How To Enable Skills On Alexa?
Randall Mullins
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Best Alexa skills for finance – American Express® and Capital One® cardholders can use an Echo to transfer money, make payments, and check their balance just by asking Alexa to do so. To see if your bank is compatible with Alexa—open the Alexa app and tap the menu icon up top, select Skills and Games, tap the magnifying glass, and search for your bank.
Why are my Alexa Skills not working?
Disable and re-enable the skill. If using Amazon Household profiles, verify that your device is on the correct profile. Check if the skill requires account linking. If the skill requires permission to use, grant permission in the Alexa app.
How do you enable Skills on Alexa without the app?
3. Activating Alexa Skills Via the Amazon Site – If you don’t like scrolling through the Alexa skills on your phone, why not use a computer? Just head over to the Alexa Skills page on Amazon to get started. Using the site makes it really easy to find the skills you want.
Where did my Alexa skills go?
Alexa Blueprints ### Frequently asked questions – #### What are Alexa Skill Blueprints? Alexa Skill Blueprints are a new way for you to customize your Alexa experience by adding personalized Alexa skills and responses. Personalized skills and responses make Alexa even more knowledgeable, delivering a delightful experience that is unique to you and your family. #### How do I create a skill using Alexa Skill Blueprints? You can create your own Alexa skills and responses in minutes with easy to use templates – just fill in the blanks. Choose from the different blueprints to see what kind of skill you’d like to make. (/home) to see which one you’d like to customize to fit your household. #### #### What’s the difference between a Skill Blueprint and a regular Alexa skill? Alexa skills are like apps for Alexa. You can already choose from thousands of skills, from ordering a pizza to requesting a ride. Skill Blueprints are templates that you can use to create skills of your own and customize to fit your lifestyle. #### How many skills can I make? There’s no limit to the number of skills you can make, so create as many as you like. #### Who has access to the personalized content I create? Your personalized skills and responses are only available on Alexa devices associated with your account. #### Can I use an Alexa Developer account to use Skill Blueprints? Yes, you can log in with any Amazon account, including developer accounts, to use Skill Blueprints. You will be able to see the skills you’ve made using blueprints, but you cannot edit them in the developer portal. #### How do I know which account my device is using? Just ask, “Alexa, which account is this?” and your Alexa-enabled device will tell you which account is currently logged in. #### My Alexa device is registered to a different account than the one I used to log in to Skill Blueprints. Can I still access the skills I’ve made from my devices? You should use the same account for Skill Blueprints that you used to register your Alexa devices, otherwise you’ll have to switch accounts. If you have multiple accounts in your household and you want to switch to the account that you used to make your skill, just tell Alexa which account you want to switch to. For example, “Alexa, switch to Jeff’s account.” If you do not have multiple accounts listed in your household, you will need to switch accounts using the Alexa app.1. Go to the Alexa app and select **Settings**.2. Select the device you want to use and choose **Deregister**.3. At the bottom of the Settings page, select **Sign Out** 4. Log back in to the app with the account you used to make your skills. You will need to make sure you’re signed into the account you wish to link your device to.5. From **Settings**, select **Set Up A New Device** to link your Alexa-enabled device. #### Can I use Skill Blueprints on my mobile device? Yes you can create skills using blueprints on your desktop or mobile device, but the website is optimized for desktop. #### Why can’t I open my skill? If you recently made or edited your skill, it may take a couple minutes to process. To see if your skill is ready, go to the (/skills) page and make sure the status is set to **Ready to use**. Secondly, make sure the language for your device is set to English (United States). To change the language for your device: 1. In the Alexa app, open **Settings**.2. Select the device to modify its settings.3. Select **Language**.4. Select **English (United States)**. If your skill is ready to use and your language is set to English (United States), then you will need to check to make sure you’re using the right skill name. You’ll need to restart your skill by saying, “Alexa, open.” Or, “Alexa, start.” For example, “Alexa, open My Family Trivia.” Alexa is still learning new words and names, so your skill name might be a little too difficult to understand. You can always change the skill name on the (/skills) page to something simple and unique. Check out the section on (/help/make-your-skill) for best practices. #### I can’t find the skill I made. Where did it go? Your