Comprehensive list of Cortana voice commands on Windows 10

By Mauro Huculak
last updated

Are you still wondering how to interact with Cortana using voice commands? Here's perhaps everything you can ask the assistant.

Cortana is your personal digital assistant fully integrated into Windows 10 designed to help you make your life easier. The more you use it, the more Cortana can learn about you, and the experience becomes more personalized and accurate.

Microsoft's digital assistant can perform a variety of tasks, and it's full of handy tricks, but perhaps one of the best features is the advanced speech recognition that enables 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 just speaking you can find facts, create reminders and manage your calendar, launch applications, change settings, and a lot more.

If you're looking for an official list of all the voice commands Cortana supports, you'll never find it — it doesn't exist. Because Cortana can understand natural language and context, there's no particular set of commands to make things happen. Like in real life, you can ask Cortana in the same way you would ask anything to any person.

But, we want you to have an understanding of all the various ways in which you can address Cortana, at least to give you a basis to form your vocabulary.

How to use Cortana with voice commands

Before you can dive into the voice commands, it's important to know the ways in which you can invoke Cortana using natural language:

  • You can click the microphone icon in the taskbar next to the Start menu.

  • You can use the Shift + Windows Key + C keyboard shortcut to open Cortana in listening mode.

  • You can use the "Hey Cortana" feature, which let you invoke the assistant by simply saying "Hey Cortana" followed by the command. For example, "Hey Cortana: How's the weather?". It's not enabled by default on Windows 10, but it's easy enough to enable Hey Cortana.
  • On Windows 10 Mobile devices, you can press and hold the search button to open Cortana in listening mode.

Comprehensive list of Cortana voice commands

The following list of commands are examples you can use to learn how to control Cortana with voice commands. Keep in mind that there isn't a specific way to speak the commands. For example, "Hey Cortana: Let me listen to some tunes" is the same as asking a more systematic command like "Hey Cortana: Play music".

Cortana basic voice commands

Getting 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 (company 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, which means that you can also ask follow-up questions without having to be very specific.

For example, 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 should be able to answer to those question accurately.

Discovering food places nearby

  • "Find food places near me."
  • "Find restaurants near me."
  • "Find bars near me."
  • "What's a good restaurant near me?" or "What's a good restaurant in (location)?" Ex.: "What's a good restaurant in Manhattan?"
  • "What's interesting nearby?"
  • "Show me (food) near me." Ex.: "Show me Chinese restaurants near me."
  • "Show me (food) in (location)." Ex.: "Show me Italians restaurants in New York."

Cortana health and fitness voice commands

  • "How was my sleep last night?"
  • "What was my step count yesterday?"
  • "How many calories did I burn today?"

Note: These commands require a tracking device, such as the Microsoft Band 2 to enable your fitness and health activities, and you need to connect Cortana with the Microsoft Health (Microsoft Band) service.

Cortana settings voice commands

Opening the Settings app

  • "Open Settings."
  • "Open Action Center."

Controlling settings

  • "Turn on/off Bluetooth" or "Disable/Enable Bluetooth."
  • "Turn on/off Wi-Fi" or "Disable/Enable Wi-Fi."
  • "Turn on/off Airplane Mode" or "Disable/Enable Airplane Mode."

Cortana reminders voice commands

Creating reminders

  • "Remind me to (action)." Ex.: "Remind me to wash the car."

Creating location-based reminders

  • "Remind me to (action) next time I go to the (location)." Ex.: "Remind me to buy eggs next time I go to Target."

Creating person-based reminders

  • "Remind me to (action) next time I talk to (person)." Ex.: "Remind me to ask for vacation time next time I talk to Kevin."

Creating time-based reminders

  • "Remind me to (action) at (time)." Ex.: "Remind me to watch the soccer game at 8 PM."
  • "Remind me to (action) for the party (date and time)." Ex.: "Remind me to buy the drinks for the party on Thursday at 6 PM."

Viewing reminders

  • "Show me my reminders."

