Improved user experience for Dictate in new Outlook for Windows and Outlook for the web

Hello, Microsoft 365 Insiders! I’m Ashay Sinha, a product manager on the Office AI team. I’m excited to share that the improved user experience (UX) for Dictate is now available in the new Outlook for Windows and Outlook for the web, making it more powerful and easier to use.

The user experience for Dictate in the new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web has been improved.

Dictation in Outlook eliminates the need to type and helps you deliver messages easily by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (AI) through voice commands. Currently supported features Over 50 languages, Letting your thoughts flow freely changes the way you communicate.

Dictate’s improved user experience lets you pause and resume dictation, change dictation settings, and check out help documentation to troubleshoot any issues you may encounter.

Outlook message showing the dictation feature

How it works

1. Create a new email or reply to an existing conversation in Outlook.
2. Place your cursor in the message body.
3. Choose message > command.

Outlook ribbon with Dictate feature highlighted

4. Once you activate the dictation feature and start speaking, what you say will appear as text on the screen.

Scenarios to try

• Pause dictation: Selecting the microphone icon in the floating menu will pause dictation. Double-click the icon to resume dictation.
• View and change your dictation settings. Click the gear icon to see various settings options. In this dialog box, you can change the language you speak, select your preferred recording input, and turn automatic punctuation and profanity filtering on and off.
• View Dictate help content: Click here ? Clicking the icon will take you to a help article about Dictation, which will tell you how to use the feature and help you troubleshoot any issues you may encounter.

Help documentation supporting the Dictate feature

Tips and Tricks

• You can also pause and resume dictation using: Alternative + ` (same as ~ key).
• Speak clearly and conversationally, but feel free to pause between thoughts.
• For best results, we recommend using an external microphone or headset.

Known Issues

• Not all voice commands currently available in Outlook for Windows are available in the new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web. For a list of supported commands, see: Dictate emails in Outlook.
• Some supported languages ​​are considered Preview languages ​​and may have lower accuracy or limited punctuation support. For a list of Preview languages, go to: Dictate email in Outlook And choose Supported Languages See more details.

Requirements

• A working microphone (enable microphone permissions if requested)
• Stable Internet Connection

seclusion

We do not store your voice data. Your voice content is sent to Microsoft only to provide this service, and once the transcription is complete, your audio and transcript are deleted. For more information, see: Connected experiences in Microsoft 365.

This feature is based on Microsoft Azure Speech Services and is built directly into Outlook.

effectiveness

This feature is now available to all new users of Outlook on the web and Outlook for Windows.

feedback

We want to hear from you! Click here help >feedbackPlease submit your feedback for this feature.

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