How do I dictate an email in Gmail?

Click in the message box and use your device's dictation: Windows key+H on Windows, Edit > Start Dictation or your Dictation shortcut on a Mac, and the keyboard microphone in the Gmail app on iPhone and Android.

Does Gmail have voice typing?

Google's Gmail help has no page on a dictation feature. You voice type in Gmail with your computer's or phone's dictation, or with an app like AudioPen that types into any text field.

Can I use Google voice typing in Gmail?

On Android, yes. Gboard's help names Gmail as an app you can talk into with the microphone at the top of the keyboard. On a computer, use Windows voice typing or Mac Dictation, or AudioPen's voice typing.

Can I make a dictated email sound more professional?

Most built-in dictation types your words as you said them. Gmail's Help me write can rework a draft from a prompt you enter. AudioPen's voice typing can rewrite what you said in a style like Formal Email before it lands in Gmail.

Guides

How to voice type in Gmail

In Gmail you talk with your computer's or phone's dictation. How to do it on each device, and how to get an email you'd actually send.

By Louis Pereira, founder of AudioPenUpdated October 14, 2026

The short answer: To voice type in Gmail, click in the message box and use your device's dictation: Windows key+H on Windows, Edit > Start Dictation on a Mac, or the keyboard microphone on iPhone and Android. It types what you said, in the order you said it. For an email that reads like you wrote it, use AudioPen's voice typing.

Google's Gmail help has no page on dictation, so voice typing in Gmail means using the dictation that came with your computer or phone. It works wherever you can type, and it's fine for “Running ten minutes late.” A real email is different. Most built-in dictation hands back everything you said, including the ums, the false starts and the sentence you began twice. You can live with that in a note to yourself. In an email to someone else, it reads badly.

Some dictation now tidies as it goes. On Copilot+ PCs, Windows corrects grammar, punctuation and filler words in English. That still leaves you with what you said, in the order you said it. An email needs the point up front and a tone that fits the person reading it. That takes a rewrite, and it's what AudioPen's voice typing does.

Dictate into Gmail on your computer or phone

1Open Gmail, start a new message or a reply, and click in the message box.
2On Windows, press Windows key+H. Microsoft says you need an internet connection and a working microphone.
3On a Mac, turn on Dictation in System Settings > Keyboard. Then press the Microphone key, use your Dictation shortcut, or choose Edit > Start Dictation.
4On iPhone, turn on Enable Dictation in Settings > General > Keyboard, then tap the microphone on the keyboard in the Gmail app. On Android, tap the microphone at the top of Gboard.
5Talk, then read the email before you send it. Mac and iPhone dictation stop on their own after 30 seconds of silence.

Where built-in dictation stops in Gmail

It writes down what you said, not the email you meant

Mac and iPhone dictation add commas, periods and question marks for you, and Gboard and Windows take spoken punctuation and “new paragraph”. None of them puts your request first, cuts the backstory or picks a tone. That's still your job after you stop talking.

Gmail's AI writer works from a prompt

Gmail's Help me write drafts and refines emails from a prompt you enter in its prompt bar, with options to formalize, make friendly or shorten. For personal Google accounts, Google lists it as available in the US only.

Where it runs depends on the device

Windows voice typing runs online, through Microsoft's speech service. Apple says iPhone dictation is processed on the phone in many languages, with no internet needed. On a Mac, Keyboard settings show whether your dictation is processed on the device, and the Dictation shortcut is one you can change.

What to use on each device

Here's the built-in way to talk into Gmail on each device, and the AudioPen way, which cleans up or rewrites what you said before it lands.

Device	Built in	With AudioPen
Windows	Built in:Windows voice typing: Windows key+H in the message box.	With AudioPen:Hold the hotkey and talk, or double-tap it to have what you said rewritten in an email style first.
Mac	Built in:Mac Dictation: your Dictation shortcut, the Microphone key, or Edit > Start Dictation.	With AudioPen:The same two hotkey modes in the Mac app. Apple Silicon Macs.
iPhone	Built in:The microphone on the keyboard, in the Gmail app.	With AudioPen:The AudioPen keyboard, in the Gmail app. It's on iPad too.
Android	Built in:The microphone at the top of Gboard, in the Gmail app.	With AudioPen:The floating AudioPen bubble, in the Gmail app.

Get an email you'd send

AudioPen's voice typing types into Gmail the way it types into any app with a text field. Click in the message box and talk. The words land right there, so you skip the copy and paste.

On a Mac or Windows computer there are two ways to use it. Press and hold the hotkey, talk, and let go, and clean, formatted text lands at your cursor. That's the one for a quick line. Double-tap the hotkey, talk, and tap it again, and AudioPen rewrites what you said in the style you picked before it types it in. That's the one for a paragraph. On iPhone, iPad and Android you talk through the AudioPen keyboard or the floating AudioPen bubble.

For email, use the rewrite. Say who it's to, what you need from them and anything they should know, in whatever order it comes out. AudioPen writes it up in the style you choose, such as Casual Email or Formal Email, or one you made from a sample of your own writing. There's more on the habit itself in how to draft emails by talking.

Each dictation lands where your cursor is and in a typing history. It never becomes a note in your AudioPen library. You choose how it transcribes: turn on the offline option in the Mac, Windows, iPhone or Android app and the audio never leaves your device, or use cloud transcription, where the audio isn't saved. The rewrite step runs in the cloud, and nothing from it is stored.

The free plan includes voice typing with a limited number of sessions, and every writing style, including the ones you make. AudioPen Prime makes voice typing unlimited.

Tips for emails you talk out

Lead with the ask. Saying what you need from the person first gives the email its first line.
Say who you're writing to by name. It's the easiest way to get the greeting right.
Talk for a minute, not five. If an email needs more than that, it may be two emails.
Read it once before you send. Names, dates and numbers are worth checking whatever you dictate with.
On iPhone and iPad, set the AudioPen keyboard as your default keyboard so it's there when you reply. On Android, the bubble shows up whenever your keyboard does.