Cortana calendar voice commands

Viewing calendar events

  • "How's my schedule looking today?"
  • "Show me my schedule for today/tomorrow/next week" or "Show me my appointments for today/tomorrow/next week."
  • "When is my (event name) appointment?" Ex.: "When is my dentist appointment?"

Adding new calendar events

  • "Add (event) appointment for (time and date)" or "Add business meeting for (time and date)." Ex.: "Add dental appointment for Wednesday at 4 PM."

Moving calendar events

  • "Move (event name) to (date and time)." Ex.: "Move dental appointment to Friday at 2 PM."

Cortana alarms voice commands

Creating alarms

  • "Set an alarm for (date and time)" or "Add an alarm for (date and time)." Ex.: "Set an alarm for next Monday at 4:40 AM."
  • "Set an alarm for every day at (time)." Ex.: "Set an alarm for Saturdays at 9 AM."

Viewing alarms

  • "Show my alarms" or "Show alarms."

Removing alarms

  • "Turn off the alarm for (time)" or "Cancel alarm for (date) at (time)." Ex.: "Cancel alarm for Sundays at 9 AM."

Cortana timer voice commands

Creating a timer

  • "Set a timer for (time)" or "Start timer for (time)" or "Create a timer for (time)" or "Set countdown for (time)." Ex.: "Set a timer for 10 minutes."

Note: You can only start one timer at one point in time. If there is a timer already running, Cortana will ask you to restart it with a new time.

Viewing timer

  • "Show timer."
  • "How much time is left on the timer?"

Canceling timer

  • "Stop timer."

Cortana location voice commands

Knowing your exact location

  • "Tell me where am I?"

Cortana messaging voice commands

Sending text messages

  • "Send text to (contact): (message)." Ex.: "Send text to John: I'll be late for dinner tonight."

Sending quick emails

  • "Send email to (contact): (message)." Ex.: "Send email to Claudia: I quit! Just kidding. See you later tonight."
  • "Send email to (contract one and contact two): (message)." Ex.: "Send email to John and Claudia: How is the project coming along?"

Cortana location voice commands

Getting directions

  • "What's the traffic like on the way home?"
  • "How do I get home."
  • "How long would it take to drive to (location)?" Ex.: "Ex.: "How long would it take to drive to Madison Square Garden?"
  • "Get me directions to (location/address)." Ex.: "Get me directions to Port Authority."
  • "How do I get from (location) to (location)" Ex.: "How do I get from my location to Long Beach, New York?"
  • "How far away is (location)?" Ex.: "How far away is the moon?"
  • "Show me walking directions to (location/address)." Ex.: "Show me walking directions to the nearest gas station."
  • "Show me public transportation directions to (location/address)." Ex.: "Show me public transit to 11 Times Sq, New York, NY 10036."
  • "Show me map of (location)." Ex.: "Show me map of San Francisco."

Tracking flights

  • "Track flight (flight number)." Ex.: "Track flight 2049."
  • "Is my flight delayed?" or "Is my flight on time?"

Cortana entertainment voice commands

Controlling music

  • "Play (artist)." Ex.: "Play Linkin Park."
  • "Play (genre)" or "Put some (genre) music." Ex.: "Put some Rock music."
  • "Play music" or "Shuffle music."
  • "Play (album name) by (artist)." Ex.: "Play A Thousand Suns by Linkin Park."
  • "Stop music" or "Pause music" or "Pause song."
  • "Play next" or "Next track" or "Skip track."

Identifying what's playing

  • "What is this song?" or "What's playing?"

Movies

  • "What's (movie name) run time?" or "How long is (movie name)?" Ex.: "What's Goodfellas run time?"
  • "Who was the director for (movie name)?" Ex.: "Who was the director of Casino?"
  • "What movies are playing near me?"
  • "What are the showtimes for (movie)?" Ex.: "What are the showtimes for The Intern?"

