The Ultimate Alexa Skills Cheat Sheet: All The Commands You Need To Know

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Anyone who has ever heard of Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa knows she can do it all, from streaming the latest Cardi B song to set your thermostat at a cozy 72 degrees during these cold winter months. However, do you know how to get her to do any of that? Whether you just got an Echo device or have had it for a while, odds are you aren’t getting everything you can out of Alexa.

But you will once you read my Intense Alexa Skills Cheat Sheet. It breaks down, by category, all the skills you need to know and how to access them. And we have Echo skills for beginners and advanced, so there’s something here for everyone!

Ultimate and Must-Know Alexa Skills Cheat Sheet

Contents

1 Ultimate and Must-Know Alexa Skills Cheat Sheet

The Basics

For those new to Alexa, once you get her plugged in and you add your info into the Alexa app, here are some great commands to get you started.

If you need help: Alexa, help
If you don’t want Alexa to listen all day long: Alexa, mute
To turn Alexa back on: Alexa, unmute
To stop, play, or pause any media, whether it’s music or a video your streaming on the TV: Alexa, stop, play, pause
To change the volume on your device: Alexa, turn up/down the volume

Alarm, Timer, and Calendar

Alexa makes a great “clock” and can be used to set morning alarms, timers and more. She can also be used to manage and access your calander, but you need to link your calendar first through the app. Here is a rundown:

To find out the time: Alexa, what’s the time?
To find out the date: Alexa, what’s today’s date?
To set an alarm: Alexa, set the alarm for 7 a.m.
To snooze an alarm: Alexa, snooze
For a weekly or repeating alarm: Alexa, set a repeating alarm for 7 a.m. weekdays
To set an alarm with music: Alexa, set the 7 a.m. alarm to Bruno Mars, 24K Magic
To cancel an alarm: Alexa, cancel my 7 a.m. alarm
To cancel all alarms: Alexa, cancel all alarms
To set a timer: Alexa, set 30-minute timer
To set multiple timers: Alexa, set a 2nd timer for 15 minutes
To add to your calendar: Alexa, add an event to my calendar, Ryan’s birthday party
To check/access your calendar: Alexa, what’s on today’s calendar?

Flash Briefings

For those who like to stay connected and up to date on the latest news a Flash Briefing is great. Flash Briefings give you a quick overview of the day’s news and any other skill content you indicate that is of interest and enable in the Alexa app.

Alexa will read text herself or plays audio that is provided by the skill you enable. Your Flash Briefing can become part of your morning routine or any other time of day you choose.

To hear your Flash Briefing: Alexa, give me my Flash Briefing
To hear the news portion: Alexa, what’s the latest news?
To hear news from a specific subscription: Alexa, open USA Today
To skip to the next part of a briefing: Alexa, next
To go back to a previous part of a briefing: Alexa, previous
To pause a briefing: Alexa, pause

Traffic information and Weather

For local traffic: Alexa, how’s traffic?
For specific traffic routes: Alexa, what’s my commute like?
To find out the temperature: Alexa, what’s the current temperature?
To find out tomorrow’s weather: Alexa, will it snow tomorrow? or Alexa, do I need my umbrella tomorrow?
To get the forecast: Alexa, what’s the forecast for today/this weekend/ the next 5 days?
To find weather for a specific city: Alexa, what’s the weather in Seattle? or Alexa, what’s the 7-day forecast for Florida?

Smart Home Commands

There are tons of smart devices to pair with Alexa, including Samsung SmartThings, Philips Hue, the Nest Thermostat, Fire TV and more. Here is a look at the basic commands to get you started as well as some advanced ones.

To find and pair devices: Alexa, discover my smart home devices
To link your phone to make phone calls: Alexa, connect my phone
To enable Bluetooth connectivity to another gadget: Alexa, Bluetooth
To control lights: Alexa, turn the lights on
To control the TV: Alexa, turn the TV on
Alexa, raise the temperature 5 degrees
To control the temperature: Alexa, set the temperature to 68 degrees
To control your smart lock: Alexa, lock/unlock the front door
To control smart appliances (currently, Alexa works with GE appliances via the Geneva app and some Samsung): Alexa, tell Geneva to preheat the oven to 400

Music and TV Commands

If you have a Fire TV or love to stream music, these commands are all you need. You can use your Pandora, Prime Music, iHeart Radio or Spotify account for music. If you don’t have any accounts Alexa can still stream, but you’ll be limited.

Alexa, play my Oldies playlist
To have her play a station: Alexa, play the R & B station
To have Alexa play a song of her choice: Alexa, what’s playing?
Alexa, what’s this song?
To play music by a specific artist: Alexa, play Madonna music
To hear the latest songs: Alexa, play this week’s top songs
To turn the music up or down, pause it, resume it or stop it: Alexa, turn it up/down, Alexa stop, Alexa resume, Alexa pause
To mix your music: Alexa, shuffle my music
To play music from one of your services: Alexa, play my House music station on Pandora/Spotify, etc.
To save a song on Prime: Alexa, add [song name] to my Prime Music library or Alexa add this song to my Prime library
To play a song that matches your mood: Alexa, play pop music
To find new music to buy: Alexa, shop new music by DNCE
To buy music: Alexa, buy The Man in the Woods by Justin Timberlake
To watch a show or movie on the TV: Alexa, play Riverdale on Hulu or Alexa, play the Super Bowl

Order products from Amazon and Others

To order or re-order from Amazon: Alexa, order paper towels, Alexa re-order tissues, Alexa buy liquid laundry detergent
Add items to your shopping cart: Alexa, add milk to my cart to buy
To track Amazon orders: Alexa, track my order or Alexa, where’s my stuff?
To call an uber: Alexa, reserve a car with Uber
To order a pizza: Alexa, order 2 pepperoni pies from Dominos

Calling Others

Once you set up your phone to link to Alexa and verify your number you can use her for hands-free calling to other Alexa devices, contacts or even your doctor’s office:

To call a contact or place: Alexa, call my mom or Alexa, dial 718-837-0156
To call another Echo device in your house: Alexa, drop in the bedroom
To call another Echo in a friend’s home(you and the person must grant permission in the app): Alexa, drop in on Melissa’s Dot
To message someone: Alexa [say message] send to [contact name or phone number for texting].

Entertainment

To play a game: Alexa, play a game (Alexa will give you suggestions)
To play a specific game: Alexa, start Jeopardy
To hear a joke: Alexa, tell me a joke
To hear trivia: Alexa, tell me some fun facts

To-do lists

To create a list: Alexa, create a to-do list
To make an appointment: Alexa, I need to make an appointment with the dentist
To add to a list: Alexa, add bread to my shopping list

And there you have it, my Ultimate Alexa Skills Cheat Sheet. With this list you are sure to get the most out of your Echo. Share this with all your family and friends, so they can make the most of their devices too!