I just started my smart home last week, after watching several different tutorials like this channel. My husband has zero technological skills, I mean ZERO, using the internet is a struggle for him. I purchased 4 bulbs, 4 plugs, 1 power strip, 2 Echo dots, 2 Echo flex, a motion sensor and a night light. By the second day I was setting up routines. It’s so easy, and so easy to change if you don’t like how the routine works. One of the great functions that is extremely useful is the drop in function......because we have put a Dot in the woodworking shop in the backyard. The range of both the flex and the dot is great. I can now drop in to tell my husband something, but if I hear a machine running I now know he can’t hear me. I used to use an intercom system on our phone set, but I had to “ring him up” and never knew why he wasn’t answering...can’t hear, hands full, not there, had a stroke or heart attack....now I occasionally drop in just to check on him. If I hear a machine going I can tell he’s OK by the changing sound of wood running through it....it’s very comforting to be able to do this (he’s 72 years old). And surprise, surprise my husband absolutely loves his new friend Alexa. He’s playing classic rock in the shop, (the Dots have excellent speakers for music) turning lights on and off with simple commands and using the routines I have set up. We are both loving that Alexa has started answering us with new phrases....we are Canadian and therefore very polite....we say thank you all the time after Alexa does something and now she has started replying with “your welcome” or “no problem”, etc. She even says have a nice day or afternoon or weekend....which I did not set up in the routines. The only disappointment is we don’t have the Guard function. Hopefully that will be available in Canada soon. So, thanks for your channel, it helped me decide what I wanted to do and how to do it!
Craig, I forgot to mention one routine I particularly like for us. It's common here to have TV-time lighting level/color changes on various bulbs/fixtures during the evening. As a result, I have a routine using an Echo button that is just outside the bedroom. When the last person goes to bed and presses the button (quiet, of course) then all of the lights I typically mess with change to soft white, go to full brightness, and then turn off so they're ready for the next day's routines without having to think about levels/colors in morning/daytime routines. The same button (different time range) can be used to turn on the morning lights which is useful for mornings when there is no alarm (...and the routine that goes with that) for the first one out of bed.
Great video, Craig. Routines are awesome and getting better. Because we like a particular sleep sound in Google better than Amazon, we have a bedtime routine to have a bedside Echo Clock say to the adjacent Google Home "Ok Google Play babbling brook sounds for two hours" and it just happens. Why do I go to the trouble? Because I can, of course!
Unfortunately I am getting to be an old person! I find the good morning and good night routine is a good time to have Alexa remind me to take medication or put in eye drops at night.
I like that you dampened the sound so my Alexa (which is right by my computer) didn't go off constantly. I found this very helpful and appreciate the time and clarity. I discovered your video from a search about how to create an ITTT routine for my Echo. Did not learn how to do what I needed, but learned a number of other helpful tips! Thanks so much
Thank you very much. I learned early on in the channel about not muting and driving people crazy. Thank you for watching. I am glad it was helpful for you.
Some really great info. Opens the mine to NEW OPTIONS. Thank you. A link to this video in the box on new smart plugs would have saved me HOURS of figuring out how to....................
Thank you Juan, that is very kind of you to say. I do enjoy sharing this stuff and nerding out on it. Thank you for checking out the videos. Have a great day.
Great video, I find several people have no idea about the routines. Most of my routines have to do with changing lights, some on timers, lamps on at sunset and such. A lot of them are just when I say this do this, like when I say bright lights in the bedroom, lamps change to bright white and 100 percent. I do use my door sensor (via my Konnected brand alarm panel) to trigger things sometimes. I have a nephew with 2 Autistic children, one likes to go out the front door from time to time, which can be dangerous, he is 9 and mostly non verbal. When they are here, if the door gets opened my Echo in the living room announces "The front door has been opened". My good night, locks the doors, changes the temp, changes about 10 lights to either off, or changes the color to red and dims so the house is lit up at night, turns the TV off, and plays goodnight sweetheart (which I did to be funny and the wife liked it so we kept it) Paul
This really helped a lot. I've been trying to use a routine to trigger another routine. The process has been so broken and fragile. Basically I've been creating two routines for each task. For example, I have a base routine that is always a voice trigger, like one called "good morning" , and then I created a second schedule routine to trigger the "good morning" routine every morning at a certain time. This was working, but it kept breaking. I have a feeling it is because it was actually running my old scenes from smartthings which are called similar things. I tried triggering the good morning routine with a custom command using a whole bunch of phrases "enable good morning routine, start good morning, start good morning routine, run good morning etc". I tried naming the good morning routine something distinct like morning123. I tried adding a unique trigger phrase like "It's time to get up", and I tried using that phrase to trigger the routine. The most progress I got was the "enable" command, Alexa would say "routine enabled", but it just "enabled" the routine, it wouldn't actually run it. It looks like you can use certain skills like Voice Monkey with alexa and IFTTT. This setup is ridiculous, Alexa should have an intuitive way to trigger a routine from a routine. Anyways, this video helped a lot. Each routine can have two separate triggers at once, a voice trigger and a schedule trigger. This is what I needed to get my routines to work the way I needed, and I didn't have to create double the routines. It still seems kind of buggy, some of my routines have clock icons and some have speech bubble icons. I have two routines have have the schedule trigger first in them and they both have different icons.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I am glad that this helped. You say buggy and I know what you mean. That seems to be the way to describe a lot of things with these echos lately. I do appreciate that there are a lot of routine options. I appreciate my routine that stops all the “by the ways” from Alexa trying to help. Thanks for watching.
