Missing Dragon Bar or Dictation Box

Overview

The Dragon Bar and Dictation Box can be moved to positions on screen that are convenient, and that do not obstruct other applications. When Dragon is closed, these positions are recorded and when Dragon is opened, the Dragon Bar and Dictation Box return to the same positions.

Problem

Occasionally, it has been noted when the Dragon Bar and/or Dictation Box are positioned on a monitor which is not your main monitor and Dragon is closed this can cause issue when you next open Dragon as the Dragon Bar and/or Dictation Box are opened again on that monitor, regardless of it being available to view. If the monitor is not available, you will not see the Dragon Bar and/or Dictation Box.

Resolution

Option 1 - Disconnect Additional Monitors

Close Dragon using the icon in the system tray, shut down your computer, disconnect all additional monitors, switch on your computer, and once logged in, launch Dragon and login. The Dragon Bar and/or Dictation Box should appear. Ensure the Dragon Bar and/or Dictation Box are in the centre of the screen and exit Dragon to save the new positions. Finally, reconnect your additional monitors.

Option 2 - PowerShell Script

If you are comfortable using PowerShell, the following script, when launched and Dragon is running, will hunt down all Dragon processes, and sub processes and move them to your main monitor. It should be noted that the script also makes Dragon windows visible you would not normally see, so it is important to ensure Dragon is closed gracefully once the script has finished so the new positions can be saved, and the normally invisible windows are no longer shown. The script does not require admin rights.

<#
=============================================================
DISCLAIMER / TERMS OF USE
This script is provided "as is" for troubleshooting purposes. Crescendo Systems Ltd accepts no responsibility or liability for any issues, data loss, or system 
disruptions that may arise from its execution. Use at your own discretion.
=============================================================
#>
Add-Type @'
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

public class DragonHunter {
    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    public static extern bool SetWindowPos(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr hWndInsertAfter, int X, int Y, int cx, int cy, uint uFlags);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    public static extern bool EnumThreadWindows(int dwThreadId, EnumWindowsProc lpfn, IntPtr lParam);

    public delegate bool EnumWindowsProc(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr lParam);
}
'@

# Find the Dragon process
$process = Get-Process -Name "SoD" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

if ($process) {
    Write-Host "Found Dragon process. Hunting down hidden window handles..."
    
    # Track all windows associated with the application threads
    foreach ($thread in $process.Threads) {
        [DragonHunter]::EnumThreadWindows($thread.Id, {
            param($hWnd, $lParam)
            
            # 0x0001 = SWP_NOSIZE (keeps original window width/height)
            # 0x0040 = SWP_SHOWWINDOW (forces the window to reveal itself)
            [DragonHunter]::SetWindowPos($hWnd, [IntPtr]::Zero, 100, 100, 0, 0, 0x0001 -bor 0x0040)
            
            return $true # Continue enumerating
        }, [IntPtr]::Zero)
    }
    
    Write-Host "All Dragon windows forced back to coordinates the main screen, please exit Dragon to save their positions."
} else {
    Write-Host "Dragon (SoD.exe) is not currently running, please Open Dragon for this script to work."
}

Option 3 - Contact Crescendo

Contact the Crescendo support team and ask for your Dragon localisation settings to be reset. Please note, you must remain logged out of Dragon while these settings are reset, and as Crescendo must contact Microsoft to do this, it can take up to 2-hours, so options 1 or 2 above should be tried first.