I am having some problems with the Dictation tool in Microsoft Word and I'm hoping somebody can help me out. I have used it for some time now to write articles as it's much quicker than my typing abilities. However, it has recently started to struggle and I can't find out why.



Normally, when dictating the text appears as grey and then when you pause it adds any punctuation and turns black. at the moment it is showing as grey and then usually times out before it has finalised the text. This means I can only do one sentence at a time as it then forgets the first bit that I had dictated.

I am using an external microphone that is connected through a USB cable. I have tested this in other apps and there are absolutely no problems. It only seems to be happening in Word. I have also checked that my internet speeds are fine so this shouldn't be the problem either. I've also done all the fixes and updates that I can possibly find to make sure that everything is up to date.

I am now completely out of ideas and it is driving me mad as it has significantly harmed my productivity levels. Please can someone offer some solutions about why this might be happening and what I can do to put it right again, as I can't think of anything that has changed to make the problem start.

Did this work OK before you started using the external microphone?
You are using Word 2021 on a Windows 11 computer?
Which release number on Word? File > Account > About Word

I've veen using the external microphone to do this for a year - it's only in the last week or so that it has been playing up.

I'm using Microsoft 11 Pro on Office 365 (couldn't find the right options when signing up).

Which release number of Office?
You can see that by going to File > Account > About Word in the desktop application.

I assume you are using the desktop application and not the inferior web app.

You are apparently not alone in seeing this. See:
While dictating the words appear then disappear. - Microsoft Q&A

I am not seeing this in 365's desktop application version 2508. Here is text that was picked up from the Newshour broadcast tonight:

Jared Kushner southeastern US could be spared from the worst of tropical storm Imelda this week thanks to another Atlantic system that may draw it out to sea and close some offices and schools in the Bahamas it's also last Cuba where at least one person has died it's expected to strengthen into a hurricane joining major hurricane Umberto which is farther out in the Atlantic and Umberto could actually be a saving grace with its size and force acting to pull Imelda away from the US still officials are warning residents not to take the potential impact of Imelda lightly the storm will likely linger in hazardous conditions on the coast they continue throughout the end of the week so if you're visiting the beaches please stay out of the water this week the folks in the east just be aware that flash flooding may happen in your community although the US should be largely spared the same cannot be said for Bermuda both storms are heading toward the island territory America was set to wrap around and pass north of the area tomorrow and Wednesday Bermuda head on as a strong hurricane around midweek European leaders today celebrated the results of this weekend's elections in Moldova which handed the pro western governing party a clear majority in parliament French German and Polish officials congratulated Moldova for a peaceful election despite what they called Russia's quote vote buying schemes and disinformation located between Ukraine and EU member Romania Moldova has seen as a geopolitical battleground between Russia and Europe it applied to join the EU in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine Moldovan president Maya sandu says russia denies interference and

I observed the grey text with changes accepted.

I am using version 2509, and yes, it is the desktop version.

The other thread describes the same problem that I am having, so it sounds like it might be a dodgy update. It does seem to be intermittent as this morning it is slower than normal but better - yesterday it was unusable.