skill may have a different name than what you remember or you may have made it under a different account. You can find all of your skills for your account in the (/skills) page. You can also ask your Alexa device which account is currently logged in. If you disabled a skill that you want to use, you will need to enable it again. Go to the Alexa app and select **Skills** then choose **Your Skills**. Select the skill and choose **Enable skill**. #### Why can’t I use certain names for my skill? Alexa is still learning new words and names, so your skill name might be too difficult for Alexa to understand or may be too similar to another skill name you’ve made. If the skill doesn’t open reliably with the skill name you’ve chosen, you may have to rename your skill with a simple, unique name that is between two and three syllables long. Check out the (/help/make-your-skill) page to learn more about naming your skill. #### Can I change my skill name after I create my skill? Yes, you can edit the name of your skill if you don’t like it or if it’s too complicated to remember. Check out the (/help/make-your-skill) page for more details about naming your skill. #### How long before my skill is ready to use? After you create a skill, it will be ready to use in a few minutes. To see if your skill is ready to use, check out the (/skills) page and select the skill to see more details. #### The skill doesn’t respond like I want it to. How can I fix it? Alexa is still learning new phrases and may not always understand that certain words refer to the same idea. For Q&A especially, you’ll need to prompt Alexa using the exact same questions that you customized for your skill. If you find that you’re asking your questions differently, you may want to update your skill to reflect the specific language you’re using. You can view what you’ve said to Alexa in the Alexa app by going to **Settings** and choosing **History**. You can edit the content in your skill anytime. Go to the (/skills) page, choose your skill, and select **Edit**. #### Can Alexa understand special characters? Alexa can interpret alpha-numeric characters and certain special characters including: question marks ( ? ), exclamation points ( \! ), colons ( : ), periods (,), apostrophes ( ‘ ), dashes ( – ), and commas (, ). When you’re creating your skill, if you add in a special character that is not supported, you’ll see an error message. #### Can I delete my skill? Yes, but you may want to disable your skill in the Alexa App instead. Disabling a skill allows you to keep it from being used, but you can enable it later if you change your mind. Deleting a skill will remove it from your account and you will not be able to use that skill name again. To disable your skill, go to the Alexa app and select **Skills** then choose **Your Skills**. Select the skill and choose **Disable skill**. If you wish to delete your skill, go to the (/skills) page, select the skill and choose **Delete**. #### How many people can I share my skill with? There’s no limit to the number of people you can share your Blueprints skill with. Just keep in mind that once you share your skill, anyone can share that link outside of your network as well. #### Can someone edit my skill after I’ve shared it with them? No, as the skill creator only you have the ability to edit your skill or revoke access to your skill for everyone. #### Why can’t I share a skill using WhatsApp or text from my computer? Even if your computer supports texting apps, sharing via text or WhatsApp is only available when logged into Skill Blueprints from a mobile device. #### Can I revoke access to my skill for individual people? No, at this time you cannot selectively remove access for specific people currently using your skill. If you set the access on your skill back to **Just me**, you will remove access for everyone. #### How do I change the name of my skill once I’ve shared it? To edit the name, you’ll need to revoke access to your skill first.1. Go to the **Skills You’ve Made** page and select a skill.2. Under **Access**, select the option to **Revoke**. The status of your skill will change back to **Just me**.3. Choose edit icon next to the name of your skill.4. After editing the name, go back to **Skill Actions** and select **Share With Others**.5. When prompted, share the new link to your skill with recipients via email, text, or as a post over social media. #### Will recipients still be able to use my skill if I revoke access, then re-share it with the same name? No, the old link and access to the skill will be disabled for everyone. A new link will be generated for your skill that you’ll need to share for anyone to use your skill. #### How do I know if someone has shared a Blueprints skill with me? You will receive an email, text, or notification on your social media account telling you about the skill, who sent it, and a link to enable the skill for yourself. After opening the link, you’ll need to log in to your Amazon account to view the skill page. Once you’ve logged in, select the **Enable** button if you want to use that skill. Once you see a confirmation message, the skill is ready to use on any