Cortana technical support voice commands

  • "How do I install a printer?"
  • "How do I project my screen?"
  • "How do I change my background?"
  • "How do I update Windows?"
  • "How do I make a backup?"
  • "How do I change default apps?"
  • "How do I change Privacy?"
  • "How do I connect a wireless device?"

Note: Cortana's ability to assist you with technical question is somewhat limited; sometimes asking a "How do I" question will result in a web search response.

Cortana phone voice commands

  • "Call (contact) on speakerphone." Ex.: "Call wife on speakerphone."
  • "Call (contact) at home/work." Ex.: "Call John at home."
  • "Call (contact)." Ex.: "Call Claudia."
  • "Redial."
  • "Send photo to my PC."

Cortana random voice commands

  • "Tell me a joke."
  • "Tell me a riddle."
  • "Tell me something interesting."
  • "Tell me something funny."
  • "Tell me a scary story."
  • "Sing me a song."
  • "Surprise me."
  • "Do an impression."
  • "What do you look like?"
  • "Which is the best smartphone?"
  • "What is love?"
  • "Which is better, Google or Bing?"
  • "Why should I buy this phone?"
  • "What do you think about Google?"
  • "Do you like Google?"
  • "What do you think about Yahoo?"
  • "Do you like Windows 10?"
  • "Play the movie game."
  • "Are you better than Siri?"
  • "Where is Clippy?"
  • "What do you think about Clippy?"
  • "Heads or tails?"
  • "Rock, paper, scissors."
  • "Roll a dice."

Mauro Huculak
Mauro Huculak

Mauro Huculak is technical writer for WindowsCentral.com. His primary focus is to write comprehensive how-tos to help users get the most out of Windows 10 and its many related technologies. He has an IT background with professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA, and he's a recognized member of the Microsoft MVP community.

