Alexa Basic Commands

Note To Users

The operation you wish to happen is shown as a Heading. The command to cause that to happen is directly below. You may use your paragraph key, usually the p key, to move readily through the page.

Ask for help:

"Alexa, help."

Mute or unmute:

"Alexa, mute" or "Alexa, unmute."

s

Stop or pause:

"Alexa, stop" or "Alexa, shut up."

Change volume:

"Alexa, set volume to 5," "Alexa, louder" or "Alexa, turn up/down the volume."

Media controls

Play music:

"Alexa, play some music."

Queue specific song or artist:

"Alexa, play music by [artist]." (Give name of artist)

Play Spotify music:

"Alexa, play [playlist] on Spotify."

Play Pandora station:

"Alexa, play [artist] station on Pandora."

Play a radio station:

"Alexa, play [radio station] on TuneIn."

Play an audiobook:

"Alexa, play [title] on Audible," "Alexa, read [title]" or "Alexa, play the book, [title]."

Resume the last played audiobook:

"Alexa, resume my book."

Skip audiobook chapters:

"Alexa, next chapter" or "Alexa, previous chapter."

Set a sleep timer:

"Alexa set a sleep timer for 45 minutes" or "Alexa, stop playing in 45 minutes."

Song information:

"Alexa, what's playing?"

Music controls:

"Alexa, play" or "Alexa, next."

Restart song:

"Alexa, restart."

Add a song to your Prime Music library:

"Alexa, add this song."

Like or dislike a song on Pandora and iHeartRadio:

"Alexa, I like this song" or "Alexa, thumbs down"

Time and date

Set an alarm:

"Alexa, set an alarm for 7 a.m." or "Alexa, wake me up at 7 in the morning."

Set a timer:

"Alexa, set a timer for 15 minutes."

Check timer status:

"Alexa, how much time is left on my timer?"

Ask the time:

"Alexa what time is it?"

Ask the date:

"Alexa, what's the date?"

Ask when the next alarm is:

"Alexa, when's my next alarm?"

Cancel an alarm:

"Alexa, cancel my alarm for 2 p.m."

Snooze alarm:

"Alexa, snooze."

Check dates:

Alexa, when is [holiday] this year?"

Setting The Sound Equalizer

The sound equalizer has three ranges that may be individually set.
Treble, mid range and Bass.

All three may be set from 6 to minus 6.
To set them just say Alexa set Treble to 5.
Alexa set mid range to minus 1.
Alexa set Bass to minus 5.

To restore original settings say, Alexa restore Equalizer.

To-do and shopping lists

Add task to to-do list:

"Alexa, add go to the grocery store to my to-do list" or "Alexa, I need to make an appointment with the doctor."

Create a new to-do item:

"Alexa, create a to-do."

Check calendar events:

"Alexa, what's on my calendar for tomorrow?"

Add an event to a calendar:

"Alexa, add [event] to my calendar for [day] at [time]" or "Alexa, add an event to my calendar."

Create a shopping list:

"Alexa, add eggs to my shopping list" or "Alexa, I need to buy laundry detergent."

Check your shopping list:

"Alexa, what's on my shopping list?"

News and weather

Ask for your Flash Briefing:

"Alexa, what's my Flash Briefing?"

Check headlines:

"Alexa, what's in the news?"

Check weather:

"Alexa, what's the weather like?" or "Alexa, will it rain

today?"

Get a weather forecast:

"Alexa, what's the weather going to be like this weekend?

Get traffic information:

"Alexa, what's my commute look like?" or "Alexa, what's traffic like?"

Here's everything the Amazon Echo can do...

Entertainment and food

Find movies in nearby theaters:

"Alexa, what movies are playing?" or "Alexa, what action movies are playing tonight?"

Get information on movies playing:

"Alexa, tell me about the movie [movie]."

Discover nearby restaurants:

"Alexa, find me a nearby pizza restaurant."

Get operating hours or a phone number for local businesses:

"Alexa, find the address for Bank of America" or "Alexa, find business hours for Harris Teeter."

Get IMDb rating:

"Alexa, what is the IMDb rating for [movie or TV show]?

