Outlook is Microsoft’s email client software. It has become a standard tool for working professionals around the globe.
The latest version of Outlook comes with a new feature called Dictation. This allows you to dictate text messages directly into your inbox.
Dictation is a great way to save time and increase productivity. In this article, we’ll show you how to turn on Dictation in Outlook and start using it immediately.
But:
- What exactly is Dictation Mode?
- How does it work?
- What are some advantages and disadvantages of using it?
To send emails faster, you can now dictate them into Microsoft Outlook. Just start talking and Outlook will automatically convert your words into text. This feature is called Dictation Mode.
You can also record voice memos and then share them with contacts and team members who don’t have access to Office 365.
You can now dictate the subject, add people to the To, CC, and BCC line, and mention people.
Where is the Dictate button in Outlook?
When you click on the New Email message, the dictate button is available on the right-side ribbon under the message tab.
Requirements
To use dictation and voice commands in Microsoft Outlook, you must:
- You must have a computer or device with a microphone.
- Have a Microsoft 365 subscription.
- Have a stable internet connection.
How to Dictate Email in Microsoft Outlook?
Microsoft’s speech recognition technology helps you create documents quickly by speaking instead of typing. It’s an easy way to draft emails and reply to others via voice.
You just open your microphone and start talking. Everything you say is then transcribed. Outlook speed up emailing by using voice commands and dictation.
- Open Microsoft Outlook >> Create a new email or reply or forward >> go to Message tab >> Click the Dictate button which enables the mic device.
In case you are active in the simplified view, click on ellipses, and then click on dictate.
- The dictation toolbar appears, click on the Microphone to start or stop dictation.
- By default, Outlook auto-detects the language you’re speaking. So, click on the gear logo setting button and select the language you want in the list.
- Once your language is set, Start talking (Speak clearly and conversationally) and what you are speaking appears on your screen in text form. You can modify or correct any time by moving your cursor and again continuing with dictating. Keep your toggle ON while correcting, it doesn’t make any difference.
How to use voice dictation in Outlook?
There are numerous other things to do apart from just entering the matter in the body:
- Punching the email address in the “To”
- Punching email address in the “CC” or “Bcc”
- Enter the subject
- Using punctuations.
Dictation in Outlook is designed to execute all the other things very smartly.
Outlook Dictate Commands
- Add [name] to email
- Add [name] to cc line
- Add [name] to bcc line
- Change the subject line to [new subject]
- New Line
- New Paragraph
- Send an email, you will see a confirmation dialog, then say “Yes“
While speaking and your cursor is at the email message body, and you use the above line, for instance “Add [name] to bcc line”, the email address is automatically added in the Bcc field. You don’t have to move your cursor from body to Bcc field.
![Add [name] to bcc line](https://mailsmartly.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Add-name-to-bcc-line.jpg)
Enable Auto Punctuations
Everybody is aware of punctuations, with Auto Punctuations enabled, Outlook will not only be spelled correctly but also punctuated.
Why auto punctuation activation is important?
Here we are talking about dictation which means, we only are supposed to speak and outlook automatically detects and converts it into text.
What about if you need to insert some punctuation into the matter, for instance, “comma (,)”, Do you think you use simply speak comma, it will automatically, reflect as a comma in your text?
The answer is ‘Yes’, but the only condition is, that you need to enable auto punctuations.
Now, whenever you speak such punctuations symbol/Phrase, it will automatically convert into a punctuations symbol, here are some examples:
| Phrase(s) | Output |
|---|---|
| Full stop | . |
| comma | , |
| question mark | ? |
| exclamation mark/point | ! |
| new line | new line |
| apostrophe-s | 's |
| colon | : |
| semicolon | ; |
| open quotes/close quotes | " " |
| hyphen | - |
| ellipsis, dot dot dot | ... |
| begin/open single end/close single quotequote | ' ' |
| left/open parentheses right/close parentheses | ( ) |
| left/open bracket right/close bracket | [ ] |
| left/open brace right/close brace | { } |
| Phrase(s) | Result |
|---|---|
| asterisk | * |
| backslash | \ |
| forward slash | / |
| vertical bar sign, pipe character | | |
| backquote, backtick | ` |
| underscore | _ |
| m-dash | — |
| n-dash | – |
| paragraph sign/mark | ¶ |
| section sign | § |
| ampersand, and sign | & |
| at sign | @ |
| copyright sign | © |
| registered sign | ® |
| degree symbol | ° |
| caret symbol | ^ |
Filter Sensitive Phrases
Most of the time we all encountered specific words with ****, these are some sensitive words or phrases, which need to be ignored while typing.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Dictation automatically ends when you stop speaking in Outlook, Is it True?
Yes, if you use Microsoft Outlook then dictation will end at the point you stop speaking. If you are using any other email client, such as Yahoo Mail, Gmail, etc., then dictation will continue until you stop speaking.
Does Outlook 2013 have dictation?
Microsoft Office has long had voice recognition features, but Outlook 2013 now ships with one as well.
The new feature works just like other dictation software tools, allowing you to dictate text into Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote documents. Once the document is loaded, you’ll be able to add comments and edit formatting using visual cues.
Dictate Outlook not working
The main cause of Dictate Outlook not working is your microphone.
If your microphone isn’t working, or you see the message, ‘There is a problem with your microphone’ or, ‘We can’t detect your microphone,’ try these:
- Make sure the microphone is plugged in.
- Test the microphone to make sure it’s working.
- Check your Microphone settings in Control Panel.
Final Thoughts
In summary, you can use dictation to create email messages and meeting requests. You have to have a microphone and a microphone that is compatible with dictation.
You have to have dictation enabled. You have to have dictation language set up.
If you have all that, dictation can be a fast way to create messages. If you have any other questions about dictation in Outlook, leave them in the comments. I’ll try to respond to everyone.
With Outlook 2010 or later, you cannot use dictation for email unless you sign into Office Professional Plus 2013 or Business Essentials 2013; however, you can still edit emails using dictation in Word 2011.
Microsoft has deprecated Dictate for Office 2010, and it no longer works in any version of Office from 2008 through 2013. Outlook 2007 or earlier versions do not support dictation at all.