I can't get dictation to work on my iMac I have an iMac computer running High Sierra. I want to use the dictation capability but I can't get this to work.

I have tried turning dictation off and then back on but that doesn't work. I googled this problem and found several reports and blogs about this and most had the same things you can try to get it to work. I've followed the reports and tried their methods. Turning dictation off and restarting and turning dictation on and restarting again didn't work either.. I know my microphone is working.

Here are things I'ver tried and the problems I've encountered.


Turn dictation off and reboot, then turn dictation on and reboot.
rebooted into recovery mode and ran disk utility on my startup volume. Disk utility reported disk was fine.
reset Pram
Tried to boot into safe mode but computer hangs when doing this.
reinstalled High Sierra.
successfully booted into Safe Mode. Dictation didn't work because microphone could not be found.


Does anyone know a way to enable dictation on an iMac running High Sierra.
Have you booted in Safe mode and then rebooted normally?  Have you used Disk Utility to Repair Disk?  These are common quick fixes for a lot of nuisance problems.

Have you checked Sound preferences to make sure your mic is enabled?

Do you have the same problem in your bootable backup clone?

Has Dictation ever worked?  If so, what changed immediately before it stopped working?

Have you tried booting into Recovery mode and reinstalling the OS?