67 Comments
  • This is great, but when in other languages. So we finally get full feature phone/pc that also talks together, (hint : notifications)
  • My favourite "What is Clippy doing ?"
  • This is much appreciated.  Not knowing what the commands are has been one of the biggest barriers to using Cortana for me.  I'm unwilling to randomly ask things and have them fail when I can just do it the old fashioned way first time.  So this is wonderful.  I've often wondered if a MS page exists for this, but I have never been able to find it.  It would be a great tool for them for user discovery.
  • Just ask Cortana for "Help" and ist shows a list of commands, although I don't know if it is a complete list.
  • Yep, that was useful to start with but it isn't very granular.
  • I hope more offline commands
  • Indeed! We need more offline capabilities like it used to with WP8 back then. Also Cortana that don't crash when having voice commands on W10M.
  • Did you mean "Write a Note" when you typed "White a Note"?
  • Cortana capabilities are not limited. there are more of it. In India, I have taught Cortana to greet me with "NAMASTE".
  • How? By writing that in the "how should I call you" space?
  • set your region India, set Speech setting to English (India). After the setting has taken effect, say NAMASTE Cortana, Cortana will reply with Namaste followed by your name.
  • Good one!
  • I can see only English(United States) in speech.How to enable English India?
  • Just greet Cortana with "Namastey" and she will do the same also with image from shutterstock. You must belong to india to be greeted by Namaste 
  • Waiting for MS to let me enable Cortana without US region/language...
  • You can do that if you've installed the Anniversary Update, just go Cortana's settings and set Cortana's language.
  • Nice article.. Please check the below for Typo.. "White a note."
    "Search the web for (term)" Ex.: "Search the web from Microsoft."
    "Who is (known person)?" Ex.: "Who is Bill Games?"    
  • I just trained it to tell me how to get richer and it's doing quite well so far...all part of my manual machine learning instructions to Cortana.
  • The issue isn't the commands. It's the fact it is slower than doing everything manually, and the voice recognition is still terrible. Xbox one, pc, and phone, Cortana, like siri, is terrible.
  • Disagree.. it's fast on my Nokia 1520 and surface pro 2... you might be using junk... not sure. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android.. But waiting for the HP Elite so I can get rid of this junkie Galaxy S5...
  • 1520, icon, 950, 640, pc with 4790k, 16gb ddr3 2133, surface pro 2? Hardware isn't the issue. it's that i can type faster than she can listen, and more accurately.    
  • It does listen you nicely. I never had issue with recognising command since last 6 months. Used it for both regions U.S. as well as India.
  • Cortana's response time more or less depends on your internet speed.  
  • Of course. My fibre line is pretty fast though.
  • Ok, so it isn't your connection, so then what do you consider slow? ​On an Atom 8" Tablet, 'Hey Cortana', Respone time, < 1 Second - Answer < 1 Second 
    (WiFi - Fiber)
    ​
    On Lumia 928 (1607 Build) 'Hit Button on Bluetooth' - Response time 1-2 Seconds - Answer 1-2 Seconds*
    (Over LTE Connection)
    ​
    On Lumia 950 (1607) < 1 Second - Answer < 1 Second
    (Over LTE Connection)
    ​
    On Lumia 735 (1607) <1 Second - Answer < 1 Second
    ​(Over WiFi Connection) These are the ones I grabbed when I saw your post and did a cold test of each device. ​I'm just not seeing 'slow'.   ​I will concede that with WM10 10586.xxxx (1511 Build) - Cortana was horribly slow on most devices.
  • Didn't realize you were on Windows Central as well :)
  • Anywhere I can annoy people. ;)
  • I'm most disturbed that of all music the author chose "Linkin Park" :)
  • Filtering (like your Obama example) also works with Food places. Once you ask for Chinese restaurants near you, you can ask (if Cortana knows the answer) "which ones are open now" for example.
  • As I found out from a tweet by Jez, Cortana only has the health integration in the US :( Big shame since the UK has access to the same data if you use MS Health and a Band or Band 2 - Although the MS Health stuff does look to be on it's way out if the Band is going with all other companies having their own health platforms there's no real reason for MS Health to continue other than to support Band 2 owners.
  • Quite a lot of them are not working in French...the "most advanced AI on the market" keeps launching music from my playlist or launch Bing searches for everything ... So frustrating
  • Great comprehensive writeup... thanks. Seems to me this also highlights one of the issues with digital assistants right now. There's still somewhat of a learning curve. Every so often I'll try something with Cortana that *should* work, but instead just redirects me to a Bing search because I used a (common) synonym for a single word in the query. I'm sure it'll get better over time, but none of them are really ready for prime time quite yet because of this.
  • I thought I mentioned "Send photo to my PC" previously? Or was it another site? Hmm...
  • Great write-up! Question for anyone out there, I have "Hey Cortana" turned on on my phone, then turned it on on my work PC when I upgraded, but if I have both next to each other and say "Hey Cortana" they both wake up. Any way around this that I'm not aware of? I turned it off on my PC for now.
