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How to Dictate Emails on a Mac That Read Like You Typed Them

How to dictate emails in Mail, Gmail and Outlook on a Mac, step by step from Apple and Microsoft's own pages, and how to make them read cleanly.

By Nelson, maker of Aurator

To dictate an email on a Mac, click in the body of the email, press the Microphone key or choose Edit, Start Dictation, and talk. Apple says Dictation works anywhere you can type text, so the same steps work in Mail, in Gmail in your browser, and in Outlook. Outlook also has its own Dictate button, under Message, Dictate.

Getting the words in is the easy part. The harder part is an email that reads like you typed it, with full stops in the right places, clear paragraphs, and no "um" in the middle of a sentence. So this article covers both.

I make Aurator, so please read this knowing that. Aurator is a native macOS app and is not affiliated with Apple. Every fact here about Apple, Microsoft and Google comes from their own help pages, checked on 7 October 2026. And where the free tools on your Mac are enough, I will say so plainly.

How do I turn on dictation on a Mac

These are Apple's steps, from its Mac User Guide.

  1. Choose Apple menu, then System Settings.
  2. Click Keyboard in the sidebar.
  3. Go to Dictation and turn it on.
  4. Next to Languages, click Edit, then choose your language and region.

Apple says you can also check in Keyboard settings whether your dictation is processed on your Mac and not sent to Siri servers. If that matters to you, I went through it in Is Mac Dictation Private.

How to dictate an email in Apple Mail

  1. Open Mail and click New Message, or Reply on the email you are answering.
  2. Type the address and the subject. A contact is quicker to pick from a list than to spell out loud.
  3. Click in the body of the email.
  4. Press the Microphone key if your keyboard has one, or your Dictation shortcut, or choose Edit, Start Dictation.
  5. Talk. In supported languages, Apple adds commas, periods and question marks for you.
  6. Stop with the Escape key, the Microphone key or the shortcut. Apple says Dictation also stops by itself after 30 seconds with no speech.
  7. Read it before you press Send. Apple underlines ambiguous words in blue, for example "flour" when you meant "flower".

On a Mac with Apple silicon, Apple says you can keep using the keyboard while you speak. So you can fix a word as you go, without stopping.

How to dictate in Gmail on a Mac

Gmail in Safari or Chrome is a page with a text box, and Apple's Dictation works anywhere you can type. So the steps are the same as in Mail. Just click into the body of the message first, so your words land there and not in the search box at the top.

Google's own voice typing, by its help page, works in Google Docs and in Google Slides speaker notes and captions, and the page does not mention Gmail. So on a Mac, the simple way to talk into Gmail is the Mac's own Dictation, or a dictation app that types into any text field.

How to dictate in Outlook for Mac

Apple's Dictation works in Outlook like anywhere else. Outlook also has its own Dictate, and Microsoft gives these steps.

  1. In Outlook for Mac, start a new email or reply to one.
  2. Go to Message, Dictate, while you are signed in to Microsoft 365. You can also press Option and F1 together.
  3. Wait for the Dictate button to turn on and start listening.
  4. Talk, and the text appears.

The same Microsoft page says three more things. Dictate is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers. It needs a microphone and a reliable internet connection. And your speech is sent to Microsoft and used only to give you the text, and Microsoft says the service does not store your audio or the text.

Should you say the punctuation out loud

Both Apple and Microsoft let you speak punctuation. Here are some of the commands Apple lists for the Mac.

Say thisYou get
"comma",
"period" or "full stop".
"question mark"?
"exclamation mark"!
"new line"a new line
"new paragraph"a new paragraph

Microsoft's English list for Outlook has "period", "comma", "new line" and "new paragraph" too.

But with Auto-punctuation on, Apple already adds commas, periods and question marks in supported languages. So you have two ways to work.

  1. Let it punctuate. Talk in plain sentences, and say only "new paragraph" between your greeting, each point and your sign-off. This is what I would tell most people to do.
  2. Say every mark. Turn off Auto-punctuation in Keyboard settings, under Dictation, and say each comma and period yourself. You say more words, but every mark is the one you chose.

