Troubleshooting Guide
Last updated
Last updated
This guide covers common issues you might encounter while using Voice In.
Ensure your internet is working properly.
If you are using a VPN or firewall, disable it and check if Voice In starts working.
If the issue persists, continue to Step 2.
One of the most common reasons Voice In doesn’t work is that no audio input is detected from your microphone. This can happen if:
You have multiple microphones connected, and the wrong microphone is selected.
The microphone is muted.
A wireless headset (e.g., AirPods) is being used on another device.
Check Microphone Settings on Windows:
Open Sound Settings:
Click the Start menu and select Settings.
Navigate to System → Sound.
Select the Correct Microphone:
Under Input, ensure the correct microphone is selected.
Check if the microphone is muted:
If you see a microphone icon with a slash, click it to unmute.
Speak into the microphone and check if the input level indicator moves. This means your microphone is working correctly.
Check Microphone Settings on macOS:
Open Sound Preferences:
Click the Apple menu and go to System Settings.
Select Sound.
Select the Correct Microphone:
In the Input tab, choose your microphone.
Test the Microphone:
Speak into the microphone.
If the input level indicator moves, your microphone is working.
After verifying the correct microphone is selected at the system level, verify that Voice In is using the same microphone.
Open the Voice In Options page.
Under the General section, look for the line starting with “Current Microphone:”.
If no microphone is listed, Voice In cannot access a microphone.
Ensure a microphone is plugged in and recheck your system’s sound settings.
Verify Microphone Selection in Chrome:
Open a new Chrome tab and enter:
Ensure the correct microphone is selected at the top.
Test Your Microphone Online:
The line there should move when you speak.
If your microphone is working but Voice In still doesn’t function, proceed to Step 4.
Note: Voice In doesn't work on some pages like Chrome Web Store, the default new tab page, and other extensions pages for security reasons.
Make sure you have placed the cursor in the textbox. Voice In requires an active cursor to insert text.
Sometimes, you want to start from scratch. Here are a few things to try in order of increasing destructiveness. If you have no problem losing all your settings, and being logged out you can skip right ahead to "B".
A. Restart Google Chrome. There is usually no need to reboot your computer unless you have a microphone driver issue.
B. Uninstall and reinstall Voice In. Consider this a last resort.
Extension icons start out hidden. You need to Pin the extension icon to see it in the toolbar. Here's how you can have the Voice In microphone icon show in the toolbar again:
To use Voice In on a locally saved file (PDF or HTML), you first must grant an additional permission.
Steps
Go to chrome://extensions
Click "details" under Voice In.
Enable "Allow access to file URLs".
Steps
Go to chrome://apps
in your address bar.
Right-click and click "Remove from Chrome" for the following apps:
Gmail
Slides
Docs
Sheets
Drive
Go to the
Use an to test.
Go to the . Click on the microphone icon at the top-right corner of the text area and dictate. If the speech recognition doesn't work on the standalone page, the issue is with the browser's speech-to-text API. This might be a temporary issue, try again in a few hours. If it still doesn't work, look at the .
If you can dictate on the standalone page, Voice In should work. Open the Start Voice In. Make sure Voice In is activated.
Activated
Deactivated
The extension icon should be red. If you don't see the icon, see the No Icon section below. Try dictating into the notepad. If Voice In doesn't work on this page, please .
Some sites like Salesforce, Zendesk, SimplePractice, etc. require the Voice In Plus upgrade in order to work. You can check the list of sites that need the Plus upgrade at
Upgrade to Voice In Plus at
Click to the right of the address bar.
Click next to Voice In.
This will add the Voice In button ( icon) to the address bar.
See the section for a demo video.
Due to a , dictation might not fully work on Google Apps such as Gmail, Sheets, Slides, and Docs.