How to give word permission to use my iMac microphone

Question

"Word" is not listed under my microphone to give it permission so I can dictate and I dont' know how to put it on the list on my iMac

Answer 1

Hi, Gay Fortier

On Mac, this usually means macOS never properly registered Word for voice permissions, or Dictation/Speech Recognition is blocked at the system level, so Word never shows up in the list even though the mic itself may be fine.

Here are some suggestions you can try:

Check both places under System Settings > Privacy & Security: Microphone and Speech Recognition. Word may need to appear in both, not just Microphone.

Turn on System Settings > Keyboard > Dictation first. If Mac Dictation is off, Word may never get properly registered for voice input.

If Word still does not appear, it is suggested that you fully quit Word, open Terminal, and run these two commands one at a time:

tccutil reset Microphone

tccutil reset SpeechRecognition

Then reopen Word. This resets the saved privacy choices so macOS can ask again.

Also check Screen Time > Content & Privacy > App & Feature Restrictions and make sure Siri & Dictation is allowed. That setting can quietly block voice features on Mac.

If it still refuses to appear, a good workaround is to use Word for the web and allow the browser mic permission there, since Word web can record/transcribe directly after permission is granted.

Thank you for your patience in reading, I hope this information has been helpful to you. 

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Answer 2

On macOS, microphone access for Word is controlled by the system, not from inside Word. If Word is not listed under Microphone permissions, it usually appears there only after macOS has prompted for access at least once.

Try the following steps:

1. Make sure Word and dictation are supported
   • Use Word for Microsoft 365 or another supported version (Word 2016 or later) on a supported macOS version.
   • In Word, open a document and go to Home > Dictate while signed into Microsoft 365 on a mic‑enabled device.
   • This should trigger macOS to ask for microphone permission the first time dictation is used.
2. If dictation button is missing or grayed out
   • If the Dictate button is missing, ensure the sign‑in uses an active Microsoft 365 subscription and that the device is running a supported OS version.
   • If the Dictate button is grayed out or shows messages like “We don’t have access to your microphone,” first confirm the microphone itself works in macOS (for example, in another app) and that it is not muted.
3. Check microphone hardware and input
   • Verify the microphone is connected and working at the macOS level.
   • Test the microphone in another application to confirm audio input works.
   • If using a built‑in mic and dictation “can’t hear” anything, move to a quieter location or try a headset or external mic.

Once Word successfully requests access and is granted it by macOS, Word should appear in the system’s Microphone permissions list and dictation should work when selecting Home > Dictate in Word.

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References:

• Dictate your documents in Word
• Use a screen reader to dictate a document in Word
• Dictate your documents in Word for the web
• Troubleshoot microphone issues in Microsoft 365 for the web