Alexa-enabled device registered to the Amazon account where you enabled the skill. #### How do I find a skill once it’s been shared with me? In the Alexa App, go to **Skills** \> **Your Skill** \> **Personal Skill**. You’ll have the option to view details or enable the skill by selecting the **Enable Skill** button. You won’t be able to access shared skills in Skill Blueprints portal, only the skills you’ve made. #### Why can’t I use a skill that was shared with me? The creator of the skill may have deleted the skill, changed the skill’s name or revoked access to it. #### What happens if two skills share the same name? Always pick a unique name for your skill to make sure it’s memorable and to avoid name sharing between skills. Due to how skills are invoked, if there are two skills that have identical names, Alexa might start either skill. #### Someone shared a skill with me that has offensive or inappropriate language. What should I do? Please use the link on the skill detail page that was shared with you to report the hateful or offensive language. Skills that violate Amazon’s policies will be disabled from shared accounts. #### What’s the difference between sharing and publishing a skill? A shared skill is only available to people who have access to the shared skill link you’ve distributed. When you publish a skill, your skill is available for anyone to find, use, and review on the Alexa Skills Store. Your skill can be reviewed and given a star rating, just like any other skill in the Alexa Skills Store today. ^ ^ #### I have shared my personal skill with my friends. Will my skill still be accessible to them after it is published? No. You will need to revoke shared access to your skill before you can publish it. After you publish your skill, you can view your skill on the Alexa Skills Store and use the share option to send a link to your skill in the store via email, text, or over social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. You can also copy this link and post it on your website to promote your skill to your followers. #### How long will the publishing process take? Reviewing and publishing a skill can take 1 to 2 business days due to the rigorous testing standards Amazon has in place for adding new skills to the Alexa Skills Store. You will get an email letting you know if your skill did or did not pass the review process. If your skill did not pass, the email will outline steps you can take to fix the skill and resubmit it. #### How will I know if my skill was successfully published? When the review process is completed you will see a notification on the Skill detail page letting you know if your skill was **Approved** or **Rejected**. In addition, you will receive an email that will contain the results of the review process. Once your skill is live, you will receive a notification on the Blueprints skill page. #### Can I withdraw my publishing request? Yes, if you’ve submitted a skill and it’s still in the review phase, then select the **Withdraw Submission** button. If you haven’t completed the publishing process yet and your skill is not in review, then you can choose the option to **Cancel Publishing** and your publishing information that you’ve filled out will be deleted. You can always come back and submit your skill at a later date. #### Will I be able to change the opening phrase for my skill after it is live? No. Once your skill is live in the Alexa Skills Store, you can no longer change the opening phrase. #### How do I set a brand name as my opening phrase? A one‐word opening phrase is allowed if you own a brand or have approval from a brand to use it. When you’re editing your opening phrase, you’ll need to provide documentation that justifies that you are the owner or that you have the right to use the brand. ^ ^ #### How should I submit brand and intellectual property rights documentation? When using a brand name in your Opening phrase, Alexa Skills Store name, or in the Created by field, you’ll need to provide documentation demonstrating that you have the right to use that brand. You can either submit a signed confirmation letter from the intellectual property rights holder or a copy of the applicable license agreement. You can upload your documentation to a file sharing service such as Dropbox, S3 etc. and provide a sharable link to your documents in the text below the **Opening Phrase**, **Alexa Skills Store Name**, and **Created by** fields. #### Will I be able to change my skill after it is published? You can’t change your opening phrase after publication but you can edit other skill details and resubmit it for review. ^ ^ #### Why was my skill removed from the Alexa Skills Store? Amazon regularly reviews skills that are live in the Alexa Skills Store. If the content of your skill does not adhere to the (https://blueprints.amazon.com/help/terms?page=content-guidelines), Amazon reserves the right to remove your skill from the Alexa Skills Store. You will receive an email outlining the issue(s) and how to fix them so you can resubmit your skill for publication. ^ ^ #### How can I use Blog Blueprint? WordPress Bloggers who have installed the Amazon AI Plugin for