I have multiple routines that run for hours consisting of 35-40 commands. When away from home, I mimic our normal routine with lights and sounds rather than the spastic method that Alexa Guard uses with lights. In all, I probably have 50 routines, many triggered by very short verbal commands that save me from making multiple verbal commands.. IE: "snacks" which turns on every light from my bedroom upstairs to the kitchen downstairs and then when I return, I say "I'm back" and all the lights are turn back off.
Another helpful video, Craig. Really wish the audio output from routines could play on speaker groups or more than just one Alexa device. (I sent amazon a feedback note with this.)
@@draidt That seems to allow you to configure the speaker group just for that particular announcement... not for the entire routine... unless I am missing something? Will that make all the steps in the routines use the speaker group instead of the device chosen?
@@draidt Thanks. I want more than just the announcements to play on the speaker group. If I add a flash briefing to the routine, I want that to play across the speaker group as well instead of just a single Alexa device.
Great Job! You answered all of my questions on a project that I am working on. I am setting up a gate to open with a voice command trigger from Alexa. A doorbell camera at the gate and a signal sent to the gate to open and close the gate for someone coming to visit. The wait command was what I was looking for sot the voice command can be given and the wait command hold the gate open for when you are expecting a package. It will work great. Thanks!!!
Hello Bill, that is great to hear. I am glad that the wait is the piece that you needed. I am glad that it is going to work for you. Thank you for the Super Thanks. That is very generous of you. Have a great day.
Great channel, in the UK we can name a routine but we only have 5 "When This Happens" options we don't have Location or Guard. Hopefully we'll get it one day. Keep up the good work.
Yeah it's the usual case of functions rolling out to the US first & the UK usually lags behind significantly, it took the better part of a year for Whisper Mode to make its way over the Atlantic 🤔
I wrote an Alexa routine that goes off at 2:15 PM that tells a story, makes funny sound effects, and does some weird lighting effects as well. Everyone Who saw the routine in action thought it was creepy. Lol
Very interesting. I installed a light switch controlled by Alexa and it worked great. The only issue I had was that it says "OK" every time it controls the light. I tried turning off all notifications and brief mode, but no luck. Anyone know how to disable this notification?
Thanks Craig. I’ve been trying to use the Aqara cube with my digital window to play a scenery video from my UA-cam video. I’m going to try to get this working tomorrow (got the flu right now). Let me know if you’d like to see it.
The offset from sunrise and sunset pleases me. It was a feature in my last home's outside light wall switch with a timer. I can replace a plug-in sunrise timer with a Kasa outlet to turn on personal sunrise light in morning and when I come home. The Wiz app for lights does not have the offsets or the time restrictions. I also have new hope for creating a routine for motion sensor automation of a nightlight in the bath being red at night and white in the daytime.
Thank you very much for the greetings from Belfast. I’m glad you enjoyed the videos. That is great to hear. Thank you for watching I am the nice comments. Have a great day.
I am struggling with the same issue. I just want to turn on the lights at sunset and turn them off at a specified time all in the same routine. Can't find a way to do it without setting up separate routines. I can set up simple on-off schedules in my Hub within the same Light Schedule action but not in Alexa???
Very good explained. I have a question. My wife is deaf and needs a bright light to wake up, can a routine be to trigger a light when the alarm goes off, instead of when the alarm is dismissed? I bought a lenovo smart clock because I thought it could do that, but this also only triggers after you turn off the alarm (which she wouldn't hear) 😢
Craig, in my great room I have a wall socket device that controls my light. I am not seeing those type plugs in my devices area in routines. Can you set up routines with those devices your lamp is plugged in to? Thanks Doug
Hello Doug, try going into your devices in the app. Find those plugs. Go under the plug settings and change the type from plug to a light. Once you do that, it will act like a light. If you put in a group with an echo and say lights on it will turn on. You should see them in routines. I am surprised it is not showing up in under all devices. Mine out set it lights, but even my ceiling fan shows up. Hope this helps.
Craig, could you check into why routines using location as a trigger aren't working on an iPhone? Perhaps the app needs to be open in the background... Also, attempts to initiate the GUARD function with location is not working, Alexa app states "security functions not compatible with location services".
Hello. I can't create a routine because Alexa doesn't see the devices during the routine. He writes as an error that they must be added first. This is interesting because it communicates well with devices anyway. I’ve corresponded with Amazon several times before, but they don’t know what the reason might be. Maybe you have an idea?
Craig, maybe off the subject, but my playing music “everywhere “ cuts on and off, quits after one song, or she says having problem playing music. How can I fix this? Thanks
Can you use a routine to turn on the audible grandfather clock set to Westminster chiming every 1/4 hour, I would like to set it to chime every 1/4 hour between 8 am and 10 pm
Does anyone know if Crag has done a smart thermostat review? I searched on his videos and this is the first one that popped up, but this isn't really what I'm looking for.
I created a daily 1000 routine to remind my live alone father-in-law what day it is... it says "Good morning", gives the current date, and tells a daily joke. He doesn't really need it, but he says the reminder "doesn't hurt... and the joke is something different". It ends with a "Have a good day, xxx". I actually created two... another similar one for the weekend with slightly different content just to switch things up a bit.
Hi Craig, nice video. I have recently set up a routine on my Show 5 and have a question. The trigger is when I say “Alexa Hello” and it gives me a welcome, pause, interesting fact, pause, route to work and then starts my local radio station which is a skill. My question (at last) is how do I get it to show my home screen as the last action? Currently I have to say it verbally as it leaves the radio station logo show, but I would rather look at My Photos scroll around. Thank for any suggestions.
