Cortana Reminders vs Calendar Appts. vs To Do

[evillama]

What makes the distinction between a reminder Cortana puts in her notebook for me versus what she puts in my calendar? Is it a task vs. appointment difference? Person vs. Location?

Also how come she doesn't utilize the To Do list so those reminders would sync with my Outlook calendar?

ENV

 

[Nerdy Woman]

Good question. Sometimes I wish she used the Outlook task list, but then again... I don't need buy milk as a completed task. One advantage with her notebook is GPS sensitivity. You can tell her to remind you to buy milk the next time you're at a store and she'll do that.

I think it has to do with verbage. If you say Remind me, it goes in her notebook. If you say Put dr's appt on my calendar, it goes on calendar (you can also specify another calendar if you have more than one viewable on your phone). If you say Note or Take a Note, she'll put the note in OneNote. I have tried saying task, calendar task, to do list, etc. She gives me Bing results.

Here's a list of things you can say to Cortana... What can I say to Cortana on my
Windows Phone? | Windows Phone How-to (United States)

 

[evillama]

Ah, yes - the verbiage. Going to do some testing and listing then to figure her out!

ENV

 

[Talderon]

Reminders/To-Do are put into One Note.
Appointments/Events are put into the calendar.

As stated, the Location functionality of reminders are a great feature and does not tie in well with the way Outlook To-Do's are implemented.

I can't speak too much for the To-Do's as I have never really used them. I am not that organized.

 

[Nerdy Woman]

I know we've all gotten so used to seeing links that go to Help pages that tell us things we already knew... so we ignore those links, right?

Open Cortana and tap the microphone. Now tap the See More link beneath her greeting to you...

Almost OT, but not entirely. ;-)

 

[Jason Drum]

One thing that would be useful for me that I can't do is a reminder that is combination between time and location like "remind me wednesday when i get to blah blah to do blah blah".

 

[Nerdy Woman]

One thing that would be useful for me that I can't do is a reminder that is combination between time and location like "remind me wednesday when i get to blah blah to do blah blah".

You can't specify time and place, but you can specify place and Cortana will remind you the next time you are at that location. Add places and give them nicknames so she doesn't ask for addresses... Or if you want her to remind you about doing something when you get to work on Wednesday, you can just ask her to remind you at the time you usually arrive.

 

[hcrick]

What makes the distinction between a reminder Cortana puts in her notebook for me versus what she puts in my calendar? Is it a task vs. appointment difference? Person vs. Location?

Also how come she doesn't utilize the To Do list so those reminders would sync with my Outlook calendar?

ENV

Reminders are meant as simple quick reminders without the details of calendar based appointments (which you can specify start/stop time, duration, other notes/details, location, etc). With reminders you can only complete the task or snooze for 5-10min (forget exact time) whereas with calendar events you have way more options for snooze time (various minutes, hours, days, etc).

 

[jason404]

The weird thing is that there is an option in the phone calendar settings, to set a colour for Remind Me. Looks like a broken or half-baked feature to me. Hopefully Windows 10 Mobile will sort it out.