  • Of course, this doesn't include the app specific commands developers can register, which is a fantastic capability of Cortana. Miss that on Android.
  • Nice, we need articles like this. I hope Cortana gets dozens of commands and features in 6-12 months.
  • Nice to see a list of these commands published, but frustrating as well. I live in Canada and not all of these commands work in Canada. I don't know what Microsoft's problem is, but various commands such as Timer, show me headlines/latest news and tracking packages only trigger web searches for those terms when my region is set to Canada.  Changing region to USA allows these commands to work, but obviously affects other aspects of my phones and surface undesirably. I can't understand why I have to toggle my location to allow Cortana to set a timer. That shouldn't be a location related function. Also, for the average Canadian using a Windows computer/phone, they'll never think to change that setting.  They'll just assume that their devices can't do that simple task (via a voice assistant). Seems like a simple fix for Microsoft.
  • But there is no Cortana settings if you dont set your phone language to US first..
  • Great article, I just installed Cortana on my Android device last weekend, its great to have Cortana on a mobile device, I use it more often on my Android phone than my Windows 10 PC
  • Great Stuff. Sending a link to my wife since she usually just asks me to ask Cortana.  
  • Other fun chat questions:
    "What do you think of....
    Android, iOS, iPhone, Google Now."
  • I just used Cortana to turn on my Bluetooth speaker (it has no microphone) and it worked no problem. My issue was that once it was connected, Cortana could not hear me and would not work again until I shut off Bluetooth and then everything worked normal. Any thoughts?
  • In devices cant you change how the bluetooth device captures/sends audio. You could check and make sure that voice isnt selected. Maybe?
  • In wp8.1 we could use Cortana offline. But now wp 10 requires internet. And the phones which do not support hey cortana... How can we train cortana??
  • Well, I would appreciate MS not ditching context question. E.g. on WP8.1 I could go "Find nearest restaurants" and after that "Show me how to get to the second one" or "Call the first one". On W10M this no longer works.
  • Thanks, Windows Central! This is great help tho i cant use all cortona features. ☹
  • Perhaps I missed it, but is there any way to use Cortana to type by voice in any program (word, email) as I can on the phone?
  • "Set a Timer for ..." does not work in either Windows Phone 10 or Windows 10 on the desktop.  I try this every time there is and update an it has never worrked.
  • Works from my Elite X3 with OS Build 10.0.14393.189.  The phone is a little fast but I can still keep up.
  • I am running the same build on a lumia 640XL.  Maybe it's because I'm in Canada :)
  • Same on my phones and desktop in Canada. As I commented earlier, changing the region setting to USA solves the problem, but is not how I want my devices running. Not sure why MS can't fix this simple problem.
  • Nice that cortane this Can do but when are THEy going to het cortane in Dutch. If THEy want to measure wit Apple THEy going to make Some effort. A Ferry big effort.
  • "Sing me a song." "Tell me a joke."
  • "Do an impression."
  • Why the Cortana has removed from another languages (ex. Finnish)? Could it be in English for us also? I believe that there is thousands on Finnish-spoken people, who can and will speak English and could also give commands to Cortana in English, while we waiting Finnish Cortana to be released!
  • I had same problem, I live in Mexico, and whenever I tried to download app it said it was not available for my country, until I found out last weekend a Microsoft app called "Microsoft Apps" once I installed this in my Android device, I was able to download Cortana and Bing apps, hope it helps for you too. Here is the link in case you need it: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.appmanager
  • Did they officially drop the sports predictions questions?  You used to be able to ask a question like "Who will win the Seahawks Chargers game?" and it would give you a prediction.  That seemed to vanish last year.
  • I wish there was a way to get Cortana to read some text out loud for me. Read me an e-book, or an e-mail or text that was sent to me or a webpage.  
  • "What do you think about hololens?"
  • For Indians,  Do you play cricket Tell me something about Tendulkar Do you like bollywood What about Amitabh Bachan Do you like Diwali Tell me some fact about India Do you like indian wedding Also famous dialog by Gabbar Singh "Kitney Aadmi They" When you ask "Do an impression"  Enjoy. Play with her. She knows lot more about India than you. Believe me.
  • I am often using Cortana for: - Getting direction when I'm driving - Turning on/off/setting scenes lights with Huetro  - Dialing and texting when I'm driving - Playing/changing music when I'm walking with in-ear phones - Impressing people that doesnt know that Cortana exists
  • You know what i love? I love how hilarious it is that inside the cortana app, under "Tips and Tricks" it gives you a voice command example of:
