Alexa Technical Q and A

Update 24-March-2024

It would now appear that amazon has changed a key setting regarding voice deletion of recordings!
In order to delete by voice command, it now MUST be enabled within the alexa app.
The key setting to find or search for is "Enable deletion by voice"
Once this is done you then need to confirm the setting, and then the voice commands will then work again.

Here are some of the answers to the technical Questions raised at the last meeting about Alexa.

Some of the residents were asking and sharing information about what can be done with Alexa and the commands that are understood, to help a little here are some useful example's

One of the question was about privacy. There are a few ways to delete the voice recordings, but some of the easy ways is now by voice command!
All of the following commands, make the assumption that the default wake word has not be changed

'Alexa , delete what I just said' This will delete the last 10 minutes of recordings, another possibility is to say the following
'Alexa , delete everything I said today'

This one should delete the last 24 hours worth of recordings, beyond these voice commands, you will need to use the Amazon application or web site to access the privacy dashboard where you can tell the company not to use your voice recordings or simply delete them.
There are now settings to automatically delete your voice recordings on the app - see Alexa app > More Menu > Settings > Alexa Privacy > Manage Your Alexa Data

Another way is from a logged in session on the amazon web site, visit the following

Alexa Privacy

More Commands

"Alexa, speak slower" : This will adjust Alexa's speaking rate to make your interactions even more natural. the counter part command is
"Alexa, speak faster"
To reset Alexa's speaking rate, just say, "Alexa, speak at your default rate"

There are many other commands which are available, and also a number of commands which become active after a new skill has been enabled. Some common commands to ask Alexa are :-

Alexa, what's the definition of [name of the word]
Alexa, check which profile is active
Alexa, switch accounts
Alexa, what's the traffic like?
Alexa, Set an Alarm for [Time] -- Prompts Alexa to sound an alarm at a specified time. You can then configure this alert to go off regularly by saying, 'Alexa, set a repeating alarm for [weekdays or weekend's @ time]'
Alexa, set timer for [X minutes]
Alexa, stop the timer
Alexa, set alarm for 5.30pm
Alexa, wake me up every day at [time]
Alexa, wake me up at [time] to [music or radio station]
Alexa, get me a recipe for baking a chocolate cake

Item Posted by - Phil @ 14-Mar-2023