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List of Alexa Commands

  • 5 October 2017
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Is there a list of Echo commands that we can use now?

It would be nice if ALL of the Amazon Echo Skill’s designer would make these lists and keep them current.
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Best answer by jgatie 5 October 2017, 18:58

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39 replies

Is there a list of Echo commands that we can use now?

It would be nice if ALL of the Amazon Echo Skill’s designer would make these lists and keep them current.


https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3514
Found this...

Music and volume commands:
(The group / room must be specified when asking Alexa to change volume.)

Alexa, previous song / track.
Alexa, stop.
Alexa, next song/track.
Alexa, skip.
Alexa, skip song / track.
Alexa, pause / stop / resume in (room name).
Alexa, pause / stop / resume the music in (room name).
Alexa, skip / next in (room name).
Alexa, play the next / previous song/track in (room name).
Alexa, pause Alexa, resume (room name).
Alexa, what's playing in (room name)?
Alexa, turn it up / down in (room name).
Alexa, louder / quieter in (room name).
Alexa, set the volume to 3 (30%) in (room name). [0-10 volume levels]
Alexa, softer in (room name).
Alexa, mute (room name).
Alexa, unmute (room name).
what about group and ungroup or play xxxx everywhere?
what about group and ungroup or play xxxx everywhere?

Grouping is not supported at this time, but they say they are working on it. However, you can group via the Sonos app, then ask Alexa to play to any speaker in the group and it will play to the entire group.
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How do I play music from my own music library (on NAS)?
This https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3514 only talks about external music services and excludes Deezer, the one I have.

And when I say "Alexa, play Ben Howard in the Kitchen" because
a - I know that there is Ben Howard in my Amazon Music account (because I bought the CD long ago via Amazon)
b - I know that Alexa knows that I have a Sonos room called "Kitchen" (because it shows in the Alexa app)

it just plays Ben Howard via the Amazon Echo high up on top of the kitchen cupboard, instead of via the Play:5 Gen2!
Userlevel 2
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How do I play music from my own music library (on NAS)?
This https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3514 only talks about external music services and excludes Deezer, the one I have.

And when I say "Alexa, play Ben Howard in the Kitchen" because
a - I know that there is Ben Howard in my Amazon Music account (because I bought the CD long ago via Amazon)
b - I know that Alexa knows that I have a Sonos room called "Kitchen" (because it shows in the Alexa app)

it just plays Ben Howard via the Amazon Echo high up on top of the kitchen cupboard, instead of via the Play:5 Gen2!

No support for local libraries yet.

Is your Echo also called 'Kitchen', if so then you need to rename it to something like 'Kitchen Echo'.
Userlevel 5
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Thanks RE libraries. :(
No, the Echo is called "Echo Dot". I only have the one Echo, to see what it was like and whether it could control Sonos adequately. Hoping that the microphones built in to the Play:5 2nd Gen might be able to control the speaker one day. They said they were installed for future proofing... I have 5 Sonos rooms.
Thanks RE libraries. :(
No, the Echo is called "Echo Dot". I only have the one Echo, to see what it was like and whether it could control Sonos adequately. Hoping that the microphones built in to the Play:5 2nd Gen might be able to control the speaker one day. They said they were installed for future proofing... I have 5 Sonos rooms.


Unfortunately, the microphones in the Play:5 were not designed for voice control. Voice control requires a far field array of microphones, the Play:5 has only two simple mics.
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Thanks RE libraries. :(
No, the Echo is called "Echo Dot". I only have the one Echo, to see what it was like and whether it could control Sonos adequately. Hoping that the microphones built in to the Play:5 2nd Gen might be able to control the speaker one day. They said they were installed for future proofing... I have 5 Sonos rooms.


Unfortunately, the microphones in the Play:5 were not designed for voice control. Voice control requires a far field array of microphones, the Play:5 has only two simple mics.

Yes, I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek - So what were they designed for??
Alexa, turn it up to 11!

Yes, I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek - So what were they designed for??


I believe it was for Trueplay tuning, but a stationary mic located on the device itself was not sufficient, you need to have the mic move around the room.
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Just went into the kitchen and said "Alexa, play Ben Howard music in the Kitchen", and it worked through the Play:5, so that is progress. :D
It took 3 attempts to get it to stop though; "Alexa, stop playing music in the Kitchen" seemed to do it in the end. Obviously needs practise. I am not going to be happy though, until it works with local music library or Deezer, or preferably both.
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Alexa, turn it up to 11!
Turn it up and even crank it up are both valid for volume... sadly, Alexa only recognizes volume numbers up to 10. 😞
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initial post: https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/volume-limit-feature-4412144/index7.html#post16151993
I was looking forward Alexa Integration and have been quite impressed with 4-Oct announcements. Now Sonos is back on track, and might become the best deal in term of integration in the long run.
But....
After testing today Alexa-Sonos integration, i automatically searched for the volume control feature which is as of today unavailable. Having kids between 3-5 years old, Alexa integration become a very dangerous feature. How hard is it for them to say "Alexa, set the volume to 10 in the living room. I have 1 playbar, 1 woofer and 2 play 1 in the living room, imagine the consequences? I have disabled Alexa integration for now.
The simple solution I would wish. In the setup, set max x% per group (ex: 30% in living room). No change in any application (iphone/ipad app, windows, alexa), but when user setup volume to 50%, it actually set the actual volume to 15% (50% x 30%). This will make it easy for everyone, and make the volume adjustment more precise.
When can we have this sonos? Do not make techy parents look inconscient
Userlevel 1
Sonos, we have waited some time for this integration. I've tooled around with it myself over the years using PGP, external servers, etc. Lots of work. What you have here is simple and elegant. We should all realize it's version 1.0 and quit complaining. Guys .. it works! Thank you SONOS for your continueing efforts of integrating your terrific products w/ Amazon Echo ...
Are you kidding me? No group control? How many of us bought Sonos to play a single speaker? For single or stereo play, there exist numerous wireless options, both cheaper and better. It's the "whole house" synchronized wireless thing that Sonos is known for. I certainly didn't invest many thousands to fill just one room. To *not* recognize one's own market niche is surely myopic.