Can someone help me with routines. At work I have Amazon TV's set on a routine at a certain I would like the TV's to turn on but they would trigger when I am not in the office because I would like them to be on before anyone gets into the office because this will display notices and content to the users that are entering the building or certain areas around the workplace. After discovering that these routines are triggering in the history I have been thinking that I would possibly need an alexa in my office is this the case? I have tried raising this with Amazon weeks ago but I keep getting the same response of have I turned the routines off and on again or removed it or added the routine again to see if this works even though I know the routine works because I have tested this previously.
i see that you are using motion, i have motion that i have order from aliexpress and it works with smart life app, but when i bring it to alexa app it dosnt recognize it as motion why?
When I open “When this happens” I see only 4 options. Do I need to upgrade or is it because I live in Canada? If because of location how long does it normally before I can?
Hey Craig, Liked your video. Want to know if I can have Alexa to Speak Current Time in Paris using Routines. So, I want to create Routine: "Alexa Paris Time", and when I speak this, Alexa should speak the Current Time in Paris. (Note - Paris is not my location city). So, I need some routine like "Alexa New Jersey Time", "Alexa Mumbai Time" and so on
Love your video presentation! I just want to turn on/turn off lights daily...no other action. Scheduled my KASA plugs easily, but this new Amazon plug/Alexa app is stumping me. Can't get any more basic than turn on/turn off....but the SAVE is grayed out until I enter an action. Any suggestions?
Thank you very much. You would create a routine and for the “When” you would pick scheduled and for the “Action” you would pick the plug and pick what it will do.
I type funny things for Alexa to say in custom responses. I have indian version and it's amusing but today it stopped recognising punctuations and pauses that I typed between words and reads whatever I type really fast without pauses. Did they disable this on purpose? I checked on echo dot and my mobile it sounds boring plz reply
Craig, Thanks for the Great Videos on Routines. I am new to this but enjoy it so much. You stated that the last item in the routine has to be the music but I have a problem on my routine where it won't let me change the music to the last place where I want it. Also can I just copy and paste a line in a routine? I seem to remember you saying you can do this on one of your Videos but I can't remember which one. I find myself just trying to see what I can make it do. Thanks again.
Hello Lynn, there might have been an update that has changed the placement of music. Amazon determines priorities on whatever their criteria or limitations are. Unfortunately, no copy and paste. Echos do so much, but many features don’t go deep enough and lack features like copying and pasting. Thanks for watching.
Im switching from google hub and already miss google because at night i would just say, OK google good night and i would ask me what time should it set the alarm and turn of my light and tell me good night. Alexa docent ask me what time should she put the alarm to and i cant find it in routines.
I have been using Alexa Routines a lot and I just got into using them with music, sadly I have three different versions of the same song, I'm trying to play the one I like best in the morning, got a way to do that? ( example 1: I have garth brooks's "the river" both live and greatest hits ) (example 2: "when you say nothing at all" there are two different singers that sing that song i got both versions )
Hey Craig! Question - When I start my "Alexa, start my day" routine, I have it turn on my TV. I also use ROKU TV and you can ask Alexa to "Launch Sling on ROKU". Do you know if I can just add that to the routine after the "Turn on tv" command? Thanks!
Craig, my two daughters have an Echo on their bedroom, Id like them go have the Alexa app on their phones, is this possible?, would them log in with my credentials? Can you explain this for me? A video about this subject would be awesome, thanks in advance
Hello Eduardo, you would want them to have their own profiles when you first login to your account. Yours would be the account that is used to login, but then you make each of them a profile as the second step. Here is a link to my older video on setting up profiles. ua-cam.com/video/8LZzHqfzoSY/v-deo.html This would allow them to sync their contacts with Alexa. As for setting up the echos, they should be setup under your account. That way they can all interact with in the house hold. Thanks for watching.
You could try to write a routine using the custom command. You could the custom command have Alexa connect to Bluetooth. Then have a wait step of a minute to allow the speaker to connect. For the final step play music. This is theoretical. I can’t test it and go deeper since I am traveling with work. But play with the custom command in routines. It may make it work. Thanks for watching.
Just sharing what I have done. I have a verbal driven routine that turns off lights and turns on others when I tell it I am going to bed. I also have an automatic routine to do the exact same thing as the verbal routine at 11:30 PM.. That way even if I am not home it would appear I am.. I also have automatic routines to turn off all lights after sunrise and turn on certain lights around sunset.
Is there away to make routines on the Amazon Alexa on PC app? i have it installed on my PC and was hoping to make a few customs routines on the keyboard instead of my fat fingers on my phone. is this possible? cant find the "Routines" section on the PC App.. please help
Hi Craig, I love your videos! Recently I’ve had an issue with a morning routine and I can’t figure out what happened. I have an Echo Dot in my bedroom. I sync it to a Bluetooth speaker in the bathroom. Part of the routine is to play a shuffled playlist from Spotify. This has worked for quite a few months until around June. Now when gets to playing Spotify, it no longer works. It’s says, “Hmm, sorry, I don’t about that. I re-synced my Amazon account Unplugged power to the dot I even erased the original routine and recreated it. Nothing seemed to work. I also have an additional dot in the kitchen and an Echo Show. I tested the routine on each device. Something interesting happened. Spotify will only play on the Echo Show as part of a routine; yet both dots error out.