    Lists
    "Create a to-do List"
    What I find so goddamn hilarious about this is that cortana does not even support this option!!!!. Good work MS. Give us a goddamn tip that you havent even implemented!. Try this "example" out and it just creates a note. That's not a to-do list. In fact, a lot of the examples cortana gives you around 'Lists" actually do nothing except a basic Bing search! It's well known cortana has zero implementation of creating shopping or to-do lists, yet cortana itself keeps recommending you try it! absolutely hilarious. It even has a whole section called "Lists". lets see what all these commands actually do:
    Show me my shopping list  - Gives the result "best match: search the web" Show me all my lists - Gives the result "best match: search the web" Add laundry to my task list - Performs a Bing search of "add laundry to my task list" Create a to-do list - Brings up cortana "Taking a note". This is not a to-do list. this is taking a note. Two completely seperate things.
    Anyway. That's my rant over. Cortana; claiming she can do lists, when in fact she cant effing do lists.
  • Now, if only I could thank her.
  • Excellent!
  • Ah, The guide is missing one of the most important usage of 'Remind'  (Can also use the term, 'Remember')  Reminders don't have to have an action or date/place/etc associated, it can be free form information. So instead of 'Remind me to', you can use 'Remind me that XXXX is ABC' or "Remember XXXX is ABC" ​Which you can later get Cortana to read back to you by asking 'What is XXXX' By just adding information without any date/place, Cortana will keep the information and it can be used like your own personal information system when you need quick answers on things you don't always remember. (Vastly faster than even using Note/OneNote to store or lookup this information, as it is interactive, and she can read the information back to you.) Example: "Hey Cortana..."
    "​Remember my corvette license number is 8888888" "​Hey Cortana..."
    "​What is my corvette license number?"
    (Variations of license, corvette number, corvette license, etc all work.) "I found 1 reminder, My Corvette License Number is 8888888​" - Cortana Which is even cleaner if you remove the 'my' and say...
    ​"Remember Corvette License Number is 888888" ​What is Corvette License?
    "I found 1 reminder, Corvette License Number is 8888888​" - Cortana Since she can retain almost anything,  and her ability to lookup a ton of specific or personal information extends beyond just her search or web search abilities. Great for voice and having her answer with your own personal information. It also works great for quick notes when typing. This is especially handy if you use voice a lot over Bluetooth, as I can get information read into my ear about the person I see walking up to me. Hit bluetooth - "What is Jane's dog's name?"  etc. Other examples variations I have used, just to spark some ideas... ​Remember Car is parked down the street on the left.
    ​Remember my brother's favorite soda is mountain dew.
    ​Remember my mother's favorite restaurant is ABC Dinner.
    ​Remember Car's VIN is 18888888888888
    ​Remember my Dog Fred's favorite food is ABC Kibble.
    ​Remember friend Joe's middle name is Ralph.
    ​Remember Office Desktop CPU is an i5-4670
    ​Remember Spouse's Social Security Number is 888-88-8888
    Remember friend Dave's favorite food is Pizza
    ​Remember the size of my house is 2000 square feet.
    Remember pool boy's name is Jeff.     ​She can also provide reverse information, the key is using 'What is":
    "What is 888888" 
    ​"What is Jeff" (Not grammatically great, but if you find a note from Jeff, you can remember who it is.)
    "What is ABC Kibble" ​Essentially any bit of information about your life, that you don't always remember and need a quick answer. (Especially the names, and personal information that you can get from her in an instant.) Using 'remember' Cortana has moved from to being a peronsal assitant for details and information.  ​Even projects, as you can add an identifier into the reminder...  "Remember the Corbin 555 art designer's name is George Smoo" "Remember the Corbin 555 dinner theme is mimialist." Seriously, lots of good stuff, and it can also be reviewed, added, edited and deleted in Reminders.
  • PS Regarding the 'contextual' 'conversational' model of Cortana, she not only retains the 'context' from the previous question, but can stay in context over several layers of contexts and questions. Example: ​Who directed Clerks?
    -Kevin Smith
    ​Where is he from?
    -Red Bank, NJ
    ​What is the population there?       <---Note Shift to second Context
    -12445
    Does he have any kids?               <---Note Shift back to original Context
    ​-Harley Quinn Smith It is also important to note that Bing also does this, and can retain context and conversational information. 
    ​This sometimes confuses people about Bing, as it knows what your previous question was, so it sometimes looks like the results are magic and sometimes they aren't what you want if you go from looking up 'elves' to search for porn in the next search.  
  • The one voice command I really need, and had on my old N97, is "read new messages" for incomming txt messages while driving. Can't seem to find the right words to get this to work.  Any ideas if it's possible?