After months of beta work, the best we can do is pause/resume, stop/play an Alexa group "Sonos" comprising our Sonos speakers? I can't find any combination of words that will affect the group volume. The only volume command that doesn't change the Echo or Dot volume earns a "Sonos isn't responding" reply.
"Alexa; Sonos stop"
no Alexa ack (but all Sonos group members cease playing)
"Alexa; Sonos play"
"Okay" (all Sonos group members begin playing last selected media)
"Alexa; Sonos volume 3"
"Sonos isn't responding" (indeed, Sonos volume remains unchanged)

I'll be curious to see if the Google Home Max can maintain whole house sync at 16+ speakers. If that's possible, Sonos days may be numbered...
Has anyone tried grouping by using the alexa app, I have created a group within tbe alexa app called "all sonos" and it works!
It may occasionally work, but it is not officially supported at this time, and the performance can be wonky. It can also screw up other things like actual grouping from the Sonos app. The official way to group at this time is to group using the Sonos app, then tell Alexa to play to any one of the grouped speakers. It will then play over the entire group.
Has anyone tried grouping by using the alexa app, I have created a group within tbe alexa app called "all sonos" and it works!

How did you group Sonos speakers? I only see my Echo Dots coming up for possible speakers for Alexa grouping. Thanks!
Userlevel 6
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Anyone remember Zork?

My Alexa / Sonos is currently working / stable and I'm getting used to the sentence construct required. On the whole it works and it's hard not to be just a little bit impressed.

What's interesting, and this is of course completely outside Sonos's control is the clunky construction of the sentence required.

For instance, I've got used to saying something like 'Turn the volume up in the bedroom'. Someone else might walk in and say 'Turn the bedroom volume up' and it won't work.

It's interesting to remember the very impressive language parsers used by Infocom games in the 80's (anyone remember them?). Yeah, they were only games, but they kinda what what you wanted to do no matter how you constructed the sentence and they did it all in 48K!! I'm sure it will come but Alexa (and again, this is I'm sure outside Sonos's control) is very rigid with how you ask for something, and even more limited with how she replies. An example of this is when I turn my heating on or off all she says is 'ok'.

I like it thus far, but just my observations.

I will shut up now and get back to work :-)
Andrew
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Does the volume control work? I’m constantly getting the “Sonos isn’t responding” or “kitchen isn’t responding” anything I can do?
@chasiliff ; to group any Alexa devices, including Sonos units, they must first be discovered and listed in your Smart Home inventory. Assuming you've successfully discovered your Sonos speakers, here's one way to create an Alexa SmartHome device group:

Open a web browser to https://alexa.amazon.com
Click "Smart Home" on the left side nav bar
Click "Groups" icon in the Smart Home main window
Click "Create Group" in the Groups main window
Click "Device Group" in the Create Group main window
Type a name for your new Device group; Select member device checkboxes from the list below; Click "Save"

Alternatively, you can reach the Device Group creation window directly using
https://alexa.amazon.com/spa/index.html#mygroup/groups
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Thanks RE libraries. :(
No, the Echo is called "Echo Dot". I only have the one Echo, to see what it was like and whether it could control Sonos adequately. Hoping that the microphones built in to the Play:5 2nd Gen might be able to control the speaker one day. They said they were installed for future proofing... I have 5 Sonos rooms.


Unfortunately, the microphones in the Play:5 were not designed for voice control. Voice control requires a far field array of microphones, the Play:5 has only two simple mics.

Yes, I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek - So what were they designed for??


They were designed for tuning the speaker to the environment I believe.
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Hi All.
I have a play 5 and play 1. Both seem to be doing pretty well with my stand alone echo dot.

My question is , if I buy a new play 1 with Alexa built in , then group ALL speakers with the sonos app , will alexa’s Voice come out of all 3 speakers , not just the play 1 ?
Userlevel 7
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Hi All.
I have a play 5 and play 1. Both seem to be doing pretty well with my stand alone echo dot.

My question is , if I buy a new play 1 with Alexa built in , then group ALL speakers with the sonos app , will alexa’s Voice come out of all 3 speakers , not just the play 1 ?


Nope. The Sonos One can control all of your players, but the only speaker to respond with Alexa's voice will be the Sonos One.

Just a quick note, there is a PLAY:1 which doesn't have microphones and never will. And there is a Sonos One, which has microphones and built-in Amazon Alexa.