What makes a spoken email read like a typed one

Most of this is about how we talk, not about the app. We circle around, we repeat ourselves, and we say "um" while we think. An email asks for the opposite, so a few habits help, whatever tool you use.

  1. Know the one thing you want before you start. If the email is a question, say the question first.
  2. Say the greeting, then "new paragraph". Keep each paragraph to one idea.
  3. Pause instead of filling. A pause leaves nothing in the email. If you say "um" while you think, you may have to find it and delete it later.
  4. Check names, dates and amounts. Those are the words that matter most when they are wrong, so read them twice before you send.

If you want to say fewer ums in the first place, I wrote about that in How to Stop Saying Um.

How to tidy a dictated email with Apple's Writing Tools

If your Mac has Apple Intelligence, Apple has a tidy step built in. Select the text, Control-click it, choose Writing Tools, then Show Writing Tools. From there you can Proofread it, or Rewrite it as Friendly, Professional or Concise, or describe the change you want. Apple says Writing Tools work in most places you write, including third-party apps and websites.

How Aurator does the same job

Aurator puts those steps behind one key. Hold the dictation key, Right Option by default, talk, and let go. A moment after you release the key, the words land in Mail, Gmail or Outlook, already cleaned up. Aurator's own rules, on your Mac, take out sounds like um and uh and tidy the spacing and punctuation. A short line then shows what changed, for example "3 fillers cut, 3 words tighter." You can say "new paragraph" or "scratch that" as you go.

Three things help with email in particular.

  1. A Polished email style for Mail. Standard keeps your words. Polished email rewrites them as an email, and a per-app rule can use it in Mail while Slack stays plain. The draft is shown first, next to what you said, and Return puts it in. Aurator also refuses common slips, such as a missing "not", numbers moved around, or a date you never gave.
  2. Write for me. Hold your edit key, which you choose yourself, and say what you need, for example an email to Sam saying the meeting moved to Thursday and to bring the report. Aurator writes the whole email, shows you the draft, and Return puts it at your cursor.
  3. Edit by voice. Select a paragraph and say "make this more formal". The new version is shown first, and Return replaces it.

These three need Apple Intelligence on your Mac, or Cloud with your own Anthropic key. With Cloud off, Apple's on-device model writes the draft, and it writes simpler. With Cloud on, Claude writes it better, and your words go to your own Anthropic account, never to me.

Write for me starts out in a plain, warm voice. Once you have about thirty longer dictations, Aurator can build a guide to how you speak and write, your tone, your phrases, and how you open and close. From then on, Write for me writes in your voice, using that guide. I wrote more about it in How to Make Claude Write Like You.

And nothing goes out by itself. Aurator puts text only into the app and field where you started, and you still press Send.

Where Apple's Dictation and Outlook's Dictate are the better choice

  1. They cost nothing extra. Apple's Dictation is already on your Mac. Outlook's Dictate comes with Microsoft 365, if you already pay for it.
  2. More languages. Apple lists Dictation in many more languages than Aurator's ten, including Arabic, Hindi, Polish, Russian and Thai.
  3. Older Macs. Aurator needs macOS 26 or later and is made for Apple silicon. Apple's Mac User Guide covers Dictation in versions of macOS going back to Catalina.
  4. Outlook on other computers. Microsoft's page covers Dictate in Outlook for Windows, Outlook on the web and Outlook.com too. Aurator is Mac only.

If you write a few short emails a day, start with what is already on your Mac. It may be all you need. I wrote more about that choice in Is Apple Dictation Good Enough.

Try it on your own inbox

If you write a lot of email, and you want the ums gone as you talk and a draft you can check before Return, Aurator was made for that. It needs macOS 26 or later, and it is made for Macs with Apple silicon. Aurator is at tryaurator.app, and you can download it here. Seven days free, with every feature, then US$29 once, with a full refund within 30 days if it is not for you.

Sources, all checked on 7 October 2026