What to do if Cortana Can't Send Dictated Emails or Take Notes

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3 solutions to fix Cortana not sending dictated emails

  1. Change your regional settings
  2. Restart Cortana
  3. Fix Windows Speech Recognition

One of the most anticipated features of Windows 10 was Microsoft’s virtual assistant, Cortana. For the most part people are loving Cortana. However, there are some users complaining that they can’t send dictated emails and take notes with Cortana on Windows 10.
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Currently Cortana is only available in USA, UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and China, but Microsoft will soon expand it to Japan, Australia, Canada (English only), and India (English only). In addition Brazil, Mexico, and Canada (French) should be added on the list of supported countries in near future.

UPDATE: Cortana is now available in 13 countries.

FIXED: Cortana won’t send emails

Solution 1: Change your regional settings

If you’re not in these countries, you can’t use Cortana, but you should also know that sending dictated emails is currently enabled only for UK and US. For example, if you’re using Cortana with French or German settings, you can’t send dictated emails. However, switching your regional settings to English unlocks these features.

Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Open Settings and click on Time & Language.
  2. Then click on Region and Language from the sidebar.
  3. Find Country or region option, and select United Kingdom or United States from the list.
  4. Save the changes.

Now dictated emails and notes should work with Cortana. This little trick isn’t the best solution, especially if you don’t want to change your settings, but it’s the only workaround so far.

Microsoft has acknowledged that dictated emails are only available for English settings, and currently they are working on expanding their support for dictated emails. However, this might take a while, and we don’t know when this update will roll out.

So if you don’t want to wait for official update from Microsoft, try changing your regional settings in Windows 10 and see if this works for you. Also, if you’re confused about what Cortana can do on your computer, you can always ask her and she’ll list the all the supported features.

  • RELATED: Full Fix: Hey Cortana not Recognized in Windows 10

Solution 2: Restart Cortana

Another quick solution is to simply disable Cortana and restart your computer. Once your PC has booted up, you can re-enable Cortana and try to send an email to check if the issue persists.

Solution 3: Fix Windows Speech Recognition

Oftentimes, Cortana can’t send dictated emails due to Windows Speech Recognition problems. Here’s how you can fix that:

  1. Say ‘Stop listening to” stop Windows Speech Recognition
  2. Start Cortana > select ‘I agree’ to enable all the features of the assistant
  3. Enable Windows Speech Recognition back on by saying “start listening.”

If you have any other Windows 10-related issues you can check for the solution in our Windows 10 Fix section.

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