Dragon Disabled by MS Word (loss of functionality)

One of the most problematic issues in using Dragon with MS Office is the utterly (seemingly) random loss of functionality within MS Office — specifically MS Word and MS Outlook.

You may lose select-and-say (the ability to select or correct text) or you may no longer be able to use commands. The problem may seem to vanish with a restart of your computer, but the symptoms reappear in fairly short order, resulting in endless frustration.

This is, however, a simple matter to correct. The reasons for these symptoms are varied and may include: insufficient system resources, a previous crash, a previous update of MS Office or Windows. There is no way to prevent this from happening, nor do these symptoms plague everyone. But knowing how to contend with it when it does is very useful.

MS Office XP & 2003 Users:

• Restart your PC
• Start MS Word
• Click Help> About Microsoft Word
• Click Disabled Items
• You will likely see an item with “natspeak” or “dgnword” or similar in the list.
• Select each item and click Enable
• Close MS Word
• Restart your PC

MS Office 2007 Users:

• Restart your PC
• Start MS Word
• Click Office Button> Word Options> Add-Ins> Manage> Disabled Items> Go
• You will likely see an item with “natspeak” or “dgnword” or similar in the list.
• Select each item and click Enable
• Close MS Word
• Restart your PC

Related posts:

1. Loss of Select and Say in Internet Explorer
2. Pasting in MS Word (contending with formatting horrors)
3. Change the Default Font in DragonPad
4. Underline Keyboard Shortcuts and Access Keys
5. Using Someone Else’s Dragon Profile