Watch and love your videos. I feel like an idiot but what is the secret to editing (deleting) a line in a routine? Sometimes I can delete a line sometimes I can't. I don't know what I am doing wrong. When I want to make a change now I delete the whole routine and start over again. Help JC
You have to press the "minus" sign/icon for the action you want to delete. It's very picky about exactly where you press so don't press even the slightest bit outside the icon or it won't delete.
Craig, can i limited the use of routines to some users(voices) or others conditions. I wanna limites the use of routines like “open door” or “open garage” only run with the registred voices, is that possible?
Tried unsuccessfully to set up a routine to play an Amazon Music playlist on a multi-room speaker group. Amazon chat told me you can't do that. You can ask Alexa to play a playlist on a multi-room speaker group, but you can't set up a routine to do it. Blood hell!!! Here's what the chat person told me. "The Feature for multi room in Routines is not supported. That is the reason why you can only select one device. It can only add one device at a time under Routines. " They seemed to suggest that after nominating one device you could then go back and add another. Wrong. You can only play on one.
I'm setting up my kids' remote school schedules with the routine function. I want Alexa to announce when each kid needs to login to their next meeting from multiple devices so that I don't have to run around the house calling for the kids. I do not see that there is a way to have the announcement come from multiple devices at once. I've googled it - tried to create groups of devices, but the groups do not show up as an option in the "from" field in the routine set-up. Is this not possible?? If it is, please help!
Hello Katie, have you tried making a scheduled routine and using the messaging option. Under routines for the “when” you would pick scheduled. For the “Action” pick messaging, then announcements, type your announcement and then pick the devices you want the announcement on. Hope this helps.
When I leave I want to say to Alexa, "Alexa, initiate lockdown sequence", but she starts a NASA countdown! Can you not use phrases too complex for her?
Need help How do you get routine to do things in order I want ? I have good morning routine want weather then a wait then i want to turn on tv No matter what I do it all ways put TV on top of the list on the routine and i want it to be there last last thing to do How do you find how to turn down the Volume for the tv in a routine?
@@CraigsTechTalk Yes becoz you give me at good idea. I have show 8.and studio & echo.echo dot. All your tip is good idea. I hope you help to other people. Thank you God Bless
Very cool. However if you have some pull with the people that make the new features then tell them to add an "End of the Month" regardless of day ie goes off 28, 30, or 31 to Alarm and schedule function. I haven't found a way to set an alarm only for Tues - Friday at a certain time. Anyone know how to do this? So far I have found no way to set specific days of the week to set alarms.
Alexa is horrible if you want to just set a turn on and turn off of a simple “smart plug”. Even working with Amazon tech support for two months my smart plug can only turn on a light but won’t allow setting a time to turn it off.
Craig, like your channel and reviews but I purchased the book "More than just weather and music" and found it useless. About 75 percent of the book contained useless information and or skills. A lot of junk skills!
I just started my smart home last week, after watching several different tutorials like this channel. My husband has zero technological skills, I mean ZERO, using the internet is a struggle for him. I purchased 4 bulbs, 4 plugs, 1 power strip, 2 Echo dots, 2 Echo flex, a motion sensor and a night light. By the second day I was setting up routines. It’s so easy, and so easy to change if you don’t like how the routine works. One of the great functions that is extremely useful is the drop in function......because we have put a Dot in the woodworking shop in the backyard. The range of both the flex and the dot is great. I can now drop in to tell my husband something, but if I hear a machine running I now know he can’t hear me. I used to use an intercom system on our phone set, but I had to “ring him up” and never knew why he wasn’t answering...can’t hear, hands full, not there, had a stroke or heart attack....now I occasionally drop in just to check on him. If I hear a machine going I can tell he’s OK by the changing sound of wood running through it....it’s very comforting to be able to do this (he’s 72 years old). And surprise, surprise my husband absolutely loves his new friend Alexa. He’s playing classic rock in the shop, (the Dots have excellent speakers for music) turning lights on and off with simple commands and using the routines I have set up. We are both loving that Alexa has started answering us with new phrases....we are Canadian and therefore very polite....we say thank you all the time after Alexa does something and now she has started replying with “your welcome” or “no problem”, etc. She even says have a nice day or afternoon or weekend....which I did not set up in the routines. The only disappointment is we don’t have the Guard function. Hopefully that will be available in Canada soon. So, thanks for your channel, it helped me decide what I wanted to do and how to do it!
Thanks for this. New to the world of Alexa and this was a great help to learning how to write these. I can’t wait to try this.
Craig, I forgot to mention one routine I particularly like for us. It's common here to have TV-time lighting level/color changes on various bulbs/fixtures during the evening. As a result, I have a routine using an Echo button that is just outside the bedroom. When the last person goes to bed and presses the button (quiet, of course) then all of the lights I typically mess with change to soft white, go to full brightness, and then turn off so they're ready for the next day's routines without having to think about levels/colors in morning/daytime routines. The same button (different time range) can be used to turn on the morning lights which is useful for mornings when there is no alarm (...and the routine that goes with that) for the first one out of bed.
Great video, Craig. Routines are awesome and getting better. Because we like a particular sleep sound in Google better than Amazon, we have a bedtime routine to have a bedside Echo Clock say to the adjacent Google Home "Ok Google Play babbling brook sounds for two hours" and it just happens. Why do I go to the trouble? Because I can, of course!
Unfortunately I am getting to be an old person! I find the good morning and good night routine is a good time to have Alexa remind me to take medication or put in eye drops at night.
I know the feeling!
I really like the Flash Briefings. I use this all the time!
