Google Workspace has become an integral part of everyone’s digital lives when it comes to accessing emails, writing detailed notes, and storing crucial documents.
Google Docs has become a daily part of my workdays to the point where I simply can’t live without it. When the time arrives for me to cook up a first draft for a future article, build a list of all the video games I’ve beaten this year, or put together a new cover letter, I dive right into Docs to get the job done.
A slew of additional AI-powered updates have recently been added to Google Workspace, including conversational voice features, an image generation and editing app called Google Pics, AI inbox management for Google AI Plus and Pro subscribers, and Gemini Spark, a 24/7 personal AI agent within the Gemini app.
On the AI voice front, Google Docs users can take advantage of a Docs Live-enabled feature that lets them speak into an empty Google Doc and have their words turned into readable text.
Using it to jot down emails while making them sound more human and grammatically polished is a great way to work. Here’s how to make that process work for you.
Writing emails by voice
Once you open a blank document in Google Docs, navigate to the top menu and select Tools. From there, scroll down and activate the Voice Typing option.
As a simple keyboard shortcut, you can use Ctrl + Shift + S on Windows and Cmd + Shift + S on Mac to enable the Voice Typing feature.
After granting Google Docs permission to use your microphone, click the language drop-down menu beneath the microphone icon and select the language you'll be speaking. This ensures Docs can accurately transcribe your speech. Once you've selected your language, click the microphone icon and speak your email message aloud.
To make the Docs Live voice-enabled AI feature properly follow your format, use vocal punctuation commands like "period," "comma," "new paragraph," and "question mark" to add the appropriate structure you need to your email.
A slew of other working punctuation commands you can rely on include the following:
- "New line"
- "Hyphen"
- "Colon"
- "Semicolon"
- "Quotation mark"
- "End quotation mark"
- “Open parenthesis"
- "Close parenthesis"
- "Create bulleted list"
- "Start numbered list"
- "Exit bulleted list"
Once you've completed your spoken email, make any edits you see fit and tap into Gemini — which appears as an icon at the bottom of your newly filled-in document, to make additional changes based on the prompts you provide.
Once your email is fully polished, it's as easy as copying and pasting it into a ready-to-send Gmail message.
Bottom line
Docs Live is a handy, AI-powered tool designed for writers who want to capture ideas, draft articles, and pull content from the web and Google Workspace documents — all using voice commands.
It also makes composing emails for personal and professional use effortless through its Voice Typing feature in Google Docs.
