W10 Voice Dictation bar takes up too much space

EdB · 14 Aug 2018

Windows 10's latest voice dictation works well enough that I'm now using it to dictate drafts. Unfortunately, it takes up too much real estate on my on my 13.3" laptop. It is literally 1/2 the width of the screen.
Worse yet, it can't be minimized, can't be resized, and is always on top. Yet it only shows a microphone symbol on the left and the close X on the right.
At the very least, it shouldn't be always on top. Ideally I should be able to resize it to whatever I want.
Am I missing anything here? Is there some way to resize the Voice Dictation bar I don't know about?Thanks for any help.
EdB

dalchina · 14 Aug 2018

Hi, do you mean this? (Speech Recognition) Or something else - such as an app like Voice Recorder?
A screenshot would be great- (use the Insert Image icon above your post). Thanks!

or do you mean this?
https://www.howtogeek.com/331072/how...on-windows-10/

- and what is your Windows build?
Windows key + R, winver

EdB · 14 Aug 2018

Thanks for the reply, dalchina. The one you show in your message is the way it used to be, the one on the HowToGeeks page is the way it is now. Screenshot attached below. I get access to the VR by pressing Win+H. The build number is 17134.191, updated just a week ago. --Ed

W10 Voice Dictation bar takes up too much space-capture.png

dalchina · 14 Aug 2018

Unlike with the old Speech Recognition feature, there doesn’t appear to be any way to manually train the voice dictation feature, either.

While this feature is part of Windows 10, it’s fairly new. Like many parts of Windows 10, this feature feels like a work in progress. Microsoft will hopefully improve it, making it more reliable and flexible in future updates to Windows 10.

Actually sounds like the old speech recognition could be better- assuming it's still in 1803.
(I can't find/get working Voice Dictation as described here - nothing in response to Windows key + H - perhaps a post 1709 feature)

EdB · 14 Aug 2018

Yes, build 1803. And I do think it's new; I found out about Win+H watching a "Welcome to Windows" short video on new features in the latest build last week. It definitely is an improvement over 1709's dictation capabilities, but that huge bar is a problem on the laptop. MSFT should put the old icon back in place! Thanks, EdB

dalchina · 14 Aug 2018

One thing you might try is sending it to the back.

Place your cursor over it, then press ALT + ESC, or click on it and press ALT + ESC.

EdB · 14 Aug 2018

Tried ALT+ESC, did nothing for the bar. It operated on the window behind it. Oh, well, guess I have to wait until MSFT notices the problem. Thanks.

dalchina · 15 Aug 2018

As an experiment, try a tiny utility called Altdrag.
Download AltDrag 1.1

This gives you a couple of options.
a. ALT + left button drag - lets you drag a window almost off-screen. (Move window)
b. ALT + mid (scroll) button click toggles on-top status.

(key is selectable)

W10 Voice Dictation bar takes up too much space-1.jpg

EdB · 16 Aug 2018

Haven't tried AltDrag yet, but I just found out voice recognition in Win10 is even weirder than I thought. As you can see from the screen shot below, there are two versions of VR in the latest build (1803, 17134.228) ; the old one, accessed by navigating through Control Panel's Ease of Access Center, and the new one, activated by WIN+H. The new one seems to be much better than the old at VR, albeit s.l.o.w. The old one works like it always did - ok maybe for Windows commands but not up to text dictation. All very mysterious, and in my experience with MSFT (dating back to DOS 1.1) fairly typical. Hopefully they can get it sorted out soon and give us one VR program that works well. I'd love to not have to fall back on Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Thanks for your help.
EdB

W10 Voice Dictation bar takes up too much space-capture2.png

dalchina · 17 Aug 2018

AltDrag is actually rather useful sometimes in general- occasionally a Window might appear with the title bar off-screen (hasn't happened for a long while) - easy to drag back with that. Etc.

MS is providing cross-platform universal apps both embedded and from the Store. That's a different paradigm- Voice Dictation is another, I would guess.