Dictate your emails in Outlook
Dictation lets you use speech-to-text to author content in Office with a microphone and reliable internet connection. It's a quick and easy way to draft emails, send replies, and capture the tone you're going for.
Use the dictation feature to author an email in the new Outlook. The following steps apply to both Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web.
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Start a New Email or reply and select the body of the message.
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Go to the Message tab and select Dictate
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Wait for the Dictate button to turn on and start listening.
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Start speaking to see text appear on the screen.
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Start a New Email or reply, select the body of the message, then go to the Message tab and select Dictate while signed into Microsoft 365 on a mic-enabled device.
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Wait for the Dictate button to turn on and start listening.
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Start speaking to see text appear on the screen.
Can't find the Dictate button? The dictation feature is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers. |
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Start a New Email or reply and go to Message > Dictate while signed into Microsoft 365 on a mic-enabled device.
Tip: You can also start dictation with the keyboard shortcut: ⌥ (Option) + F1.
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Wait for the Dictate button to turn on and start listening.
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Start speaking to see text appear on the screen.
Can't find the Dictate button? The dictation feature is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers. |
Tip: To resume dictation, please use the keyboard shortcut ALT + ` or press the mic icon in the ribbon.
Learn more about using dictation in Outlook mobile
What can I say?
In addition to dictating your content, you can speak commands to add punctuation and enter special characters.
Commands by language
For a list of commands available in each of the supported languages, select a language from the dropdown list.
Note: For the English language, only punctuation and symbols, currency, mathematics, and emojis/faces are currently supported.
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More Information
By default, Dictation is set to English (United States).
We are actively working to improve these languages and add more locales and languages.
Supported Languages
Chinese (China)
English (Australia)
English (Canada)
English (India)
English (United Kingdom)
English (United States)
French (Canada)
French (France)
German (Germany)
Hindi
Italian (Italy)
Japanese
Portuguese (Brazil)
Spanish (Spain)
Spanish (Mexico)
Preview languages *
Arabic (Bahrain)
Arabic (Egypt)
Arabic (Saudi Arabia)
Bulgarian
Chinese (Traditional, Hong Kong)
Chinese (Taiwan)
Croatian (Croatia)
Czech
Danish
Dutch (Netherlands)
English (New Zealand)
Estonian
Finnish
Greek
Gujarati (India)
Hebrew
Hungarian
Irish
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Maltese
Marathi (India)
Norwegian (Bokmål)
Polish
Portuguese (Portugal)
Romanian
Russian
Slovak
Slovenian
Swedish (Sweden)
Tamil (India)
Telugu (India)
Thai
Turkish (Turkey)
Vietnamese
* Preview Languages may have lower accuracy or limited punctuation support.
Click on the gear icon to see the available settings.
-
Spoken Language: View and change languages in the drop-down
-
Microphone: View and change your microphone
-
Auto Punctuation: Toggle the checkmark on or off, if it's available for the language chosen
-
Profanity filter: Mask potentially sensitive phrases with ***
This service does not store your audio data or transcribed text.
Your speech utterances will be sent to Microsoft and used only to provide you with text results.
For more information about experiences that analyze your content, see Connected Experiences in Office.
Microphone issues
If you see "Another app is using your mic":
-
Make sure no other application or web page is using the microphone and try again.
If you see “Mic issue”, “Can’t detect mic” or “Can’t access mic":
-
Make sure the microphone is plugged in
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Test the microphone to make sure it's working
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Check the microphone settings in the Control Panel
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On a Surface running Windows 10: Adjust microphone settings
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Also, see Troubleshoot microphone issues in Microsoft 365 for the web
Dictation can't hear you
If nothing appears on the screen as you dictate:
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Make sure your microphone is not muted
-
Adjust the input level of your microphone
-
Move to a quieter location
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If using a built-in mic, consider trying again with a headset or external mic
Accuracy issues or missed words
If you see a lot of incorrect words being output or missed words:
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Make sure you're on a fast and reliable internet connection
-
Avoid or eliminate background noise that may interfere with your voice
-
Try speaking more deliberately
-
Check to see if the microphone you are using needs to be upgraded
Need more help?
Want more options?
Explore subscription benefits, browse training courses, learn how to secure your device, and more.
Communities help you ask and answer questions, give feedback, and hear from experts with rich knowledge.