Dictation Toolbar

[TanEmb]

I use Microsoft dictation all the time in word and outlook and recently the dictation toolbar started popping up and it gets in the way of my text. I can move it and close it but it is a nuisance, I don't want it to open when I use dictate. How do I disable the dictation popup toolbar but still use the dictate which is in the ribbon menu in word and outlook.

The picture below shows the dictate button that I use in the ribbon of word and outlook and the unwanted pop up dictate toolbar that only recently started popping up in the middle of the text.

[#2]

This started happening to me too!!! I have no idea how to get rid of it. I hate it

[#3]

Does anyone know who I can contact in Microsoft who would be able to offer a solution to this or at least let them know there is an issue with it so it can be fixed because I am not the only person who has this problem. There is nothing on the Internet about it and I don't understand why there isn't an option for stopping this from popping up or at least minimizing it so that it doesn't keep popping up every time the dictate starts.

[#4]

@TanEmb 

Same problem here... In the past, this stupid thing only appeared if you enabled privacy -> Speech -> Online Speech Recognition. But disabling it no longer works. This has got to be the most annoying "feature" ever. I don't understand why this stuff just magically appears without asking the user if we want it enabled. 

[#5]

I have been in communication with several Microsoft help desks I keep getting shoved around to people who can't help me.
Today I was on a messaging help desk and using dictate in Word to copy the message to the technician and suddenly the dictate toolbar box stopped popping up in that one Word document and I have no idea why this happened. I was not in any of the settings for Word, I was just using dictating.
I don't know if it was a voice command that stopped the tool bar from popping up or if I was editing my message on the keyboard and hit a combination of keystrokes that stopped the toolbar from popping up or it just decided to do it on its own just to confuse me.

Unfortunately it still pops up in other word documents and Outlook.

If I find a solution, I will post it here and if anyone else does please post.

[#6]

For anyone following this topic here is the response I got from Microsoft regarding the issue:

Good morning! This is a follow up on the case you opened about disabling the dictation toolbar. Upon reaching out to our senior analysts and engineering team, the feature will only be enabled on Word and Outlook if you have setup the Speech Recognition for Windows. Once you have enabled this though, there's no option to disable it again. If you do not want to see the toolbar, you may need to create a new Windows profile on the current device where Speech is not setup so that the pop up will not show whenever you click on the Dictation button in the ribbon. Since this feature is currently built-in directly to Word and Outlook, you can submit your feedback to add a feature to disable the toolbar to pop up by clicking on Help > Feedback. From there, you can either choose I have a suggestion or I don't like something to submit this directly to our developer team.

[#7]

@TanEmb 

Honestly, I don't ever recall setting up speech recognition, but magically my "profile" is there. This has got to be the most obnoxious "feature" ever! Even more so by the fact that they designed it in such a way as that it cannot be disabled or reverted back to the original. 

[#8]

Same here, I don't recall turning this on and if I did turn it on, how am I to know that this popup toolbar is going to appear and annoy me and there's no way to disable it. I fear that not enough people will report the problem, so it won't get dealt with.

[#9]

This is so annoying! It is unsolicited and unwanted and yet it is imposed on us without any option of removal! I find it difficult to believe that anyone thinks this is a good idea. The box is always in the way. ?It appears over the thing you are working on and you have to find space to park it.

If you ask me I would say that this is a product of the same arrogant mindset that led apple to impose an unwanted U2 album on its users.

 Microsoft please fix this.

[#10]

It's absolutely insane, but Microsoft (Windows, not word) dictation works and then after a couple of uses starts responding “initializing…” and it won't work anymore. I've gotten Microsoft support and they get it to work again but only briefly (jumping through a million Hoops, including repairing windows and parentheses. Anyone?