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How to dictate emails in Outlook
Outlook has its own Dictate button for writing email by voice. It needs a Microsoft 365 subscription and an internet connection, because Microsoft does the transcription. Here is where to find it in each version of Outlook, and how to dictate email when it isn't an option.
Where Dictate is in each Outlook
In every version, start a new email or a reply and click in the body of the message first. Dictate only appears while you're writing.
- New Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web: Message tab → Dictate. Wait until it shows it's listening, then talk. Alt+` (or the microphone on the ribbon) starts it again.
- Classic Outlook for Windows: Message tab → Dictate, signed in to Microsoft 365.
- Outlook for Mac: Message → Dictate, or press ⌥ Option + F1. The first time, macOS asks to let Outlook use the microphone.
Say punctuation as you go: “comma”, “period”, “question mark”, “new line”. The gear icon next to the button sets the spoken language (English (United States) unless you change it), automatic punctuation, and a filter that replaces sensitive phrases with ***.
What Outlook's Dictate needs
- Microsoft 365. In Microsoft's words: “The dictation feature is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers.”
- A connection. Microsoft asks for a “reliable internet connection”: speech is sent to microsoft; microsoft says it stores neither audio nor text. On a plane or a bad hotel network, the button doesn't help.
- Outlook. It types into Outlook's own message window only. A reply in Apple Mail or in Gmail in a browser needs a different tool.
Dictating email without Outlook's Dictate
A dictation tool that types at the cursor works in any mail app, Outlook included, and doesn't care about your Microsoft 365 plan. Two of them run on the computer itself:
- Apple Dictation (Mac): press the dictation shortcut in Outlook, Mail or a browser and speak. On Apple Silicon Macs it runs on-device for many languages. See how to dictate on a Mac; if it cuts you off mid-email, why Apple Dictation keeps stopping.
- Windows' own tools: in classic Outlook, new Outlook or Outlook on the web, Win + H starts Windows voice typing, which is free but needs the internet, as Outlook's button does. Voice access on Windows 11 works offline but is built for running the PC by voice; voice access vs voice typing explains the difference.
- Dictate: hold a key, say the email, let go, and it's pasted at the cursor, in Outlook or anywhere else. Speech is transcribed on your computer by NVIDIA Parakeet, in 21 European languages detected as you switch, so a reply in German and the next one in English need no setting. No subscription, no account, no connection. On Windows, it's “Offline Dictation” in the Microsoft Store.
Writing documents rather than email? How dictation in Word works.
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Questions
Can you dictate emails in Outlook?
Yes. In a new email or reply, click in the body and select Dictate on the Message tab. Microsoft says it needs a Microsoft 365 subscription and a reliable internet connection, and it is in new Outlook and classic Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Mac and Outlook on the web.
Does Outlook dictation work offline?
No. Outlook sends your speech to Microsoft to be transcribed, so without a connection the Dictate button can't work. To dictate an email offline, use a tool that transcribes on your computer, such as Apple Dictation on an Apple Silicon Mac or Dictate.
What is the shortcut for Dictate in Outlook?
On a Mac it is ⌥ Option + F1. In new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web, Alt+` resumes dictation; you can also select the microphone on the ribbon.
Why is there no Dictate button in Outlook?
Usually because you aren't signed in with a Microsoft 365 account, Outlook is offline, or the cursor isn't in the body of a message. The button sits on the Message tab of an email you're writing, not on the main window's ribbon.
Does Microsoft keep what I dictate in Outlook?
Microsoft says your speech is “sent to Microsoft and used only to provide you with text results”, and that the service doesn't store the audio or the transcribed text. The words still leave your computer before the email is sent, which matters if the email is confidential.
Which language does Outlook dictation use?
English (United States) by default. Change it under the gear icon next to the Dictate button, where you also find automatic punctuation and a filter that masks sensitive phrases with asterisks.