Using Cortana voice assistance in Teams

Personal controls

Your personal information is protected with Cortana in Teams. These voice assistance experiences are delivered using Cortana enterprise-grade services that fully comply with Microsoft 365’s privacy, security, and compliance promises as reflected in the Online Services Terms (OST).

Try out Cortana voice assistance in the Teams mobile app by selecting the mic button. United States English (en-US) language accounts can turn on voice activation to activate Cortana by saying, "Hey Cortana."

To turn on voice activation via settings in the Teams mobile app:

1. Open the Teams mobile app.

2. Go to Settings.

3. Select Cortana.

4. Turn the Voice activation toggle switch On to be able to activate Cortana with your voice.

To choose between a masculine or a feminine voice for Cortana in the Teams mobile app:

1. Open the Teams mobile app.

2. Go to Settings.

3. Select Cortana.

4. Next to Cortana Voice, select either “Voice 1 – Feminine” or “Voice 2 – Masculine.”

You can also control whether Cortana speaks out loud through the audio device you've connected to Teams.

By default, Cortana will speak out loud, indicated by the speaker icon in the lower-left corner of the screen (highlighted below). If you prefer to only have Cortana provide text on screen, without audio output, select the speaker icon, which will then appear with a slash through it.  
 

Use Siri Shortcuts with Teams mobile

Set up Siri Shortcuts on iOS to quickly open Teams and join meetings.

To open Teams via Siri Shortcut:

1. Open the Teams mobile app on your iOS device.

2. Go to Settings.

3. Select Cortana.

4. Under Siri Shortcut, select Open Cortana in Teams

5. Select Add to Siri.

When you want to open Teams using the Siri shortcut, invoke Siri and then say, "Hey Siri, open Cortana in Teams."  

To join your meeting via Siri Shortcut:

1. Open the Teams mobile app on your iOS device.

2. Go to Settings.

3. Select Cortana.

4. Under Siri Shortcut, select Join my meeting.

5. Select Add to Siri.

When you want to join your meeting using the Siri shortcut, invoke Siri and then say, "Hey Siri, join my meeting."  

Calls, meetings, and classes

To connect with someone while you’re on the go, say, "Hey, Cortana, call Megan".

Teams mobile app: 

When you’re ready to join a meeting, say, “Hey, Cortana, join my next meeting” or if you're using a school account, say, "Hey, Cortana, join my next class".

Microsoft Teams display:

Once you’re in a meeting, invoke Cortana voice assistance to perform various in-meeting tasks, like adding someone to a call by name or number. For example, say, “Hey, Cortana, add Megan to the call".

Teams mobile app: 

Present a deck by saying, "Hey, Cortana, present the quarterly review deck".

Microsoft Teams display:

Or, you can navigate to a particular slide in your presentation by saying, "Hey, Cortana, go to the appendix slide".

Teams mobile app:  

Messaging

You can use Cortana voice assistance to send a message to someone in Teams anytime. Say, "Hey, Cortana, send a message to Jonathan".

Microsoft Teams display:

And if you want to get in touch with the team, try saying, "Hey, Cortana, send a message to my next meeting".

Teams mobile app:  

Find, search, and navigate

You can also find and share files, and search or navigate within the Teams mobile app or on the Microsoft Teams display.

Share a file by saying, "Hey, Cortana, share the marketing review deck with Jonathan".

Microsoft Teams display:

For help finding a previous Teams chat, say, "Hey, Cortana, open my chat with Jacob".

Teams mobile app:  

To see what you’ve missed while you were away, say, “Hey, Cortana, go to my unread activity”.

Teams mobile app:  

See who’s tagged you in Teams by saying, “Hey, Cortana, go to my mentions”.

Teams mobile app:  

What you can do with Cortana voice assistance

For the initial release of Cortana voice assistance, covering Microsoft 365 Enterprise licenses in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, and Australia, the table below includes the complete list of available skills. Additional skills will become available in future releases.

To hear what’s new with Cortana voice assistance, select the mic button and say, "Hey, Cortana, what can you do?".

Meeting and class skills:

Communication skills:

Collaboration skills:

Microsoft Teams display skills: 

Personal controls

Your personal information is protected with Cortana in Teams. These voice assistance experiences are delivered using Cortana enterprise-grade services that fully comply with Microsoft 365’s privacy, security, and compliance promises as reflected in the Online Services Terms (OST).

Try out Cortana voice assistance in the Teams mobile app by selecting the mic button or by saying “Hey, Cortana”. You can control whether you want to activate Cortana with your voice via a setting in the Teams mobile app:

1. Open the Teams mobile app.

2. Go to Settings.

3. Select Cortana.

4. Turn the Voice activation toggle switch On to be able to activate Cortana with your voice.

To choose between a masculine or a feminine voice for Cortana in the Teams mobile app:

1. Open the Teams mobile app.

2. Go to Settings.

3. Select Cortana.

4. Next to Cortana Voice, select either “Voice 1 – Feminine” or “Voice 2 – Masculine.”

You can also control whether Cortana speaks out loud through the audio device you've connected to Teams.

By default, Cortana will speak out loud, indicated by the speaker icon in the lower-left corner of the screen (highlighted below). If you prefer to only have Cortana provide text on screen, without audio output, select the speaker icon, which will then appear with a slash through it.  
 

Use Siri Shortcuts with Teams mobile

Set up Siri Shortcuts on iOS to quickly open Teams and join meetings.

To open Teams via Siri Shortcut:

1. Open the Teams mobile app on your iOS device.

2. Go to Settings.

3. Select Cortana.

4. Under Siri Shortcut, select Open Cortana in Teams

5. Select Add to Siri.

When you want to open Teams using the Siri shortcut, invoke Siri and then say, "Hey Siri, open Cortana in Teams."  

To join your meeting via Siri Shortcut:

1. Open the Teams mobile app on your iOS device.

2. Go to Settings.

3. Select Cortana.

4. Under Siri Shortcut, select Join my meeting.

5. Select Add to Siri.

When you want to join your meeting using the Siri shortcut, invoke Siri and then say, "Hey Siri, join my meeting."