WordPress can use the Blog Blueprint to launch their blog posts as a podcast by providing the RSS feed generated by the plugin. The Amazon AI Plugin converts text-based blog posts into speech by leveraging the Text-to-Speech capabilities from Amazon Polly, generating an audio (RSS) feed for text-based blog content. Learn more about the (https://wordpress.org/plugins/amazon-polly/). #### What is an RSS feed? An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed delivers updated content you’ve published on your site in an easy format for other sites to share so your audience can get custom tailored content in one place. For blueprints that use RSS feeds, you can share your content through your Alexa skill by setting up your RSS feed so your skill can automatically play new content you’ve added to your site. ^ ^ #### What are the requirements for the Flash Briefing RSS feed? If you plan to use your existing RSS feed for your flash briefing skill, your feed needs to adhere to the following requirements: – The audio content should be hosted as https – The audio content should be 256kbps mono or stereo MP3 – Content should not exceed 10 minutes in length – Program loudness for Alexa should average -14 dB LUFS/LKFS – The true-peak value should not exceed –2 dBFS #### What are the requirements for using a radio livestream? Only,m3u and,pls file formats are supported at this time. #### Do I need an Alexa for Business account to create skills for my organization? You can use any Amazon account to create an Alexa for Business skill from a blueprint and publish it to your organization. However, that organization will need to have an (https://aws.amazon.com/alexaforbusiness/) account to be able to review and enable your skill. #### How do I submit a skill to my organization using Alexa for Business? You will need your organization’s identifier, or **ARN**, sent by your IT administrator. Learn more about publishing skills to (https://blueprints.amazon.com/help/publish-to-a4b#help-content) for more details. #### How can I get started with Alexa for Business for my organization? To start using Alexa for Business, you need one or more Alexa-enabled devices and an AWS account. If you don’t have an AWS account you can go to the (https://aws.amazon.com/alexaforbusiness/), select **Sign in to the Console** in the upper right of the screen, and follow the instructions to create a new account. Once you’ve created your account with AWS, sign into the AWS console and navigate to **Business Productivity** \> **Alexa for Business**. : Alexa Blueprints
How do I update my Alexa skills?
Alexa Blueprints ### Update your skill – #### Edit your skill Keep your skill up to date by going to the (/skills) page. Choose your skill, then select **Edit** to make changes. If you’ve shared your skill, only you have the ability to update it as the skill creator.
Any changes you make will be immediately available to anyone you’ve shared your skill with. (/help/share-your-skill) about sharing. #### Disable a skill Disabling a skill keeps it from being used but doesn’t delete it from your account. To disable a skill, go to the Alexa app, and select **Skills** then choose **Your Skills**.
How To Setup Skills on Amazon Echo Dot – Alexa Echo Dot 3rd Gen Setup Music, Books, Games, Trivia
Select the skill and choose **Disable skill**. #### Delete a skill Unlike disabling a skill, deleting a skill will remove it from your account and you will not be able to use that skill name again. If you’re sure you want to delete your skill, go to the (/skills) page and choose the skill you want to delete.
Why do you have to enable Skills on Alexa?
Skills that control your smart home devices – If you’ve got other smart home devices, like a robot vacuum or smart thermostat, you’ll want to enable those skills in the Alexa app as soon as possible. These skills allow you to turn on your smart devices through the Alexa app or your Echo speaker by voice.
Where is the enable button on Alexa?
Download Article Download Article This wikiHow teaches you how to add Alexa skills to an Amazon Echo device using voice commands, the Alexa app, or the Amazon.com website. Alexa skills are like voice apps that add more features to Alexa’s voice commands. Whenever you add a skill, it will be available on all of your Alexa devices, not just the one you enabled it on.
- 1 Say “Alexa”, Say the wake command to wake Alexa and she will begin listening for your next command.
- The default wake command is “Alexa,” but if you’ve changed it to “Echo,” “Amazon,” or some other command, then use the wake command you previously set.
- 2 Say “Enable” and the name of the skill you want to add. For example, if you wanted to add the Himalaya Sounds skill, you would say “Alexa, enable Himalaya Sounds skill.”
- You can also say “disable” instead of “enable” to disable any currently installed skill.
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- 3 Ask Alexa to recommend skills. You can say, “Alexa, recommend me some skills,” to get some ideas of popular skills. You can even ask Alexa for recommendations on skills from a specific category in the skill store, like games, news, smart home, etc.
