How to Fix ‘Oops there was a problem with dictation’ in Office

Find that the dictation feature on Microsoft Office is not working with a message that keeps saying ‘Oops there was a problem with dictation’ on your computer?

Windows has a speech recognition feature that allows users to dictate words or sentences and the computer would automatically type the words that you are saying. This is really a convenient feature, especially if you are not comfortable typing using the keyboard. 

However, this feature may encounter problems once in a while, and it is really frustrating especially if you regularly use the feature. The problem with the dictation feature on Microsoft Office can be caused by a few reasons like faulty microphone, improper system settings, or corrupted device drivers. 

Lucky for you, this kind of issue can be easily fixed with a few steps. Today, we are going to show you some tips and tricks on how to fix the dictation feature on Microsoft Office. 

Let’s get started. 

• 1. Restart Your Computer. 
• 2. Run the Speech Troubleshooter. 
• 3. Restart Microsoft Office Program.
• 4. Refresh Microsoft Office Credentials.
• 5. Reinstall Microphone Drivers. 
• 6. Use Legacy Dictation.
• 7. Changing Your Registry Key. 
• 8. Reinstall Microsoft Office. 

 

 

1. Restart Your Computer. 

The first thing that you should do if a feature or any program on your computer is not working properly is to restart your system. 

It is possible that the drivers for your microphone did not load properly on boot or encountered a bug during runtime, which causes the problem with the dictation feature. 

To restart your computer properly, check out the guide below. 

1. On your keyboard, press on the Windows key to open the Start menu. 
2. After that, click on the Power button to open the Power Options menu. 
3. Lastly, click on Restart to begin the process. 

 

Once your computer has restarted, go back to the Microsoft Office program that you are using and try to use the dictation feature to see if the problem is already resolved. 

 

 

2. Run the Speech Troubleshooter. 

If a simple restart was not able to fix the issue with the dictation feature on Microsoft Office, you could try running the speech troubleshooter on Windows to diagnose the problem with your computer. 

To use the troubleshooter, follow the steps below:

1. On your computer, press on Windows Key + S and search for Troubleshoot, then hit on Enter. 
2. Now, the Troubleshoot Settings will open on your computer. Scroll down and click on the Speech tab. 
3. Lastly, click on Run the Troubleshooter. Follow the on-screen prompts to properly diagnose and fix the issue with Microsoft Office. 

 

Once done, restart your computer and try to use the dictation feature again to see if the ‘Oops there was a problem with dictation’ error message would still occur on your computer. 

On the other hand, if the feature is still not working on your computer, you can try doing the next method below to address the issue on Microsoft Office. 

 

 

3. Restart Microsoft Office Program. 

In some versions of Microsoft Office, it has been reported that there is a bug with the dictation feature where the dictation feature stops working if you forget to close it the first time by saying ‘Stop Dictation’ and press backspace to edit the file.

To fix this, a simple restart would be enough to remove the bug on Microsoft Office. 

1. First, click on the File tab on the menu bar.

 

2. After that, click on Save or Save As. 

 

3. Next, close the Microsoft Office program that you are using. 
4. Lastly, open the document that you are working on and press on CTRL + H on your keyboard to enable dictation. 

Observe and use the feature for a few minutes to see if the ‘Oops there was a problem with dictation’ error message on Microsoft Office would still occur on your computer.  

 

 

4. Refresh Microsoft Office Credentials. 

Microsoft Office stores your account credentials saved on the application. In some cases, these account credentials are needed by Microsoft Office for the dictation feature to work properly.

However, it is possible that these credentials stored on your computer may have gotten corrupted which causes the error on the dictation feature. 

To fix this, you can try clearing all office credentials by doing the steps below. 

1. On your computer, go to one of the Microsoft Office programs and sign out your account. 
2. After that, press on the Windows key + S on your keyboard and search for Credential Manager.
3. Next, click on Open to launch the Credential Manager. 

 

4. Lastly, click on Windows Credential and remove all Office365 credentials from the list. 

 

Once done, restart your computer and try to use the dictation feature on Microsoft Office once again to see if the error message would still occur on your computer. 

 

 

5. Reinstall Microphone Drivers. 

For you to use the dictation feature, you must have a working microphone first. 

It’s common to find that drivers such as the microphone can get outdated or even times not installed properly. Since the microphone is pivotal for the working of the dictation feature, it is important to keep it updated for it to continue working without any issues.

To update your drivers, follow the steps below to guide you through the process. 

1. On your computer, press on the Windows key + S and search for Device Manager.
2. Now, click on Open to launch the Device Manager. 

 

3. Next, click on Audio Inputs and Outputs to expand it. 
4. Lastly, right-click on your Microphone driver and click on Uninstall. Follow the on-screen prompts to remove the driver from your computer completely.

 

Once done, restart your computer and Windows will automatically install the proper drivers for your microphone. After that, go back to Microsoft Office and try to use the dictation feature once again to see if the error message would still occur on your computer. 

However, if you are still having issues regarding the dictation feature on Microsoft Office, you can try doing the next method below to fix the problem. 

 

 

6. Use Legacy Dictation. 

If you are having problems with the dictation on Microsoft Office, what you can try doing is to use the legacy dictation feature built-in on Windows. It may not have all the features present on Microsoft Office’s dictate feature, but it is enough for you to write down sentences without typing on your keyboard. 

To use this feature on Windows, you can follow the steps below to guide you through the process. 

1. First, press on Windows key + I on your keyboard to open Windows Settings. 
2. Next, click on Time & Language.

 

3. After that, go to Region and make sure that your preferred language is selected.

 

4. Lastly, click on the Speech tab and ensure that your preferred language is also selected.

 

Go back to Microsoft Office and press on CTRL + H on your keyboard to see if the dictation feature already works on your computer. 

 

 

7. Changing Your Registry Key. 

The issue on Microsoft Office’s dictation feature can be caused by error or bugs related to your Microsoft Office account. 

In this case, you can try removing the ‘EnableADAL’ registry from the Registry Editor. This registry is responsible for authenticating your MS Office account that enables various features like dictation. 

However, doing this method improperly can damage your operating system, so make sure that you follow every step carefully. 

1. On your computer, press on Windows key + S and search for the Registry Editor. 
2. Next, click on Open to launch it. 

 

3. Inside the editor, click on HKEY_CURRENT_USER and select Software. 
4. Now, go to Microsoft > Office > 16.0 > Common > Identity. 

 

5. Lastly, find the ‘EnableADAL’ registry from the list and remove it by right-clicking on the registry and selecting Delete. 

After that, restart your computer and try to use the Dictate feature once again to see if the problem is already resolved.

 

 

 

8. Reinstall Microsoft Office. 

For the last method, you can try to reinstall the Microsoft Office installation package on your computer. It is possible that some of its components got corrupted like its registry values which cause the program to not work properly. 

Instead of tweaking system configurations on your computer which can further damage your system, we recommend you just reinstall the program. 

1. On your computer, press on Windows key + R to open the Run Command Box. 
2. After that, type appwiz.cpl and hit Enter. 

 

3. Next, scroll down and right-click on Microsoft Office from the list of programs installed on your computer. 
4. Lastly, click on Uninstall. Follow the on-screen prompts to remove the program completely from your computer.

 

Once done, go to Microsoft Office’s official website and download the program once again. On the other hand, if you have an installation disk for Microsoft Office, you can also use it. 

This brings us to the end of our guide on how to fix the ‘Oops there was a problem with dictation’ error message in Microsoft Office. If you have found a better alternative solution, feel free to share it below and we will add it into this post with your credit the next time we update. 😀

 

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