Cortana – Useful Commands and App Integration by Senthamil V

28 Jan 2015

I use Cortana a lot to do some of the reminder tasks and the activation of Apps. Nowadays there are several apps which are integrated with Cortana for the easy access. Some of the frequently used commands are below

Action to do	Cortana	Setup Required?
Set a reminder	Remind me to Water the plant at 10 am	No setup required
Set alarm	Wake me up at 8 am
Set reminder based on location	When I am at Work remind me to submit claim form	Yes, Need to add Work as favorite in Map
Set reminder based on location	Next time I am at Ikea remind me to check kitchen accessories	Yes, Ikea to be in favorites on Map (see below)
Based on Nick Name of location	When I am at Grocery remind me to check shopping list	Grocery needed to be added as a Nick name in Fav maps. (See below)
Set Reminder based on person	When my Wife call me remind me to say school teacher spoke	Yes, Set Nick Name with Inner circle
Find the song / music which is playing around us, similar to soundhound app	What’s playing right now?	Yes, Works only in US. Make sure you logged in to Xbox music in web at least once.
Take a note immediately	Note: Remember to send MOM later	No
Play the play list from Xbox Music	Play <playlist> name	Playlist to exist in xbox music
Finding a restaurant	Find best Indian Restaurant near me	No
Finding restaurant which is open at the time of asking Cortana.	Find restaurant that is open now near me	No
Find specific place	Is there a Starbucks near me?	No
Money conversion	Convert 1 Singapore dollar to Indian rupee	No
Calling nick names	Call Boss Mobile	Yes, make sure Boss nick name added in inner circle. Learn More
Calling on speaker mode	Call wife on speakerphone	Wife to be a nick name. Learn More

Action to do	Cortana	App Name
Use Facebook command, to see news feed from a person	Facebook what’s up with Joel Oleson	Facebook
To check the next MRT train in Singapore	Sing MRT open Jurong East	SingMRT
Skype call	Skype video call Senthamil	Skype
Remote desktop connection	Remote Desktop connect Production Server	Remote Desktop. Make sure Production Server is created in the connection list
Lync meeting	Lync join next meeting Lync show current meeting	Lync
Create new tweet	Twitter new tweet	Twitter

How to get Music Playing which is around us (like soundhound App)

Launch the Cortana by tapping the search button

The music icon on the top right corner. If you cannot see this try logging into the xbox music both on phone and in web and restart the phone. Also it is available only in US. You can also use the text to type “Whats playing right now?” in the search text.

How to add Favorite Location, to be able to use in Location based reminder by Cortana

Launch the Maps app. Tap on the … menu on the bottom of the Maps app. You would see Favorite places option. Tap that to add your favorite places.

The favorites will have + icon at the bottom of the page. Use the + to add your favorite place.

Once you tap + icon the below screen will appear. Type the place you want it to search. Once you find the place select it from the drop down. This will pop up the next screen for Nick Name.

You can choose whether the place is Home or work or other. If you choose Home it will tag it to home and Cortana can use Home for reminder and other info. Same as Work. Other option is to have custom Nick Name for the place. Example in my case I usually tag the NTUC to be Super Market and Mustafa to be Grocery. The Nick name used here can be used by Cortana to assign reminder.