In this guide, I reveal my top 10 Alexa Work From Home routine actions. As more people find themselves working remotely due to Covid-19, I thought I’d share how Alexa fully automates my, otherwise manual, tasks each working day.
Alexa Work From Home routines are super easy to setup and can help improve productivity. You can initiate an Alexa routine from your Smart Phone (Alexa App) or any Amazon Echo devices.
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How Alexa Automates my Working Day
I have a few Alexa routines that I use daily; just before I start work in the morning, at lunchtime and when I finish work in the evening.
Morning Alexa Work From Home Routine
“Alexa, Start Work”
Desk LEDs
My desk LEDs are set to power on. I call this my smart LED bar as it is setup to pulse blue if rain is in the area, to flash rainbow colours as a reminder to walk my dog and flash red if my Arlo video doorbell detects motion.
Smart LED Bar Flashing Red After Arlo Detected Motion
Fans Plug
My Fans smart plug is set to power on. I am not keen on messy cables so I keep my electronics in a DIY media cabinet.
Media Cabinet
To avoid my electronics from overheating, I installed cooling fans which are powered via USB and connected to a smart Wi-Fi plug.
Smart Cooling Fans
Laptop Bot
My SwitchBot turns on my laptop. I stuck the SwitchBot to my laptop docking station but you can place SwitchBots next to a PC power button too. This is my favourite Alexa action in my morning routine.
SwitchBot Turning on Laptop Docking Station (Slow Motion)
Sound Sytem
My sound system is powered on. I used my Broadlink RM Pro to learn my sound system’s RF remote power button and created a Broadlink scene. I also learnt and created scenes to switch source (Bluetooth, AUX etc) and for volume control.
My sound system’s default source is Bluetooth and it automatically pairs with my Echo Dot.
Echo Dot Volume
My Echo Dot volume is set for 4 i.e 40%. I feel this is the perfect level for background music and notifications.
Music
My Echo Dot starts to play Jazz FM. I find Jazz calming & relaxing. You can select your choice of music from Amazon Music, Apple Music, My Library or TuneIn.
Lighting
My office spotlights power on and brightness is set to 100%. My landing lights are powered off. I fitted Hive bulbs throughout my smart home but many smart bulbs are available which are Alexa compatible.
Random Phrase
Alexa will say a random phrase related to “Good Morning.” This is just a bit of fun to begin the day.
Afternoon Alexa Work From Home Routine
“Alexa, I am leaving” & “Alexa, I am back”
Leave the Office
At lunchtime, I created a routine for my Echo Dot to stop playing music, power off my lighting, sound system, fans plug, desk LEDs and say a random phrase related to “Good Bye.”
Report Weather
As I walk my dog at this time of the day, I added an action for Alexa to report the weather. Alexa provides a local weather report based on your home location which can be checked in the Alexa app > More > Settings > Your Locations.
Return to the Office
On my return to the office, my morning routine is replicated except for playing music and saying a random phrase related to “I’m home.”
Evening Alexa Work From Home Routine
“Alexa, Finish Work”
Finish Work
Everything is turned off in my office. I just set the Alexa actions to do the opposite of my morning routine.
Alexa Work From Home Routine Ideas
My routines have barely scratched the surface of all the possibilities Alexa has to offer. I put together a list of ideas to boost your workday experience:
Alexa Says
You can customise what Alexa says or select phrases relating to birthdays, compliments, confirmations. Alternatively, Alexa can sing a song, tell you a joke or even a story.
Audible
You can enter either my book or a specific book title.
Calendar
You can link your calendar to your account and Alexa will respond to today’s calendar, tomorrow’s calendar and next event.
Device Settings
I mentioned stop audio and volume control earlier in this article but do not disturb could be useful too. You can choose between duration or a fixed time.
You can link your email to your account and Alexa will read your email summary.
IFTTT
You can now trigger your IFTTT applets within a routine. To learn how to create custom IFTTT applets, follow this tutorial.
News
Alexa will play the news from your flash briefing.
How to Setup Alexa Routines
To setup Alexa routines, navigate to the Alexa app home screen and tap the menu and then Routines.
New Routine
Tap the + icon, name your routine e.g. Start Work.
When this Happens
For When this happens, tap the + icon and choose from Voice, Schedule, Smart Home, Alarms or Echo Button.
For this guide, we are going to setup your voice as the trigger. Enter the phrase of your choice and select Next.
Actions
Tap the + icon to Add action(s). If you want to control your smart home devices or scenes, scroll down the actions list, tap Smart Home and then All Devices or Control Scene. If the scene is not visible, swipe down to refresh the screen. Tap Next & Save.
Top Tip If Alexa didn’t discover the scene, head over to the Devices section of the Alexa app, scroll at the top across to the Scenes section. Scroll down & tap Discover Scenes.
You will be prompted to state which device Alexa should respond from. Finally, tap Save.
Once complete, your routine summary should look like this:
Please feel free to drop a comment if you enjoyed reading this article today or if you have any questions. How do you Alexa routines while working from home? Do you have routines you wish to share?
