Dyslexia and email: making the inbox easier

Most office work now happens in an inbox. Studies suggest people spend a quarter or more of their working day on email. That is hours of reading and writing, often small texts, often badly written, and always arriving at once.

When reading takes effort, that load is real. Each message costs energy to decode. Each reply costs energy to spell and shape. By the afternoon, the inbox has eaten the day's focus.

This article collects strategies that help. Some are habits. Some are settings. Some are tools. None of them require anyone to read faster than they do.

Let the mail be read to you

The simplest change is to listen instead of read. Hearing a message takes the decoding work away. You still judge the content, but your eyes rest.

Both operating systems have a built-in way to do this.

• macOS. Open System Settings, then Accessibility, then Spoken Content. Turn on "Speak selection". Select text in any mail and press the shortcut, Option and Escape by default. You can pick a voice and a rate in the same place.
• Windows. Narrator reads the screen. Start it with Windows, Ctrl and Enter. Outlook also has a Read Aloud button under the Home tab in recent versions.

The built-in voices are fine for a short note. For long threads they get tiring, and they do not show you where they are in the text. That is where a dedicated tool helps. Zimplfy's Read aloud works on any selection, in Mail, Outlook or Gmail. Select the message and press Control, Option and R on Mac. On Windows, Ctrl, Alt and R. Then choose Read aloud. A calm voice reads it, and each spoken word is marked in yellow. Space pauses.

Listening also helps with your own drafts. Hear your reply before sending it. Missing words and odd phrasing are much easier to catch by ear.

Summarize long threads

The hardest mails are not the long ones. They are the long threads. Twelve replies, three people, two changed dates, and one question buried in the middle for you.

Reading the whole thread from the bottom is slow and easy to lose. Instead, get a summary first.

Ask yourself three questions. What is this about? What do I need to do? When? Those three answers are usually all you need. If a colleague is nearby, it is fine to ask them for the thread in two sentences.

A summarize tool answers the same three questions. Select the thread and choose Zimplfy's Summarize. You get a two-line summary and a checklist of what the text asks of you. Dates and amounts are copied exactly. Then you can read the original, already knowing what matters.

Use templates for common replies

A large share of replies are the same reply. "Thanks, I will look at this by Friday." "Yes, Thursday at 10 works." "Can you send the file again?"

Every mail program lets you save these.

• Apple Mail does not have built-in templates, but macOS text replacements work in any app. Open System Settings, then Keyboard, then Text Replacements. Type a short code like "thx1" and it expands to your sentence.
• Outlook has Quick Parts and My Templates. Write the reply once, save it, insert it with two clicks.
• Gmail has Templates under Settings, then Advanced. Turn it on and save any draft as a template.

Spend an hour building ten templates. The hour pays back within a week. Each template is a reply you never have to spell again.

Write short

Long replies cost you time and cost the reader time. Short replies are kinder in both directions.

A good email answers one question. If a thread has three questions, number your answers. Use one line each. Skip the long introduction. Start with the answer.

Here is a pattern that works for almost any reply.

1. One line of answer.
2. One line of reason or detail, if needed.
3. One line of what happens next.

That is three sentences. Most mail does not need more.

Dictate the first draft

Talking is often faster than typing, and spelling takes no energy when you speak. Dictate the first draft, then fix it.

Windows has voice typing built in. Press Windows and H in any text field and talk. macOS has Dictation too. Press the microphone key, or set a shortcut under Keyboard settings. Both write what you say, fillers and all, so expect to tidy up afterwards.

Zimplfy's Dictate takes the tidying away. Hold Control, Option and D on Mac, or Ctrl, Alt and D on Windows. Talk the way you talk. Pauses, repeats and half sentences are fine. Let go, and clean text appears, ready to paste. Say "um so the meeting tomorrow is moved to eleven" and you get "Tomorrow's meeting is moved to 11:00."

Check with a rewrite tool

Before you send, run the draft through a rewrite tool. The point is not to sound like someone else. The point is to catch spelling, fix grammar and tighten the shape, while keeping your voice.

Most rewrite tools offer a few styles. "Fix grammar only" changes nothing but the errors. "Shorter" removes filler. "Professional" is useful for a mail to a customer or a manager. In Zimplfy, select the draft and press the shortcut. Pick Rewrite and a style. Press Command and Return to replace the text. Ctrl and Enter on Windows.

Read the result before you send it. A tool can misread what you meant. You are still the author.

Settings that make mail easier to read

A few minutes in settings can make every message easier on the eye.

Font and size

• Apple Mail. Settings, then Fonts and Colors. Pick a message font and a larger size. Turn on "Use fixed-width font for plain text messages" if you find it steadier.
• Outlook. Options, then Mail, then Stationery and Fonts. Set a larger font for reading and composing. Zoom with Ctrl and the scroll wheel while reading.
• Gmail. Settings, then General, then Default text style for your own mail. For reading, use the browser zoom, Ctrl or Command and plus.

Fonts with clear letter shapes help. Atkinson Hyperlegible is free and designed for legibility. Verdana and Arial are wide and open. Avoid thin or decorative fonts.

Reading pane

Put the reading pane at the bottom, not the side. Lines are then shorter and easier to track. In Outlook: View, then Layout, then Reading Pane. In Apple Mail: View, then Use Column Layout, off.

Fewer distractions

Turn off the preview snippets in the message list. Turn off notifications. Open mail at set times instead. Each unread badge is a small pull on your attention.

Ask colleagues for shorter mails

This one is social, not technical, but it works. Tell your team how you prefer to receive mail. One question per message. The ask in the first line. Dates written out.

Many people are relieved to hear it. Nobody enjoys long email. A team that writes short mail to you writes short mail to everyone. You can make the request without explaining why. "I find short mails easier to act on" is reason enough.

A routine that holds

Put the pieces together and a routine appears.

1. Open mail at two or three set times, not all day.
2. Listen to long messages. Summarize long threads.
3. Reply from templates when one fits.
4. Dictate the rest. Rewrite it. Send it short.
5. Close the inbox.

None of this makes the inbox smaller. It makes each message cheaper. Over a day, that is the difference between a tired evening and a normal one.