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Apple Voice Control dictation into Firefox

  • 2 replies
  • 2 have this problem
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  • Last reply by Foxfree99

Foxfree99
Foxfree99
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I just bought a new Mac, and I am learning to use voice control, and voice control does not work to dictate into appropriate text boxes with FireFox. I have verified with Apple support but this is not 100% a FireFox problem, because it turns out the voice control is very iffy in multiple non-Apple programs (Photoshop, BBEdit), and it is iffy in multiple Apple programs as well--sometimes it works with Mail and sometimes it does not. While I do hope that my advisor will be able to get back to me eventually with a solution, I am searching for other ways to address the issue.

The biggest problem for my uses is lack of function with with Firefox. Sometimes it works if I start some dictation in an open textedit file, and then switch to an already open browser window and text box in Firefox. Sometimes this does not work.

I did find another conversation in the Apple forums where someone was using chrome and they were able to adjust a chrome setting for "native accessibility API support" but even though I found this setting in Firefox about:config and set it to true, I'm still having the problem.

Any tips on settings that can be adjusted to increase the chances of success with voice control?

Now on macOS Monterey 12.0.1 and FireFox beta channel 94.0. Problem first noticed before update from Big Sur to Monterey; have not attempted to enable Voice Control on prior versions of MacOS or prior computers.

I just bought a new Mac, and I am learning to use voice control, and voice control does not work to dictate into appropriate text boxes with FireFox. I have verified with Apple support but this is not 100% a FireFox problem, because it turns out the voice control is very iffy in multiple non-Apple programs (Photoshop, BBEdit), and it is iffy in multiple Apple programs as well--sometimes it works with Mail and sometimes it does not. While I do hope that my advisor will be able to get back to me eventually with a solution, I am searching for other ways to address the issue. The biggest problem for my uses is lack of function with with Firefox. Sometimes it works if I start some dictation in an open textedit file, and then switch to an already open browser window and text box in Firefox. Sometimes this does not work. I did find another conversation in the Apple forums where someone was using chrome and they were able to adjust a chrome setting for "native accessibility API support" but even though I found this setting in Firefox about:config and set it to true, I'm still having the problem. Any tips on settings that can be adjusted to increase the chances of success with voice control? Now on macOS Monterey 12.0.1 and FireFox beta channel 94.0. Problem first noticed before update from Big Sur to Monterey; have not attempted to enable Voice Control on prior versions of MacOS or prior computers.

All Replies (2)

Foxfree99
Foxfree99 Question owner
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One more point I forgot: it works fine to 'paste that' into an open web browser box once I put the cursor there, so Voice Control sort of works that way.

One other weirdness: FF dropdown menus disappear before I can act on them when using Voice Control. This is not a problem with Safari.

Foxfree99
Foxfree99 Question owner
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I did some troubleshooting with an Apple advisor about the menus, who was not able to figure out the problem, but I have a little more clarity about what's going on:

The main menu bar menus function as expected whether or not voice control is turned on (e.g., file, edit, view, history…). Drop downs from the favorite bar (e.g., when one of the favorites listed is a folder with multiple items inside) also worked fine. What is appearing and disappearing to rapidly for me to act on them are the drop-down menus for my add-on extensions, noscript and Ublock origin. Both of them function fine if my voice control is in sleep mode. When it is awake and taking dictation, the problem recurs.