Compose, reply, and send emails 3x faster by dictating instead of typing. Works with Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and every email client on macOS.
Email is one of the biggest time sinks in the modern workday. The average professional spends 2.5 hours per day on email, much of that spent slowly typing out replies, crafting messages, and editing drafts. What if you could cut that time by two-thirds?
With Steno, you can dictate emails at the speed of natural speech. Instead of typing at 40-60 words per minute, you speak at 130-150 WPM and your words appear instantly in any email client. No switching apps, no copy-pasting. Just hold a key, talk, and release.
Download Steno from stenofast.com and run through the 30-second onboarding. Grant microphone and accessibility permissions when prompted. Choose your hotkey (the default Right Option key works great for most people).
Open Gmail in your browser, Apple Mail, Outlook, or any email app. Click "Compose" or "Reply" to place your cursor in the text field. Steno works anywhere there is a text cursor on macOS.
Press and hold your Steno hotkey. Speak your email in a natural, conversational tone. You do not need to speak slowly or robotically. Steno uses Whisper, the same AI that powers ChatGPT's voice features, to understand natural speech with high accuracy.
When you release the key, Steno transcribes your speech and types it directly into the compose field. The text appears at your cursor position, just as if you had typed it yourself.
Say "new line" to start a new line, "new paragraph" for a paragraph break, "period" for a period, "comma" for a comma. These voice commands let you structure your email without touching the keyboard.
"Hi Sarah comma new paragraph Thanks for sending over the Q3 report period I reviewed the numbers and everything looks solid period The revenue projections for the Southeast region are especially promising period new paragraph Could we schedule a 30 minute call this Thursday or Friday to discuss next steps question mark I'd like to align on the timeline before we present to the board period new paragraph Best comma new line David"
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for sending over the Q3 report. I reviewed the numbers and everything looks solid. The revenue projections for the Southeast region are especially promising.
Could we schedule a 30 minute call this Thursday or Friday to discuss next steps? I'd like to align on the timeline before we present to the board.
Best,
David
That entire email took about 25 seconds to dictate. Typing it would have taken 2-3 minutes. Over the course of a day with 30+ emails, the time savings compound dramatically.
For a professional handling 30 emails per day, switching to voice dictation saves approximately 1.5 to 2 hours daily. Over a work week, that is nearly an entire workday reclaimed.
Take a two-second pause to organize your thoughts before holding the hotkey. Unlike typing, where you can think as you go, voice dictation works best when you have a clear idea of what you want to say. Even a brief mental outline (greeting, main point, action item, closing) makes a noticeable difference.
You do not need to dictate the entire email in one go. Dictate the greeting, release, review. Then dictate the body, release, review. This gives you natural checkpoints to catch any errors before moving on.
Set up text snippets in Steno for your email signature, common greetings, or frequently used phrases. Say a short trigger phrase and Steno expands it into your full snippet.
If you need to adjust the tone of your dictated email from casual to formal (or vice versa), Steno's Smart Rewrite feature can rephrase your text while keeping the meaning intact. Perfect for when you need to send a polished message to a client.
Steno works in every macOS application that accepts text input. There is no plugin to install or extension to enable. Some of the most popular email clients people use with Steno include:
Because Steno types at the system level, it does not matter which app you use. If you can place a cursor there, Steno can type there.
For short replies (one to two sentences), Steno is incredibly efficient. Hold your hotkey, say "Sounds good comma I'll send the deck over by end of day period Thanks exclamation point", and you are done. What might take 30 seconds of typing takes 5 seconds of speaking.
For longer emails that require explanation, context, or multiple action items, voice dictation truly shines. You can speak your thoughts at a natural pace, and Steno handles the transcription with high accuracy. The key is to use "new paragraph" voice commands to structure your response into readable blocks.
If you send personalized outreach emails, combining Steno's dictation with text snippets is a powerful workflow. Set up a snippet for your standard template, then dictate the personalized parts. You can send twice as many personalized emails in the same time.
Yes. Steno works in any macOS application including Gmail in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or any browser. Simply click into the email compose field, hold your hotkey, speak, and release. There is no extension or plugin required.
Most people type at 40-60 WPM but speak at 130-150 WPM. With Steno, you can draft a standard email in 30-60 seconds instead of 3-5 minutes. Over a full day of email, that adds up to 1-2 hours saved.
Steno's Whisper-based transcription adds basic punctuation automatically based on your speech patterns. You can also use explicit voice commands like "period", "comma", "question mark", and "exclamation point" for precise control over punctuation placement.
Absolutely. Steno works in every macOS app that accepts text input, including Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, Spark, Airmail, and any other email client. No configuration needed.
Voice dictation for email is one of the fastest ways to reclaim hours in your day. Once you experience the speed of speaking your emails instead of typing them, going back feels impossibly slow. Check out our guides on responding to Slack with voice and taking meeting notes for more ways to use Steno in your daily workflow.
Download Steno and compose your first email in under 60 seconds. Free to try on macOS.
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