By: Frank Engelman | Posted: May 6, 2022 | Updated: April 18, 2023
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The Problem to be Solved
Simple Shared Calendaring for Distant Parent
It’s a common situation: an aging parent starts needing help from family members organizing things like doctors visits, or other care-related or social activities. How do you set up and maintain some type of mutually convenient, calendaring solution that maintains the right balance between “collaborating” and “helping” and “keeping things simple”?
Here is a simple way to add reminders to Alexa in an Echo Show.
If your remote loved one has a problem remembering appointments or other activities, you may have tried our solution about remotely managing a Google Calendar for them on an Amazon Echo Show.
If they have found the displayed calendar to be too confusing, or you have found the implementation too complex, consider the solutions below to offer them simple reminder notifications.
If you are at the loved one’s location:
Here are the verbal commands to speak to the Echo Show:
To check existing reminders:
“Alexa, what are my reminders?”
To delete existing reminders”
“Alexa, delete reminders”
Follow the prompts to delete reminders
To add a one-time reminder
“Alexa, remind me”
Follow the prompts to add a reminder
To add a reoccurring reminder
“Alexa, remind me every Friday”
Use the “every” key word for reoccurring reminders
Follow the prompts to add the information
If you are NOT at your loved one’s location
NOTE: Be careful when setting the reminder time if your loved one is in another time zone
On your mobile phone, in the Alexa app, log out of your account
Tap “More”
Tap “Settings”
Tap “Sign out”
Sign in with your loved one’s Alexa account
To review, edit, delete, or add reminders using an Alexa account
Tap “More”
Tap “Reminders”
You can view, edit, or delete reminders
Tap “Add Reminder +”
You can create reminders here
To set reminder customizations
Tap “More”
Tap “Settings”
Tap “Notifications”
Tap “Reminders”
Caption- Configure Reminders
Tap “Announce on devices”
Select “Everywhere”
Tap “Announcement count”
1, 2, or 3 (Persistent for one hour can be annoying)
Tap “Missed Reminder notifications”
Tips & Tricks
If you find that your loved one is missing the reminders because they are away from the Echo Show, there is a way to announce the reminder when they return to a location near the Echo Show
Using a mobile device logged into the loved one’s Alexa account in the Alexa app
Tap “More”
Tap “Settings”
Tap “Accessibility”
Tap “Notify when Nearby”
Caption- Notify when nearby
If your loved one is living in their own home, you might want consider Amazon Alexa Together, a paid service that has several features including an easy way to remotely add reminders
*Disclosure: The research and opinions in this article are those of the author, and may or may not reflect the official views of Tech-enhanced Life.
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Retired Intel Engineer wanting to share DIY technology tips for the children of parents wanting to remain living independently. I like posting ideas and answering technical questions. If a product or software has an issue making it hard for seniors to use, I try to offer workarounds and also try to contact the manufacturer for solutions. I write a column for this website in the Innovation- Homebrew Solutions & Ideas section
