Did You Promise to Do Something Via Email? Cortana Will Remind You

Microsoft's Cortana is turning into a 6-year-old kid who won't let you forget something you promised to do.

Redmond's digital personal assistant will now serve up "suggested reminders" about commitments you made on email. The feature leverages machine learning technology to automatically recognize when you said you'd do something via email and suggest a reminder about it "at just the right time," Cortana Partner Group Program Manager Marcus Ash wrote in a blog post.

For instance, if you emailed your boss to say you'd send something over by the end of the day, Cortana may send you a reminder saying "don't forget, you mentioned doing this." You can dismiss or snooze the reminder.

"We've all been in the situation where we've promised to do something in email, like send your boss a report by end of day, or purchase tickets to the movies for your date night," Ash wrote. "But the day goes on, emails pile up, and you quickly forget. Now Cortana has your back."

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The feature is available in the US on Windows 10, with support coming to iOS and Android in the "coming weeks," Ash wrote. For now, it only works with Outlook.com and Office 365 work and school email addresses, but Ash said support for other email services is "coming soon."

To try it out, make sure you're signed into Cortana and have provided communications consent. Then, check that your Outlook.com or Office work or school account is connected through the connected services section in your Cortana notebook. You can test that it's working by emailing yourself a commitment such as "I will send you the report by Friday," and looking out for the suggested reminder from Cortana.