I like that you dampened the sound so my Alexa (which is right by my computer) didn't go off constantly. I found this very helpful and appreciate the time and clarity. I discovered your video from a search about how to create an ITTT routine for my Echo. Did not learn how to do what I needed, but learned a number of other helpful tips! Thanks so much
Thank you very much. I learned early on in the channel about not muting and driving people crazy. Thank you for watching. I am glad it was helpful for you.
Some really great info. Opens the mine to NEW OPTIONS. Thank you. A link to this video in the box on new smart plugs would have saved me HOURS of figuring out how to....................
Thank you very much. That is so nice to hear. I appreciate you leaving a comment and for watching. I hope we can save you time in the future.
Hi Craig, the way you teach reflects the way you enjoy this kind of topics. I'm new to Alexa, but we are becoming good friends, he he.
Thanks,
Juan
Thank you Juan, that is very kind of you to say. I do enjoy sharing this stuff and nerding out on it. Thank you for checking out the videos. Have a great day.
Still the best station of its find on Utube
Great video, I find several people have no idea about the routines. Most of my routines have to do with changing lights, some on timers, lamps on at sunset and such. A lot of them are just when I say this do this, like when I say bright lights in the bedroom, lamps change to bright white and 100 percent. I do use my door sensor (via my Konnected brand alarm panel) to trigger things sometimes. I have a nephew with 2 Autistic children, one likes to go out the front door from time to time, which can be dangerous, he is 9 and mostly non verbal. When they are here, if the door gets opened my Echo in the living room announces "The front door has been opened". My good night, locks the doors, changes the temp, changes about 10 lights to either off, or changes the color to red and dims so the house is lit up at night, turns the TV off, and plays goodnight sweetheart (which I did to be funny and the wife liked it so we kept it)
Paul
For my "I'm leaving" routine Alexa reminds to "put on sunscreen". It really helps me remember.
This really helped a lot. I've been trying to use a routine to trigger another routine. The process has been so broken and fragile.
Basically I've been creating two routines for each task. For example, I have a base routine that is always a voice trigger, like one called "good morning" , and then I created a second schedule routine to trigger the "good morning" routine every morning at a certain time. This was working, but it kept breaking. I have a feeling it is because it was actually running my old scenes from smartthings which are called similar things.
I tried triggering the good morning routine with a custom command using a whole bunch of phrases "enable good morning routine, start good morning, start good morning routine, run good morning etc". I tried naming the good morning routine something distinct like morning123. I tried adding a unique trigger phrase like "It's time to get up", and I tried using that phrase to trigger the routine. The most progress I got was the "enable" command, Alexa would say "routine enabled", but it just "enabled" the routine, it wouldn't actually run it.
It looks like you can use certain skills like Voice Monkey with alexa and IFTTT. This setup is ridiculous, Alexa should have an intuitive way to trigger a routine from a routine.
Anyways, this video helped a lot. Each routine can have two separate triggers at once, a voice trigger and a schedule trigger. This is what I needed to get my routines to work the way I needed, and I didn't have to create double the routines. It still seems kind of buggy, some of my routines have clock icons and some have speech bubble icons. I have two routines have have the schedule trigger first in them and they both have different icons.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I am glad that this helped. You say buggy and I know what you mean. That seems to be the way to describe a lot of things with these echos lately. I do appreciate that there are a lot of routine options. I appreciate my routine that stops all the “by the ways” from Alexa trying to help. Thanks for watching.
I have multiple routines that run for hours consisting of 35-40 commands. When away from home, I mimic our normal routine with lights and sounds rather than the spastic method that Alexa Guard uses with lights. In all, I probably have 50 routines, many triggered by very short verbal commands that save me from making multiple verbal commands.. IE: "snacks" which turns on every light from my bedroom upstairs to the kitchen downstairs and then when I return, I say "I'm back" and all the lights are turn back off.
Another helpful video, Craig. Really wish the audio output from routines could play on speaker groups or more than just one Alexa device. (I sent amazon a feedback note with this.)
0691CT - I had NO idea. My mind is completely blown. This never occurred to me that it was as simple as that. Wow. THANK YOU!
0691CT - Just did this. Works like a charm. Can’t wait to tell all my friends as we were all similarly complaining about this!
@@0691CT
Any way to play not just music but the entire routine on the speaker groups? Like the weather, the calendar, etc on the speaker group?
@@draidt That seems to allow you to configure the speaker group just for that particular announcement... not for the entire routine... unless I am missing something? Will that make all the steps in the routines use the speaker group instead of the device chosen?
@@draidt Thanks. I want more than just the announcements to play on the speaker group. If I add a flash briefing to the routine, I want that to play across the speaker group as well instead of just a single Alexa device.
Great Job! You answered all of my questions on a project that I am working on. I am setting up a gate to open with a voice command trigger from Alexa. A doorbell camera at the gate and a signal sent to the gate to open and close the gate for someone coming to visit. The wait command was what I was looking for sot the voice command can be given and the wait command hold the gate open for when you are expecting a package. It will work great. Thanks!!!
Hello Bill, that is great to hear. I am glad that the wait is the piece that you needed. I am glad that it is going to work for you. Thank you for the Super Thanks. That is very generous of you. Have a great day.
Thank you! Finally a thorough video on setting this up!
Thank you for watching. 🙏
Great channel, in the UK we can name a routine but we only have 5 "When This Happens" options we don't have Location or Guard. Hopefully we'll get it one day. Keep up the good work.
Yeah it's the usual case of functions rolling out to the US first & the UK usually lags behind significantly, it took the better part of a year for Whisper Mode to make its way over the Atlantic 🤔
Just looked for location routine! C'mon Amazon, we have GPS and everything in the UK!
