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Dictation not working on iMac 27 (2017)

Hi all,


I cannot setup enhanced dictation on the new iMac 27.


The menu Start Dictation under Edit is grayed out and Fn Fn does not work either (I hear a beep of invalid command).


However, when I activate advanced commands in Accessibility section, Fn Fn starts working (but not the Start Dictation menu), and a small windows appears at the lower-right corner of the screen. The computer can hear me, but recognition is quite inaccurate. Sometimes the command I dictate just shows up above the dictation window, but is not executed. When I try to dictate large chunks of text, it’s very inaccurate, sometimes it does not react at all, so I need to repeat the same phrase several times.


What I need to activate is another window: “When your Mac is listening, it displays a microphone to the left or right of the page, aligned with the insertion point.” as stated in this article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202584 But it never shows up.


I can easily dictate in a Google online service on the same iMac, and pretty fast, so the microphone is operational. I also switch between the internal microphone and a specialized voice recognition USB headset, and both are fine.


I’ve been trying to solve the issue for a few days, following any possible advice I could find online.


I tested the function in a new administrator account, reinstalled High Sierra, installed it on a new partition and even upgraded to Mojave to check if the issue is connected to the OS, but still nothing.


Here how it goes:

  1. After I first login (newly installed OS), the Start Dictation menu line under Edit is active.
  2. I click it (or Fn Fn), and the dialog pops up asking if I want to configure dictation.
  3. I click Yes and am prompted to the Dictation settings under Keyboard in System Preferences.
  4. I switch the Dictation on and a window pops up saying “Dictation languages aren’t available to download at this time. Try again later.” I think at this point (hard to tell exactly, maybe even earlier) the Start Dictation menu line becomes grayed out / inactive.
  5. Eventually, after I open “Add new language” drop down menu, I manage to download the language package. But the dictation does not work.


What could be the reason? Is it an OS error, a driver, the dictation module, the network? It’s frustrating since dictation was the main reason for buying the Mac. Could I solve it if I install an earlier OS version like Sierra? Or maybe I could copy some folders from a machine where this function works well?


I would appreciate your help.

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017), macOS High Sierra (10.13.6), 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, i7, 580 video

Posted on Jul 19, 2018 1:50 PM

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Posted on Jul 20, 2018 11:59 AM

I’m dictating in Ukrainian and Russian. I’ve also installed US English and UK English, but haven’t tried them yet. I was dictating in Pages, Numbers and in some Windows 10 apps—Word, Excel and my specialized tools memoQ and Memsource—via Parallels.


But the issues is solved now.


Today I talked to a guy in the shop selling Macs and he explained me everything in 2 minutes. It was simple! I had a feeling I was doing wrong something very obvious.


I’ve always worked on Windows. It’s my first Mac and I could not realize that the menu in the upper-left corner (next to the Apple logo) changes every time I open an app. Start Dictation command is inactive on the start screen, but becomes active inside applications.


What I was doing before: I was trying to activate the microphone window first and then open an app. This way it worked only if advanced commands were enabled. And it was quite inaccurate.


The solution was: Open an app first, place a cursor, and only then click Start Dictation (which is now active) or press Fn Fn. This way it works. I’m still testing it, but the first results are quite good! And hopefully they will improve over time.


Thus, the sequence of actions matters. I still need to get used to Mac.

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Question marked as Best reply

Jul 20, 2018 11:59 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

I’m dictating in Ukrainian and Russian. I’ve also installed US English and UK English, but haven’t tried them yet. I was dictating in Pages, Numbers and in some Windows 10 apps—Word, Excel and my specialized tools memoQ and Memsource—via Parallels.


But the issues is solved now.


Today I talked to a guy in the shop selling Macs and he explained me everything in 2 minutes. It was simple! I had a feeling I was doing wrong something very obvious.


I’ve always worked on Windows. It’s my first Mac and I could not realize that the menu in the upper-left corner (next to the Apple logo) changes every time I open an app. Start Dictation command is inactive on the start screen, but becomes active inside applications.


What I was doing before: I was trying to activate the microphone window first and then open an app. This way it worked only if advanced commands were enabled. And it was quite inaccurate.


The solution was: Open an app first, place a cursor, and only then click Start Dictation (which is now active) or press Fn Fn. This way it works. I’m still testing it, but the first results are quite good! And hopefully they will improve over time.


Thus, the sequence of actions matters. I still need to get used to Mac.

Aug 13, 2018 6:50 AM in response to anv77

Hi again,


I thought it was solved, but it's not.


Dictation got broken after a couple of days—I can't say at what point. To have at least something working, I turned off enhanced dictation and started using the basic online version. It was and still is working fast and mostly accurate on the Mac side. But under Parallels an additional trigger is needed to start recognition. It means that after I press Fn-Fn the first time, the microphone appears and the signal starts going up and down, but no text is typed. To see the text appear on screen, I need to press Fn (or actually any other key) once again.


I wonder what could be the reasons of one feature not working at all, and the other one not working correctly under Parallels? How can I troubleshoot it? Console shows lots of errors, but I cannot interpret them.

Dictation not working on iMac 27 (2017)

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