- For example, if you wanted Alexa to recommend some popular game skills, you would say “Alexa, recommend me some game skills.”
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- 1 Open the Alexa App. It’s the light-blue app with the white outline of a speech bubble.
- 2 Tap ☰, It’s in the top-left corner. This opens a pop-out menu on the left side of the screen.
- 3 Tap Skills, It’s near the bottom of the menu in the third section of options.
- 4 Find a skill in the store. Look through different categories of skills by tapping “Categories” near the top of the screen or search for a particular skill by using the search bar, also near the top.
- 5 Tap on the skill you want to add. Tap on the skill you want to add to see more information about the skill.
- 6 Tap ENABLE, It’s the large blue button at the top of the page, just under the skill’s rating. This enables the skill on all of your Alexa devices.
- 7 Manage your Alexa skills. You can disable or alter the settings of all the currently installed Alexa skills. To manage your Alexa skills:
- Tap ☰,
- Tap Skills,
- Tap Your Skills,
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- 1 Go to https://www.amazon.com in a web browser. In your preferred web browser, go to amazon’s full desktop website where you can manage your Alexa’s skills.
- Log in with the email and password associated with the same Amazon account you used to set up your Alexa device.
- 2 Hover the mouse over Departments ⏷, It’s near the top-left corner of the page just under the Amazon logo. This will open a drop-down menu with additional options.
- 3 Scroll down and click Echo & Alexa, It’s the fourth option from the top of the drop-down menu. This will expand the drop-down menu on the right.
- 4 Click Alexa Skills, It’s in the far-right column of the drop-down menu under the “Content & Resources” heading.
- 5 Find a skill you want to add. You can search for a particular skill in the search bar or click one of the categories on the left-hand side of the page.
- 6 Click on the skill you want to add. Click on the icon or title of the skill you want to add to see more information about the skill.
- 7 Click Enable, It’s the yellow button on the right side of the page.This enables the skill on all of your Alexa devices.
- 8 Manage your Alexa skills. Click Your Skills to manage all of the skills that are currently installed. It’s near the middle of the page underneath the blue banner. You can disable skills or alter any available settings.
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Ask a Question 200 characters left Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Submit Advertisement Article Summary X “Alexa, enable wikiHow.” Adds the wikiHow skill. “Alexa, activate the wikiHow skill.” Adds the wikiHow skill.
How many Alexa Skills can you enable?
Usage limits – Amazon limits your developer.amazon.com account to 75 Alexa-hosted skills. When there are 75 Alexa-hosted skills on your account, you must delete an existing Alexa-hosted skill from your account before you can create another Alexa-hosted skill. For each Alexa developer account, Amazon sets resource usage to the following limits:
AWS Lambda: Unlimited free AWS Lambda requests used by your Alexa-hosted endpoint. Amazon S3: 25 GB of Amazon S3 storage, and 250 GB of data transfer out per month. Amazon DynamoDB: 25 GB of Amazon DynamoDB storage, 10M read and writes per month. AWS CodeCommit: 50 GB-month of storage and 10,000 Git requests per month.
You can view your monthly AWS usage for your hosted skills on the Hosting page of the Alexa developer console, You can also see your AWS resource usage from the Code tab by clicking on the Usage icon in the toolbar. If your usage exceeds these limits, you have 30 days to bring usage under the limit by moving at least one of your skills to a personal AWS account or other cloud services account.
Create and Manage Alexa-hosted Skills Use Media Files with Your Alexa-Hosted Skill Use DynamoDB for Data Persistence with Your Alexa-hosted Skill
Do Alexa Skills update automatically?
Alexa devices receive software updates automatically over Wi-Fi. These updates usually improve performance and add new Alexa features. To download the latest software update for an Alexa device: Make sure the device is on and has an active Wi-Fi connection.
How do I enable video Skills on Alexa?
Open the Alexa app. Open More and select Settings. Select TV & Video and select your TV or video service provider. Select Enable Skill and follow the on-screen instructions.
Do Alexa skills update automatically?
Alexa devices receive software updates automatically over Wi-Fi. These updates usually improve performance and add new Alexa features. To download the latest software update for an Alexa device: Make sure the device is on and has an active Wi-Fi connection.