The Email Productivity Problem
The average professional sends 40 emails per day and spends 28% of their workweek on email. That's more than 11 hours every week — just on email. If you type at the average speed of 40 words per minute, a 200-word email takes about 5 minutes to compose. Multiply that by 40 emails, and you're spending over 3 hours a day just typing messages.
What if you could cut that to 45 minutes?
Speaking vs Typing: The Speed Difference
The average person speaks at 130-150 words per minute but types at only 35-45 words per minute. That's roughly a 3-4x speed difference. In practice, voice typing email with a tool like Scrybapp lets most people compose emails about 4x faster than typing — and the quality is often better because you're expressing your thoughts naturally.
Here's what a typical email workflow looks like:
| Method | 200-word email | 40 emails/day | Weekly total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typing (40 WPM) | 5 min | 3.3 hours | 16.5 hours |
| Voice (120 WPM) | 1.7 min | 1.1 hours | 5.5 hours |
| Time saved | 3.3 min | 2.2 hours | 11 hours |
That's 11 hours saved per week. An entire working day recovered, just by speaking your emails instead of typing them.
Setting Up Voice Email on Mac
Step 1: Install Scrybapp
Download Scrybapp and set it up in under 2 minutes. It works with every email client — Apple Mail, Gmail in the browser, Outlook, Spark, Superhuman, or any other app.
Step 2: Configure Your Shortcut
The default shortcut is Option + Space. This works well because it's easy to reach and doesn't conflict with most email app shortcuts.
Step 3: Start Dictating
Click in the compose field of your email, press your shortcut, and start speaking. When you're done, press the shortcut again and your email appears, ready to send.
Email Dictation Techniques
The Direct Approach
For routine emails, just speak naturally as if talking to the recipient. "Hi Sarah, thanks for sending the report. I reviewed it and have a few suggestions. The market analysis section looks solid but I think we need more data on the competitor pricing in Q2. Could you pull those numbers by Friday? Let me know if you need access to the analytics dashboard. Thanks."
That entire email took about 15 seconds to dictate. Typing it would take over a minute.
The Structure-First Approach
For complex emails, dictate in sections:
- Greeting and context
- Main point or request
- Supporting details
- Action items or next steps
- Closing
Pause briefly between sections. This produces well-organized emails that read professionally.
The Reply Method
When replying to an email, read the original message first, then dictate your response. Speaking your reply as if you're having a conversation with the sender produces natural, responsive emails.
Professional Email Quality
A common concern is that dictated emails will sound too casual or contain errors. In practice, dictated emails with Scrybapp are surprisingly professional because:
- Whisper AI adds proper punctuation automatically — No need to say "period" or "comma"
- Filler words are removed — Your "ums" and "ahs" disappear
- Natural speech translates well to email — The conversational tone many businesses prefer
- Quick review before sending — Spend 10 seconds scanning instead of 5 minutes typing
Email Types That Benefit Most
Long Explanatory Emails
When you need to explain a complex situation, dictation is dramatically faster. You can articulate your thoughts clearly at speaking speed rather than laboriously typing paragraphs.
Follow-Up Emails
"Hi Tom, just following up on our conversation from Tuesday. I wanted to confirm that we're moving forward with the vendor evaluation. I'll send the evaluation criteria by end of day Thursday and schedule the review meeting for next Monday. Let me know if that timeline works for you."
Status Updates
Project updates, progress reports, and check-ins are perfect for voice typing. You know the content already — you just need to get it out of your head and into text.
Difficult or Sensitive Emails
Counterintuitively, dictation can improve the quality of difficult emails. Speaking forces you to choose your words carefully and maintain a measured tone, whereas typing can sometimes lead to impulsive word choices.
Tips for Better Email Dictation
- Read the email you're replying to first — Have your response mentally organized before you start speaking
- Speak in a professional tone — Your tone of voice influences your word choice, even in dictation
- Always do a quick review — A 10-second scan catches the rare errors
- Use voice for the draft, keyboard for edits — Dictate the message, then make minor tweaks with your keyboard
Privacy for Business Email
When dictating business emails, you're often discussing sensitive information — deals, personnel matters, strategies. Scrybapp keeps all of this private because your audio is processed entirely on your Mac. No cloud service hears your dictated emails. Learn more about why local processing matters.
Start Composing Faster Today
Email doesn't have to consume your day. Download Scrybapp and start dictating your emails. The 3-minute free trial is enough to compose several emails and experience the speed difference for yourself.