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Microsoft’s Cortana is a personal work assistant that helps you manage your tasks and save time.
Click the Cortana icon in the taskbar to begin. Try posing the question “What can you do?” if you’re unsure of what to say.
Cortana is capable of the following tasks for you:
- Plan your calendar and maintain a current schedule.
- Participate in a Microsoft Teams meeting or see who you have scheduled a meeting with next.
- Make and maintain lists
- Install alerts and reminders.
- Find information, definitions, and facts.
Important: The Windows standalone version of Cortana is no longer supported. See End of Support for Cortana in Windows and Teams to learn about Cortana support in Teams and fresh and interesting methods to gain support for your tasks, calendar, and email.
Table of Contents
What is the wake word for calling Cortana?
Launch Cortana, choose Settings and then turn on the wake word toggle under Talk to Cortana.
Note: The most recent version of Windows Cortana now has the wake word enabled again. To utilize the wake word with Cortana, make sure you’ve updated to build 19041.329 or later if you’re using the May 2020 Update for Windows 10. You can still utilize the microphone button on previous releases to speak to Cortana by clicking on it.
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Cortana’s regions and languages
Are you wondering about the languages and nations where Cortana is available? The following list includes the languages for which Cortana is optimised as well as the regions in which it is available. Certain language and market pairings are optimal for Cortana’s performance. Ideally, your language and region settings should match.
These areas have Cortana available for these languages:
- Australia: English
- Brazil: Portuguese
- Canada: English/French
- China: Chinese (Simplified)
- France: French
- Germany: German
- India: English
- Italy: Italian
- Japan: Japanese
- Mexico: Spanish
- Spain: Spanish
- United Kingdom: English
Note that you may not be able to use anything you’ve purchased—including games, subscriptions, TV series, and memberships—or make purchases at the Microsoft Store if you decide to change your location.
You can check or adjust your language settings if you’re unsure about them. Should your configurations be accurate yet Cortana is still unusable, updating Windows Updates could resolve the issue.
Required hardware and software For Cortana
To perform the included scenario in your organization, Cortana needs the following software and a PC running Windows 10, version 1703 or later.
Note
It is possible to use Cortana without a microphone.
| Software | Minimum version |
|---|---|
| Client operating system | – Windows 10, version 2004 (recommended) – Windows 10, version 1703 (legacy version of Cortana) See how my data is processed by Cortana below for additional details on how Windows 10, version 2004 is different from previous versions of Cortana. |
| Microsoft Entra ID | Although a Microsoft Entra account is necessary for all employees to sign into Cortana, a Microsoft Entra ID P1 or P2 tenant is not. |
| Additional policies (Group Policy and Mobile Device Management (MDM)) | A wide range of policies are available for controlling different Cortana features. The majority of these limits will limit Cortana’s capabilities but not disable her. For instance, if you disable Speech, your staff won’t be able to use voice commands to quickly request assistance or the wake word “Cortana” for hands-free activation. |
Note
Windows 11 has removed the feature that automatically pins Cortana to the taskbar. The Cortana app is still pinnable to the taskbar like any other app. Furthermore, the Win+C keyboard shortcut is no longer available for opening Cortana.
Using Microsoft Entra ID to log in
For the optimum Cortana experience, your company has to have a Microsoft Entra tenant, and every device used by your employees needs to be connected to Microsoft Entra. (People can also use their Microsoft account to sign into Cortana,
But they won’t be able to access their corporate calendar or email.) For more on Microsoft Entra maintenance, what a Microsoft Entra tenant is, and how to link your devices, go to the Microsoft Entra documentation.
How does handle my data?
With Windows 10, version 2004 and later, Cortana’s approach to Microsoft 365 integration has altered.
Cortana enterprise services, which are accessible with Microsoft Entra ID, likewise fulfill the enterprise-level privacy, security, and compliance assurances outlined in the Online Services Terms (OST). See Cortana in Microsoft 365 to find out more.
How does Microsoft handle, store, keep, and use customer data in Cortana?
The table below displays the data processing for Cortana enterprise services.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Storage | Within the Office 365 cloud, Microsoft servers house customer data. The rental agreement includes your data. Audio from the speech is not stored. |
| Stays in Geo | Within the Office 365 cloud in Geo, Microsoft servers house customer data. The rental agreement includes your data. |
| Retention | Microsoft only uses customer data in ways that are compatible with delivering the agreed-upon services. Developing and refining models through machine learning is one of those goals. According to the Online Services Terms, machine learning is carried out inside the Office 365 cloud. We don’t use your information to target ads. |
| Processing and confidentiality | Customer data is deleted when the tenant administrator terminates the account or submits a request for the data to be erased following GDPR. There is no audio storage for the speech. |
| Usage | Microsoft only uses customer data in ways that are compatible with delivering the agreed-upon services. Developing and refining models through machine learning is one of those goals. According to the Online Services Terms, machine learning is carried out inside the Office 365 cloud. We don’t use your information to target ads. |
How does Cortana, the wake word, function? Is Cortana always listening if I turn it on?
Note: The most recent version of Windows Cortana now allows the wake word. To use the wake word with Cortana on Windows 10, version 2004, make sure you’ve updated to build 19041.329 or later. You can still utilize the microphone button on previous releases to speak to Cortana by clicking on it.
The wake word is detected, or the microphone button is hit before Cortana begins to listen for commands or requests.
The user needs to first enable the wake word in the Cortana settings. Once enabled, a feature of Windows called the Windows Multiple Voice Assistant platform will start listening for the wake phrase. Before speech recognition software analyses any audio, two wake word detectors—one local and one server-side—confirm that the wake word was heard.
The Windows Multiple Voice Assistant platform makes the initial choice based on power-saving hardware that the user may choose to install on their PC. If the wake word is found, Windows will show a microphone icon in the system menu to let users know that an assistant program is listening.
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The Cortana app will then receive the audio and analyze it through a second, more accurate wake word detector. It can then be sent to a Microsoft cloud server, if desired so that a third wake word detector verifies it. The audio will be disregarded and removed from any further processing and server records if the service is unable to verify that the activation was true. The inquiry will not show up in the conversation history and the user’s computer will quietly quit the Cortana program.
If the results of the three wake word detectors agree, the recognized speech will be shown on the Cortana canvas.
Windows 10 Cortana versions 1909 and below
Windows 10 versions 1909 and below are not included since Cortana is a service that is safeguarded by the Office 365 Trust Centre. Learn more about how Windows 10 versions 1909 and lower handle your data when using Cortana.
Finally, both the Microsoft Services Agreement and Privacy Statement apply to Cortana.
Conclusion
it’s all about Cortana in Windows 10 or 11 and how it works. Microsoft’s Cortana is a personal work assistant that helps you manage your tasks and save time. I hope you will understand what is Cortana and how it works.
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Good Luck!
