The process is similar to the way Cortana tracks packages and flights.
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Meanwhile, Cortana’s also getting smarter about helping you manage your calendar; the assistant can now detect when you have meetings scheduled at unusual hours. You can disable the feature if you don’t want Cortana to scan your email at all.
The new features include reminders based on information users share through email and context for calendar events, said Marcus Ash, partner group program manager at Microsoft, in a video on YouTube. Just say “Hey Cortana” and she’ll respond with an answer to a question, or carry out any number of functions for you. “I say, ‘I’ll buy the movie tickets.’ When I open up Cortana, [she’s] right there with a suggestion, saying, ‘you said you’d buy these movie tickets, ‘ and it gives me the option to set a reminder”. Microsoft Research (MSR) was pursuing an intriguing and powerful idea around this challenge-automatically recognizing when people make commitments to one another in email messages and providing reminders. For example, if someone tries to set up a meeting with you during a time you don’t normally work (e.g. evenings or weekends), Cortana will flag this as a potential problem and let you reschedule it, or invite you to change your alarm if it’s a meeting you’re not able to wiggle out of. Users will get an alert if someone sends a last-minute meeting request, or if a request falls outside of the user’s typical meeting times.
Cortana is one of Windows 10’s best features, and Microsoft has been continuously updating the voice assistant to make it more practical for everyday use. Or, it might notify you of a super early or late meeting request. The assistant will also keep on top of any last minute meetings, to help you juggle things and leave on time.
According to Microsoft these new features, plus the ones that have been shipped previously, are just starting to scratch the surface of how Cortana can help.
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Both new features will be limited to Windows 10 testers today, but Microsoft plans to roll them out widely to everyone with Windows 10 soon.
