Do you want to dictate your emails in Outlook instead of writing them? If yes, you have landed on the correct page.
Outlook’s dictation tool is basically a speech-to-text tool that allows you to author your emails by speaking into your microphone. It comes in handy when you don’t want to write down emails or when your keyboard is not working correctly. Using it, you can compose your emails, send them, quickly reply to emails, etc. The dictation feature is available in other Office apps too.
This feature is available in both Outlook’s desktop and web versions. So, you can dictate your emails in your Outlook app as well as online.
Now, before you use this tool, you need to keep the following points in your mind:
- You need an active Microsoft 365 subscription to use this tool in the Outlook app.
- It is supported by Windows 10 and above versions only.
Let us find out the exact steps to use the dictation feature in Outlook.
How to Dictate your emails in Outlook?
To dictate your emails in Outlook using a microphone, you can follow the below steps:
- Open the Outlook app or Outlook web.
- Compose a new email.
- Navigate to the Message tab.
- Click on the Dictate drop-down button.
- Choose the desired dictation language.
- Grant microphone access permission to Outlook.
- Start speaking through your microphone to author email content.
First, open the Outlook app on your PC and sign into your email account. If you use Outlook on the web, open the website in a web browser and log in to your account.
Now, you need to compose a new email. To do that, click on the Home tab and select the New Mail button to open a new messages window.
Next, move to the Message tab and select the drop-down menu button associated with the Dictate option. It will display several languages in which you can dictate your emails; choose the desired dictation language.
After that, press the Dictate button and then Outlook will ask you to allow permission to access your microphone. Provide the required access permissions to proceed.
Note: In case your microphone is not detected, make sure you have connected it to your PC properly. Also, ensure that your microphone is not muted.
Once the microphone is set up, you can start speaking into it. Outlook will convert your speech to text and complete your email.
You can resume dictating your emails at any time by pressing the ALT + ` shortcut key or simply clicking the Dictate button on the ribbon.
Read: How to write an Email using Cortana on Windows?
Commands
You can use some commands to correctly dictate your emails in Outlook. For example, to use a full stop, you can speak full stop or period in your microphone. Similarly, you can insert other punctuation marks including commas, question marks, exclamation marks/points, new lines, open quotes, close quotes, etc.
It also lets you use basic emojis like the following:
- smiley face= :)
- frowny face= :(
- winky face= ;)
- heart emoji= <3
There are other phrases that you can use to use Outlook’s dictation tool to give editing, formatting, mathematics, and other commands in your emails. Check them out here.
See: How to enable Voice Typing Everywhere in Chrome?
Why can’t I Dictate in Outlook?
If you can’t dictate emails in Outlook, there can be multiple factors responsible for the issue. It is likely that your microphone is not connected to your PC correctly. So, you can unplug your microphone and then replug it to check if it is working fine. You can also try connecting your headset to a different USB port to see if it helps.
Besides that, make sure your microphone is in proper working condition. You can plug it into a different phone or computer and see if it is working properly. You can also test your microphone on Windows using Settings. Apart from that, ensure that your microphone is not on mute, and try modifying the input level of your mic to fix the issue.
How do I turn on voice typing in email?
If you want to use Voice Typing in Gmail on your smartphone, open the Gmail app and then click on the Compose button. Now, from the top of your keyboard, press the Settings (gear-shaped) button and click on the Voice input option. Next, choose the Google Voice Typing option. Next, go back to the keyboard and press the Microphone icon present at the top of the keyboard. You can now start dictating your emails through your microphone.
Now read: Best free open source Text to Speech converter software for Windows.
