing bug – the best kind! ;-)
Dictation Times Out