Don't feel bad, we have the same limitations in Canada.
I wrote an Alexa routine that goes off at 2:15 PM that tells a story, makes funny sound effects, and does some weird lighting effects as well. Everyone Who saw the routine in action thought it was creepy. Lol
Very interesting. I installed a light switch controlled by Alexa and it worked great. The only issue I had was that it says "OK" every time it controls the light. I tried turning off all notifications and brief mode, but no luck. Anyone know how to disable this notification?
Thanks Craig. I’ve been trying to use the Aqara cube with my digital window to play a scenery video from my UA-cam video. I’m going to try to get this working tomorrow (got the flu right now). Let me know if you’d like to see it.
I love what you do keep up the great work its awsome ❤❤❤👌
As a Google user, I would have to say that the Alexa Routines is way more advanced than Google Assistant Routines.
The offset from sunrise and sunset pleases me. It was a feature in my last home's outside light wall switch with a timer. I can replace a plug-in sunrise timer with a Kasa outlet to turn on personal sunrise light in morning and when I come home. The Wiz app for lights does not have the offsets or the time restrictions. I also have new hope for creating a routine for motion sensor automation of a nightlight in the bath being red at night and white in the daytime.
Hi Craig, love watching your videos I’ve really learnt a lot by watching them, keep up the good work, by the way I’m from Belfast, Northern Ireland 🙂
Thank you very much for the greetings from Belfast. I’m glad you enjoyed the videos. That is great to hear. Thank you for watching I am the nice comments. Have a great day.
Finallyyyyy we can name routines!!!
There still isn't a way to have two conditions? Like turn the lights 10 min after sunset IF the TV is on
I am struggling with the same issue. I just want to turn on the lights at sunset and turn them off at a specified time all in the same routine. Can't find a way to do it without setting up separate routines. I can set up simple on-off schedules in my Hub within the same Light Schedule action but not in Alexa???
Wish you could add sleep timer after playing sleep sounds :-(
Please update this video for 2023 app abilities. Thanks!
Very good explained.
I have a question. My wife is deaf and needs a bright light to wake up, can a routine be to trigger a light when the alarm goes off, instead of when the alarm is dismissed?
I bought a lenovo smart clock because I thought it could do that, but this also only triggers after you turn off the alarm (which she wouldn't hear) 😢
I have the air quality sensor, I will see if I can set a routine to turn on one of my air cond.
A good video will subscribe thanks.
I hope your routines are working well. Thank you very much. I appreciate you subscribing and sticking around.
Craig, in my great room I have a wall socket device that controls my light. I am not seeing those type plugs in my devices area in routines. Can you set up routines with those devices your lamp is plugged in to? Thanks Doug
Hello Doug, try going into your devices in the app. Find those plugs. Go under the plug settings and change the type from plug to a light. Once you do that, it will act like a light. If you put in a group with an echo and say lights on it will turn on. You should see them in routines. I am surprised it is not showing up in under all devices. Mine out set it lights, but even my ceiling fan shows up. Hope this helps.
Thank for your clip. Do you mind if I ask that can I edit an action after I added it in to the routine?
Craig, could you check into why routines using location as a trigger aren't working on an iPhone? Perhaps the app needs to be open in the background... Also, attempts to initiate the GUARD function with location is not working, Alexa app states "security functions not compatible with location services".
Hello. I can't create a routine because Alexa doesn't see the devices during the routine. He writes as an error that they must be added first. This is interesting because it communicates well with devices anyway. I’ve corresponded with Amazon several times before, but they don’t know what the reason might be. Maybe you have an idea?
How would I make a routine response on all my echo devices?
Craig, maybe off the subject, but my playing music “everywhere “ cuts on and off, quits after one song, or she says having problem playing music. How can I fix this? Thanks
It would be cool if Alexa enabled you to choose a custom wake word that you make up.
Can you use a routine to turn on the audible grandfather clock set to Westminster chiming every 1/4 hour, I would like to set it to chime every 1/4 hour between 8 am and 10 pm
Not that I know of. You might be able to play around with the custom command option in routines.
@@CraigsTechTalk i found this info, I am still working with it. www.audibleclock.com/FAQ
when are they going to fix the music thing? It sounds inflexible
At night I say " Alexa turn off the screen " and it shuts the screen off as I ask. Can I do that in a multi step routine based on the device?
Can you vocally pause or cancel a routine when it is running?
Does anyone know if Crag has done a smart thermostat review? I searched on his videos and this is the first one that popped up, but this isn't really what I'm looking for.
I created a daily 1000 routine to remind my live alone father-in-law what day it is... it says "Good morning", gives the current date, and tells a daily joke. He doesn't really need it, but he says the reminder "doesn't hurt... and the joke is something different". It ends with a "Have a good day, xxx". I actually created two... another similar one for the weekend with slightly different content just to switch things up a bit.
does smart things multi sensor work as a tlrigger for alexa? I can not get it to work.
Hi Craig, nice video. I have recently set up a routine on my Show 5 and have a question. The trigger is when I say “Alexa Hello” and it gives me a welcome, pause, interesting fact, pause, route to work and then starts my local radio station which is a skill. My question (at last) is how do I get it to show my home screen as the last action? Currently I have to say it verbally as it leaves the radio station logo show, but I would rather look at My Photos scroll around. Thank for any suggestions.
