Are you still wondering the best way to interact with Cortana using voice commands? Here’s perhaps everything you can ask the assistant.
Microsoft’s digital assistant can perform a range of tasks, and it’s really packed with handy tricks, but perhaps one of the better features may be the advanced speech recognition that allows Cortana to understand the context of a natural voice conversation.
On Windows 10, and across platform with the Cortana app on iPhone and Android, the assistant can understand virtually any voice command and perform tasks. For example, by simply speaking you can find facts, create reminders and manage your calendar, launch applications, change settings, and even more.
If you’re searching for an official directory of all the voice commands Cortana supports, you won’t find it – it doesn’t exist. Because Cortana can understand natural language and context, there is absolutely no particular set of commands to help make things happen. Like in the real world, you are able to ask Cortana in the same manner you’d ask anything to anybody.
Comprehensive number of Cortana voice directions on Windows 10
Obtaining the time for any location”What time is it?”
“What time is in (location)?” Ex.: “What time is in Los Angeles” or “What time is in Spain?”Getting weather information for any location
“What’s the weather like?”
“What’s the weather in (location)?” Ex.: “What’s the weather in France?” or “What’s the weather in Miami?”
“When does the sun set?”
“Is it hot in (location)?” Ex.: “Is it hot in Hawaii?”
“How’s the weather looking for tomorrow/next week?”
Opening (Store and desktop) apps and websites
“Go to/Open (app name).” Ex.: “Open Mail” or “Go to Photoshop.”
“Go to/Open (name of site.com).” Ex.: “Open Microsoft.com.”
Getting news information
“Show me top headlines.”
“Show me latest news.”
“Show me (topic) news.” Ex.: “Show me tech news.”
“Show me (business name) stock.” Ex.: “Show me Microsoft stock.”
“Show me (currency) exchange rate.” Ex.: “Show me bitcoin exchange rate.”
“What was the score of the last (sport team’s name) game?” Ex.: “What was the score the last New York Jets game.”
Creating a note
“Create a note.”
“Create (name) note.” Ex.: “Create Shopping note.”
“Create (name) note: (your note).” Ex.: “Create Shopping note: Buy 2 gallons of milk.”
“Take a note.”
“Draft a note.”
“Write a note.”
Translating to a different language
“Translate.”
“Translate (word) to (language).” Ex.: “Translate Hello to Spanish.”
“Translate (phrase) to (language).” Ex.: “Translate Where is the near bar? to German.”
Doing math
“What’s (percentage) of (money)?” Ex.: “What’s 20% or $145.67?”
“What’s (number) times (number)?” Ex.: “What’s 36 times 52?”
“What’s the square root of (number)?” Ex.: “What the square root of 786?”
“What’s (number) times (number) divided by (number)?” Ex.: “What’s 47 times 5 divided by 89?”
“Convert (number) cups to fluid ounces.” Ex.: “Convert 2.9 cups to fluid ounces.”
“How many miles in (number) Kilometers?” Ex.: “How many miles in 14 Kilometers?”
Defining a word
“Define (word)” or “What’s the meaning of (word)?” Ex.: “Define Love.”
Tracking packages
“Where is my package?”
“Show me my packages.”
Cortana search voice commands
Finding documents, photos, videos
“Find photos from yesterday” or “Find documents from last week” or “Find videos from (date).” Ex.: “Find videos from June 2014.”
“Find (object) photos” Ex.: “Find dog pictures.”
“Find file (name)” or “Find document named (document name).” Ex.: “Find document called Windows 10.”
Searching the web
“Search the web for (term)” Ex.: “Search the web for Microsoft.”
Finding facts
“How tall is (known person/landmark)?” Ex.: “How tall is Mount Everest?”
“Who is (known person)?” Ex.: “Who is Bill Gates?”
“When (known person) was born?” Ex.: “When Bill Gates was born?”
“Who is (company) CEO?” Ex.: “Who is Microsoft’s CEO?”
“When does summer/fall/winter/spring begin?”
“What’s the capital of (location)?” Ex.: “What’s the capital of France?”
“When is Thanksgivings?”
It’s important to note that Cortana is capable of conversational understanding, meaning that you can also ask follow-up questions without having to be very specific.
One example is, if you ask Cortana: “Who is the president of the United States”, you can then ask a follow-up question, such as “Who is his wife?” or “When was he born?” and the assistant will be able to answer to this question accurately.