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Office Dictate (Word) - "To use Dictation, you need internet connection..." -- Specific firewall/network whitelisting needed?

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Wednesday, September 26, 2018 4:45 PM

We are slowly moving some of our machines into the version of O365/Office 2016 that provides Intelligent Services, including Dictation.  On our local network (wired and wireless), the error "To use Dictation, you need internet connection.   Please make sure your internet connection is working" is thrown. 

If I put the same machine on an outside connection, Dictation starts normally.  Is there any documentation on ports/sites that Dictation needs open or local firewall rules that might block just Intelligent Services/Dictation?  Our Network guys don't see any blocks that might cause this and traffic looks normal, but it's definitely something we need to adjust.

All replies (6)

Thursday, September 27, 2018 8:36 AM

Hi,
About Dictate (a new feature for Office 365 subscriptions), and Dictation (an add-in developed by Microsoft for Office and similar to Dictate), I need to confirm with you whether you are talking about Dictate feature in Office 365.
If so, Dictate does require an Internet connection. For more information, you can refer to  Dictate with your voice in Office.
To fix the issue, you can check your Internet connection:
A fast internet connection is required for Dictate to work.
• Check your network connection if you've received a warning about connectivity issues.
If using a Windows device:

  1. Select the Start button, then Settings > Network & Internet .
  2. You should see a list of connections. If your network doesn't say Connected, select Connect.
  3. Return to Office Apps and select Dictate.
    If Dictate still won't record, try checking your firewall.

• Check your firewall

  1. Try going to these websites:
    o https://login.windows.net/
    o https://websockets.platform.bing.com/
  2. If any of these are blocked by your network, ask your IT administrator to update the firewall permissions to unblock them. Dictate requires access to these addresses to work.
  3. Return to Office Apps and select Dictate.

• Check Office network setting

  1. Open an Office App, such as Word, create a new document
  2. Click File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options
  3. Check the box “Let Office can connect to online services from Microsoft to …”
     
    If you have any question or update, please feel free to let me know.
    Best Regards,
    Herb Gu

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Monday, November 5, 2018 10:06 PM

Thanks for your reply, but this unfortunately does not solve our problem.  I can reach both websites and still receive a network error when using Dictate for Office 365.  Could there be any additional sites requiring whitelisting?  Our trust center settings already reflect the proper settings.  

Is there any compatibility issue with a type of network (WPA-2 vs. WPA Enterprise, for example)?

https://websockets.platform.bing.com/  produces a page with "Microsoft Speech Services," which sounds promising, but I don't see any other blocks happening.  

Our Networking guys aren't seeing any blocked traffic, but there has to be something else Dictate is reaching out to that it is not receiving a response from (or not enough of a response).

Thursday, January 17, 2019 12:41 PM

Did you ever work this out?

I have got exactly the same problem.  It doesn't work on my school network but, if I try it using the same PC on an independent, test internet link, it works perfectly.

Thanks,

Jools

Tuesday, February 19, 2019 7:12 PM

I've got the same issue on our network - did you get a resolution?

Thursday, February 21, 2019 7:12 PM

Unfortunately, we have not yet solved this.  Our network folks have trapped a machine trying to get out for these services, and we've whitelisted everything MS has provided, but we continue to receive the same Network error.  This is true for newer services like the PowerPoint Translator, so I suspect it is all coming from the same root(s).  Hoping to get some more results from an open MS ticket.

Thursday, March 7, 2019 5:54 PM

Hi,

I just got the same issue.

I'm now sharing my network via Mobile hotspot and I started working with dictation.

Everything went right but, after some minutes suddenly the below error was raised.

“To use Dictation, you need internet connection. Please make sure your connection is working”

I've noticed that I can use either web-browser and everything that requires network. The only issue seems to be with Word Dictation.

Appreciate any feedback.