Can someone help me with routines. At work I have Amazon TV's set on a routine at a certain I would like the TV's to turn on but they would trigger when I am not in the office because I would like them to be on before anyone gets into the office because this will display notices and content to the users that are entering the building or certain areas around the workplace. After discovering that these routines are triggering in the history I have been thinking that I would possibly need an alexa in my office is this the case? I have tried raising this with Amazon weeks ago but I keep getting the same response of have I turned the routines off and on again or removed it or added the routine again to see if this works even though I know the routine works because I have tested this previously.
i see that you are using motion, i have motion that i have order from aliexpress and it works with smart life app, but when i bring it to alexa app it dosnt recognize it as motion why?
When I open “When this happens” I see only 4 options. Do I need to upgrade or is it because I live in Canada? If because of location how long does it normally before I can?
Why does the routine only allow one customized action per routine?
Hey Craig, Liked your video. Want to know if I can have Alexa to Speak Current Time in Paris using Routines. So, I want to create Routine: "Alexa Paris Time", and when I speak this, Alexa should speak the Current Time in Paris. (Note - Paris is not my location city). So, I need some routine like "Alexa New Jersey Time", "Alexa Mumbai Time" and so on
When will amazon allow for custom wake names?
Well done Cregg
Love your video presentation! I just want to turn on/turn off lights daily...no other action. Scheduled my KASA plugs easily, but this new Amazon plug/Alexa app is stumping me. Can't get any more basic than turn on/turn off....but the SAVE is grayed out until I enter an action. Any suggestions?
Thank you very much. You would create a routine and for the “When” you would pick scheduled and for the “Action” you would pick the plug and pick what it will do.
I needed this a week ago when I wanted to create a routine for my workout. Sadly, I had to figure it out myself. lol
Hello Ron, sorry I wasn't there to help earlier. Thats great you figured it out. Routines are great to know.
Good stuff here. I can make good use with some of this
I type funny things for Alexa to say in custom responses. I have indian version and it's amusing but today it stopped recognising punctuations and pauses that I typed between words and reads whatever I type really fast without pauses. Did they disable this on purpose? I checked on echo dot and my mobile it sounds boring plz reply
Craig, Thanks for the Great Videos on Routines. I am new to this but enjoy it so much. You stated that the last item in the routine has to be the music but I have a problem on my routine where it won't let me change the music to the last place where I want it. Also can I just copy and paste a line in a routine? I seem to remember you saying you can do this on one of your Videos but I can't remember which one. I find myself just trying to see what I can make it do. Thanks again.
Hello Lynn, there might have been an update that has changed the placement of music. Amazon determines priorities on whatever their criteria or limitations are. Unfortunately, no copy and paste. Echos do so much, but many features don’t go deep enough and lack features like copying and pasting. Thanks for watching.
The Alexa Echo Dot is fun to use I get one and I love my echo dot it is so cool lol
Glad to hear that you are enjoying your Echo Dot. They are great little devices. Thanks for watching.
Im switching from google hub and already miss google because at night i would just say, OK google good night and i would ask me what time should it set the alarm and turn of my light and tell me good night.
Alexa docent ask me what time should she put the alarm to and i cant find it in routines.
Awesome. Thank you
Is there a way to run multiple routines at once with 1 command?
Unfortunately not. It would be nice if you could link them.
Thanks!
Thank you very much Bill. That is very generous of you with the Super Thanks. Thank you for watching.
Can I share routines with others in my house?
I have been using Alexa Routines a lot and I just got into using them with music, sadly I have three different versions of the same song, I'm trying to play the one I like best in the morning, got a way to do that?
( example 1: I have garth brooks's "the river" both live and greatest hits )
(example 2: "when you say nothing at all" there are two different singers that sing that song i got both versions )
canada no location, echo button or guard for a choice.....:(
Hey Craig! Question - When I start my "Alexa, start my day" routine, I have it turn on my TV. I also use ROKU TV and you can ask Alexa to "Launch Sling on ROKU". Do you know if I can just add that to the routine after the "Turn on tv" command? Thanks!
Hello Jim, unfortunately you can’t launch an app on the ROKU. It would be nice if that were an option. Thanks for watching.
Craig, my two daughters have an Echo on their bedroom, Id like them go have the Alexa app on their phones, is this possible?, would them log in with my credentials? Can you explain this for me? A video about this subject would be awesome, thanks in advance
Hello Eduardo, you would want them to have their own profiles when you first login to your account. Yours would be the account that is used to login, but then you make each of them a profile as the second step. Here is a link to my older video on setting up profiles. ua-cam.com/video/8LZzHqfzoSY/v-deo.html This would allow them to sync their contacts with Alexa. As for setting up the echos, they should be setup under your account. That way they can all interact with in the house hold. Thanks for watching.
@@CraigsTechTalk thanks a lot Craig
Excellent video brother
Add turn on coffee with smart plug to good morning routine
Can I set a routine to connect to bluetooth speakers and then play music?
You could try to write a routine using the custom command. You could the custom command have Alexa connect to Bluetooth. Then have a wait step of a minute to allow the speaker to connect. For the final step play music. This is theoretical. I can’t test it and go deeper since I am traveling with work. But play with the custom command in routines. It may make it work. Thanks for watching.
How does alexa alert if my geyser is on by mistake
I want to set a routine for every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and another one for Tuesday and Thursday. Can this be done?
Yeah Im wondering the same thing!!!
12:27 so you have to make another routine to turn them off before sunrise, right? If not they'll stay one for ever...
Just sharing what I have done. I have a verbal driven routine that turns off lights and turns on others when I tell it I am going to bed. I also have an automatic routine to do the exact same thing as the verbal routine at 11:30 PM.. That way even if I am not home it would appear I am.. I also have automatic routines to turn off all lights after sunrise and turn on certain lights around sunset.
