How to dictate emails on a Mac
Updated
To dictate an email with Scribe on a Mac, click into the message body, hold the talk shortcut and speak. Release it to insert the text, with optional rewriting through Refine.
How do I dictate into an email?
Scribe types into the field that had focus when you pressed the shortcut. Click into the body of the message first, so the text does not land in the To or Subject line. The default talk shortcut is the right Option key. A floating bar shows Listening…, then the recognised words; releasing the shortcut finishes the take.
Mail uses your default tone unless you assign it a rule. Scribe chooses rules for the app in front; the docs do not describe separate rules for individual websites in a browser. Style by app explains how to set an app rule.
How do I get a formal tone?
Set your default tone to Formal under Settings › Refine › Default tone. Formal writes complete sentences with no slang. Natural, the initial default, keeps your own voice while tidying it. Choose the tone that fits the recipient; a short reply need not read like a formal letter.
You can also choose the tone for one email. Hold the talk shortcut, press ⌘ at any point during the hold, then speak the email. A Refine chip appears in the floating bar, and when you let go the bar shows Refining… while the draft is rewritten. If you say “more formal” during the dictation, that instruction wins over the default.
Refine rewrites what you said. It does not answer it. If you dictate “can you send me the report by Friday”, the email still asks for the report by Friday. If the rewrite fails or takes longer than 20 seconds, Scribe inserts the cleaned transcript instead, so you do not lose the draft.
Refine uses Apple Intelligence by default. Macs without Apple Intelligence can download the optional Gemma 4 model under Settings › Refine › Engine. Refine lists the tones and engines in full.
How do I change one sentence by voice?
Select the sentence in the email first. Then hold the talk shortcut, press ⌘ and say what to change, for example “shorter”, “make it a list” or “fix the typos”.
The floating bar shows Say what to change. Let go when you finish the instruction; the bar shows Editing…, then the result replaces the selection. If the change cannot be made, the selection stays as it was and the bar says so.
If you select text, hold the shortcut, press ⌘ and say nothing, Scribe runs the default Refine on that selection.
How do I stop retyping my sign-off?
Make a snippet. Open Settings › Snippets, enter a short phrase you would not say by accident, such as “my sign-off”, then enter the full sign-off with line breaks where you need them.
Say the phrase on its own while dictating and the text goes in exactly as you wrote it, with Refine skipped so nothing is reworded. Say it inside a sentence, such as “thanks, my sign-off”, and the phrase is swapped for the snippet in the final text while the rest of the sentence is still refined.
Scribe for iPhone keeps its own Snippets list. Snippets do not sync between devices.
What if the text lands in the wrong place?
Click into the right field, then choose Paste Last Dictation from the Scribe menu in the menu bar. It inserts your most recent dictation again. The last ten dictations are also listed under Recent in the menu, and clicking one copies it.
Scribe inserts text through the clipboard and restores its previous contents after pasting. If another app has copied something in the meantime, Scribe leaves the newer clipboard contents alone. Secure password fields block synthetic paste and remain empty.
Read the draft before sending it. Check the recipient, names, dates and any wording changed by Refine. If only one phrase needs changing, select that phrase and edit it rather than dictating the whole email again. Sending remains an action in your email app.
Try it
Download Scribe for Mac and dictate a short email into a blank message. Dictate on Mac covers the floating bar and the recovery controls, and Refine explains the tones.