Amazon Echo's Alexa now works with your Office 365 calendar

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
published

Amazon Echo is getting even friendlier for anyone who depends on Microsoft to manage their calendars. After extending Calendar support for Outlook accounts earlier in February, Amazon Echo's Alexa now supports Office 365 calendars as well (via TechCrunch).

Alexa Calendars

As with Outlook, getting started with Alexa and your Office 365 account is pretty simple stuff. Just head into Calendar section of the settings in either the Alexa app or website (opens in new tab). Once there, you'll have the option to connect a Google or Microsoft account. Just tap or click on Microsoft and you'll be prompted to log in and grant the necessary permissions.

Using an Amazon Echo with Windows 10 is easy!

Before Outlook and Office 365 Calendar, only Google's Calendar service was supported. In other words, this is a pretty big deal for anyone who lives in the Microsoft ecosystem either for work or personal use. Once integrated, you can query Alexa about what's on your agenda for the day, or even add new events.

See at Amazon (opens in new tab)

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. 

21 Comments
  • How I wanted Cortana to be expanded to those horizons before Alexa happened
  • I was in that boat too, but Alexa is pretty amazing. Her accuracy of voice input and reliability seem to be way ahead of Cortana. Maybe that is just because of the quality of the microphone but Cortana only responds 70-80% of the time for me and on the first run, often replies with "the internet and I aren't communicating right now".
  • I keep hoping they'll release an echo dot-like device that you can plop in your living room and use Cortana for all your Microsoft devices and services. That said, I switched to an iPhone a few months ago and Siri is really making me suffer. She's unbelievably stupid compared to Cortana.
  • Atleast apps and system UI doesn't crash on iOS. Or, do they?
  • Umm, yes they do. Apps more than system UI, but even that crashes periodically. Apps on iOS are a crap shoot. Half the stuff in the store hasn't been updated in years and when you install it, you get a warning that it may slow down the phone. When you see that message, you're a lot more likely to see crashes. My iPhone 7 Plus has only become less stable and reliable the longer I've had it. Sometimes the camera just launches to a black screen. Sometimes the whole internet stops responding until I reboot. Sometimes the GPS function just spins and spins and spins trying to find directions. It's maddening.
  • Wow. Didn't know that. Thanks for the info though, hope you find your way to Win10 soon. I actually love the apps on Windows store. It has all the apps one basically needs for a smart smartphone. And Win10 UI is the most elegant, I feel. Also they should have never stopped adding new features to Cortana, which would have made Windows Phones a complete package.
  • I agree the Windows 10 UI is best, especially on mobile, where it makes a lot of tasks MUCH easier. The app gap is a genuine problem in a lot of areas though, and it's what drove me to get an iPhone in the first place. Unfortunately, iOS has at least as many drawbacks as strengths.
  • Agreed. The same can be said for Windows and Android as well.
  • Same. Idk if it has it already but if Alexa has a way to send sms and email from 950 and w10 and ms lost a sale from me bc there is no reason for me to wait for a similar Cortana device. I was waiting for homehub, and although I see advantages for multiple users, it's just be so it's n/a. Ms moves SOOOOO slow
  • In hardware, I agree. They are moving at a glacial pace. Software updates are a rocket ship, though. Nobody else out there is updating their OS's with the speed MS is. Nobody.
  • Yea, I meant hardware. Although, I do believe it's fair to say, in a number of matters, Microsoft is/was behind so they have to update their o.s. at a faster pace to catch up to feature parity/ironing out bugs that other o.s. don't seem to struggle with or already have deeply implemented. In this case, a Cortana-dot device and homehub is a hardware and software combo that should have been done. I often think we see obvious inventions that ms should have before they do.
  • Like what? Microsoft is YEARS ahead of osx with Windows 10, and decades ahead of Linux in many regards. Sure , there might be a feature or two (bash was a glaring hole, now plugged), but by and large Windows is the most flexible, powerful user facing os on the market and has been for quite awhile
  • I can't believe people are actually buying this thing.
  • What's funny is that I couldn't see myself buying one of these.  But I won one at a Christmas party and with zero expectations this thing is pretty nice.  I use if for simple things.  Like, play my music.  What's the weather for today in my area or somewhere I might be traveling to.  Tell me a joke.  Set a timer.  Let's play Jeapordy.  And other random questions.  I would say it's very useful.  It's a shame Microsoft didn't parlay their Kinect with Cortana or Xbox into something like this.  Again, it's pretty nice once you start to use it.  So, to answer your post; I'd buy one now after using it for the past 2+ months. 
  • Agreed. especially Xbox One Kinect and Cortana. The hardware is all there to make this happen. Why doesn't it? Who knows? Then again, maybe it will.
  • I couldn't either until I got one at a ridiculous price.  Now that I have it I had to get two more.  They are amazingly useful and convenient.  The first few months I didn't really know what to do with mine, but once it was in my kitchen it quickly grew in use, and adding a second one at my bedside made it so I basically use them any time I'm home for lots of common tasks and queries.
  • I keep mine in the kitchen as well.  It is very useful.  Tell it to set a 10 minute timer, etc.  It's a VERY COOL device.  It's too bad Microsoft hasn't developed something this special.   Edit:  Some idiot voted us down.  But the jokes on them!  The Echo is a solid very USEFUL device!
  • In my opinion the kitchen is the natural habitat for an Echo.  I use the full featured one there for timers, questions, recipes, music, news and so on.  Works great and its so intuitive people use it frequently besides just me.  The secondary location I found most useful was bedside.  I have a Dot there with a bluetooth speaker for space reasons.  It has completely replaced my alarm clock, and works great as a white noise machine ("Alexa, play Thunderstorm by the Sea").  I actually am finding it nice not to have a visible alarm clock anymore, or to check my phone.  It's alco connected to Hue lights so I can wake up and say "Alexa, turn on lamps" and soft lighting in my room turns on for hitting the restroom or any other task. It's really one of those things where when you have one the uses start growing rapidly.
  • You are so on point.  This little device (echo) is sweet.  I do wish Microsoft would join the game.  I would support a MS product.  The voice recognition is pretty good.  It gets my overwhelming two thumbs up!
  • Whats funny is that I toyed with the idea of using cheap tablets + Cortana to do a lot of this prior to the release of the Echo.  What dissuaded me was the quality of the microphones on such tablets making Cortana completely unreliable for the task.  When Echo came out I put off buying one for more than six months until I was convinced MS had no plan to enter this space in the forseeable future.  I don't think I bet wrong, and given the price I won't feel bad should MS ever create something more compelling and I decide to switch.
  • Nadella is a massive failure on the consumer side. They should be ok for 10 years or so, before the enterprise stats to go to Google too.