Voice dictation has been a part of Apple devices, including Macs, for quite some time now. There are many ways to get the most out of Dictation on a Mac. Most importantly, it helps you dictate text and control your Mac more comfortably. Dictation goes beyond words and can take input to insert punctuation and emojis.
However, there are some users who complain that they cannot use this feature on Mac. If you are also one of them and are having trouble using Dictation, we bring you the best solutions to fix Dictation not working on Mac.
1. Check Dictation Settings
Starting with some basic solutions, you’ll need to check if Dictation is enabled on your Mac. It is part of the Keyboard settings. Here’s how to check.
Step 1: Press the keyboard shortcut Command + Spacebar to open Spotlight Search, type System settingsand press Back
Step 2: Scroll to the bottom and click Keyboard from the left sidebar.
Step 3: Scroll down and click the switch next to Dictation to turn it on.
You can also check Selected Microphone Source to use Dictation.
Step 4: Close Settings and check if the problem is resolved.
2. Disable Bluetooth device
If you’re still having problems, turn off any Bluetooth devices connected to your Mac. It is possible that the microphone of the Bluetooth device cannot recognize your voice when you activate Dictation.
3. Turn off Voice Control
As the name suggests, Voice Control lets you edit text and interact with your Mac. However, to use Keyboard Dictation, Voice Control must be turned off. Here’s how to do it.
Step 1: Press the keyboard shortcut Command + Spacebar to open Spotlight Search, type System settingss, and press Return.
Step 2: Scroll down and click Accessibility from the menu on the left.
Step 3: Click on Voice Control.
Step 4: Select the switch next to Voice Control to disable this feature.
Step 5: Close the Settings window and check if the problem is resolved.
4. Likes to sit in a quiet room
If your surroundings are noisy, the microphone may not be able to recognize and record your voice for Dictation use. So, if possible, we recommend that you sit in a quiet room and try using this feature.
You can also read our post about Mac microphone not working.
5. Restart your Mac
Another basic but useful solution is to simply restart your Mac. If you’ve been using your Mac for a long time, some apps running in the background can cause Dictation problems.
Step 1: Click the Apple icon in the top left corner.
Step 2: Select Restart.
Step 3: After your Mac restarts, check to see if the problem is resolved.
6. Check your Internet connection
For voice-to-text to work smoothly on your Mac, you need a strong and stable internet connection. You need to check your internet speed, especially when using Dictation to search the web. You can go offline and use Dictation to take notes in the Notes app, or use Pages if your Mac is running on an M.
7. Delete the speech recognition preferences file
This is an advanced solution and we recommend that you only try it if you are still having problems. The Preferences file contains the rules that dictate how an app or feature should behave on your Mac. Dictation is part of speech recognition and you can try deleting Preference Files that may have been corrupted. You can try deleting them and check if the problem is resolved.
Step 1: Click Go in the top Menu bar.
Step 2: Select Go to folder.
Step 3: In the search box that appears on your screen, type the following file path and press Return.
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.assistant.plist
Step 4: Press the keyboard shortcut Command + Delete to delete this file.
Step 5: Close the window, click the Apple icon in the top left corner and select Restart.
Step 6: After your Mac restarts, try using Dictation.
In case still having the same problem, repeat the same steps and delete the selected file by entering the following path.
~/Library/Caches/com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore
8. Update macOS
Your last resort is to update your macOS version to get rid of any bugs or glitches that are causing this problem. This is the way.
Step 1: Press the keyboard shortcut Command + Spacebar to open Spotlight Search, type Check for software updates, and press Back.
Step 2: If a new version is available, download and install it.
Step 3: After installing the new version, check if the problem is resolved.
Your wish is your voice command
These solutions should get you back to using Dictation on your Mac. You can also read our post if dictation is not working on your iPhone.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