Get casting for a movie or show:

"Alexa, who plays in [movie or TV show]?

Find out who an actor is:

"Alexa, who plays [character] in [movie or TV show]?

Find an actor's latest work:

"Alexa, what is [actor] latest movie?

Find out who sings a particular song:

Alexa "Who sings the song [song name]?"

Get the names of band members:

Alexa "Who is in the band [band name]?"

Get album information:

Alexa "What year did [band] release [song or album]?"

Find popular music from an artist:

"Alexa, what's popular from [artist]?"

Sample music from an artist:

"Alexa, sample songs by [artist]."

Find a particular album or song:

"Alexa, find [song or album] by [artist]."

Math

Convert units:

"Alexa, how many [units] are in [units]?"

Convert units:

"Alexa, how many [units] are in 2 [units]?"

Basic math:

"Alexa, what's 5 plus 7?" or "Alexa, what's 56 times 33?"

Advanced math:

"Alexa, 70 factorial." (Warning: Alexa will list numbers you didn't know existed for about a minute.)

Definitions and spelling

Get the definition of a word:

"Alexa, what's the definition of [word]?"

Get the spelling of a word:

"Alexa, how do you spell [word]?"

Sports

Check the results of a finished game:

"Alexa, what was the score of the [team name] game?"

Ask if a team won:

"Alexa, did the [team name] win?"

Ask when the next game is scheduled:

"Alexa, when do the [team name] play next?"

Purchasing

Reorder essentials from Amazon:

"Alexa, buy more deodorant" or "Alexa, reorder deodorant."

Order an Amazon Alexa device:

"Alexa, order an Echo," "Alexa, order an Echo Dot" or "Alexa, order an Amazon Tap."

Add an item to your cart:

"Alexa, add garbage bags to my cart."

While listening to music in Amazon Music:

"Alexa, buy this song" or "Alexa, buy this album."

Find new music to purchase:

"Alexa, shop for new music by [artist]."

Purchase a song or album from an artist:

"Alexa, buy [song or album] by [artist]."

Voicecast

Send current listening to a Fire tablet:

"Alexa, send that to my Fire tablet."

Send to a different profile's Fire tablet:

"Alexa, show this on Alex's Fire tablet."

Smart home (See Note Below)

Important Note" In order for the following commands to work you must have all ready installed the corresponding devices.

Turn off or on lights:

"Alexa, turn on the lights" or "Alexa, turn off the living room lights."

Dim the lights:

"Alexa, dim the lights to 50 percent."

Adjust temperature:

"Alexa, raise the temperature one degree."

Set temperature:

"Alexa, set the temperature to 72."

Discover smart home devices:

"Alexa, discover my devices."

Pair a Bluetooth device:

"Alexa, pair" or "Alexa, Bluetooth."

Connect to a Bluetooth device:

"Alexa, connect to my phone."

Disconnect from a a Bluetooth device:

"Alexa, disconnect from my phone."

Profiles and user accounts

Switch profiles:

"Alexa, switch accounts."

Check which profile is active:

"Alexa, which profile is this?"

Search

Get Wikipedia information:

"Alexa, Wikipedia: [subject]."

Tell Alexa to continue reading a Wikipedia entry:

"Alexa, tell me more."

Ask a general question:

"Alexa, how tall is [person or object's name]?"

Ask a general question:

"Alexa, how many people live in America?"

Easter eggs

Alexa comes chock-full of easter eggs and jokes -- the list is long. Ry Crist covered the strange world of Alexa Easter eggs

recently, noting some of the more popular or prominent commands you can speak to Alexa to prompt a snarky or humorous response.

"Alexa, beam me up."

"Alexa, set phasers to kill."

"Alexa. Tea. Earl Grey. Hot."

"Alexa, my name is Inigo Montoya."

"Alexa, I want the truth."

"Alexa, party on, Wayne."

"Alexa, show me the money."

"Alexa, what's the first (or second) rule of Fight Club?"

"Alexa, surely you can't be serious."

"Alexa, are you sky net?"

"Alexa, party time!"

"Alexa, when am I going to die?"

"Alexa, what is your quest?"

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Updated on ... March 05, 2020