Is there away to make routines on the Amazon Alexa on PC app? i have it installed on my PC and was hoping to make a few customs routines on the keyboard instead of my fat fingers on my phone. is this possible? cant find the "Routines" section on the PC App.. please help
Unfortunately it is not that advanced yet. It would be nice.
@@CraigsTechTalk it would allow making multiple routines in a more timely manner.
Hi Craig, I love your videos! Recently I’ve had an issue with a morning routine and I can’t figure out what happened.
I have an Echo Dot in my bedroom. I sync it to a Bluetooth speaker in the bathroom. Part of the routine is to play a shuffled playlist from Spotify. This has worked for quite a few months until around June. Now when gets to playing Spotify, it no longer works. It’s says, “Hmm, sorry, I don’t about that.
I re-synced my Amazon account
Unplugged power to the dot
I even erased the original routine and recreated it. Nothing seemed to work.
I also have an additional dot in the kitchen and an Echo Show. I tested the routine on each device. Something interesting happened. Spotify will only play on the Echo Show as part of a routine; yet both dots error out.
Watch and love your videos. I feel like an idiot but what is the secret to editing (deleting) a line in a routine? Sometimes I can delete a line sometimes I can't. I don't know what I am doing wrong. When I want to make a change now I delete the whole routine and start over again. Help JC
You have to press the "minus" sign/icon for the action you want to delete. It's very picky about exactly where you press so don't press even the slightest bit outside the icon or it won't delete.
AWESOME VIDEO!!!🎉🎊
Craig, can i limited the use of routines to some users(voices) or others conditions. I wanna limites the use of routines like “open door” or “open garage” only run with the registred voices, is that possible?
Unfortunately you cannot do that. It would be nice if voice profiles expanded beyond its abilities now. But it is still limited. Thanks for watching.
Tried unsuccessfully to set up a routine to play an Amazon Music playlist on a multi-room speaker group. Amazon chat told me you can't do that. You can ask Alexa to play a playlist on a multi-room speaker group, but you can't set up a routine to do it. Blood hell!!! Here's what the chat person told me. "The Feature for multi room in Routines is not supported. That is the reason why you can only select one device.
It can only add one device at a time under Routines.
" They seemed to suggest that after nominating one device you could then go back and add another. Wrong. You can only play on one.
Wish there was a digital copy other than Apple.
I'm setting up my kids' remote school schedules with the routine function. I want Alexa to announce when each kid needs to login to their next meeting from multiple devices so that I don't have to run around the house calling for the kids. I do not see that there is a way to have the announcement come from multiple devices at once. I've googled it - tried to create groups of devices, but the groups do not show up as an option in the "from" field in the routine set-up. Is this not possible?? If it is, please help!
Hello Katie, have you tried making a scheduled routine and using the messaging option. Under routines for the “when” you would pick scheduled. For the “Action” pick messaging, then announcements, type your announcement and then pick the devices you want the announcement on. Hope this helps.
Can Alexa run a routine from within a routine (nesting routines)?
No it cannot.
@@CraigsTechTalk That would be a pretty powerful feature.
Nice overview!
Can I get Alexa to play a prayer when alarm goes off?
Craig can one include one routine inside another routine?
No you cannot.
I have 18 devices installed that work ok, but don't show up in smart home any ideas why?
If you have the skills for your devices downloaded they should show up as smart home devices.
If only that was true I've deleted the app and reinstalled but no luck its useless maybe only works on the US version
When I leave I want to say to Alexa, "Alexa, initiate lockdown sequence", but she starts a NASA countdown! Can you not use phrases too complex for her?
Thanks for everything
Thank you Mike. Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching.
Need help
How do you get routine to do things in order I want ?
I have good morning routine want weather then a wait then i want to turn on tv
No matter what I do it all ways put TV on top of the list on the routine and i want it to be there last last thing to do
How do you find how to turn down the Volume for the tv in a routine?
I figured it out could not move the TV NO down I have to move everything above the TV ON
thank you
You are welcome. Thank you for watching this video.
@@CraigsTechTalk Yes becoz you give me at good idea. I have show 8.and studio & echo.echo dot.
All your tip is good idea. I hope you help to other people. Thank you God Bless
Cool tech
Very cool. However if you have some pull with the people that make the new features then tell them to add an "End of the Month" regardless of day ie goes off 28, 30, or 31 to Alarm and schedule function. I haven't found a way to set an alarm only for Tues - Friday at a certain time. Anyone know how to do this? So far I have found no way to set specific days of the week to set alarms.
Alexa is horrible if you want to just set a turn on and turn off of a simple “smart plug”. Even working with Amazon tech support for two months my smart plug can only turn on a light but won’t allow setting a time to turn it off.
Wish there was a way to repeat the actions with a loop to run them indefinitely until we ask Alexa to stop.
love how you muted the name Alexa 😂 Did help tho
Craig, like your channel and reviews but I purchased the book "More than just weather and music" and found it useless. About 75 percent of the book contained useless information and or skills. A lot of junk skills!
why do they cut the Alexa word ?
To avoid triggering devices that are near by.
@@CraigsTechTalk Do you cut the word irl or in the montage ?
Love your videos thanks now Im really considering a smart home
God loves you
I want to make a location based routine
Oh it doesn’t work in uk
Oh or even exist
That’s a bummer that it is still not available. It has been out for a while and should be there by now. Shame on you Amazon
It’s probably just me because I have put in a location but it still doesn’t show up on routines