Set up and test Cortana with Office 365 in your organization

  • 2 minutes to read
  • Contributors
    • J. Decker
    • Duncan Mackenzie
    • Liza Poggemeyer
    • Nick Brower
    • Brian Lich

Applies to:

  • Windows 10, version 1703
  • Windows 10 Mobile, version 1703

Cortana in Windows 10 is already great at letting your employees quickly see what the day is going to look like, do meeting prep work like researching people in LinkedIn or getting documents ready, see where and when their meetings are going to be, get a sense of travel times to and from work, and even get updates from a calendar for upcoming trips.

But Cortana works even harder when she connects to Office 365, helping employees to be notified about unusual events, such as meetings over lunch or during a typical commute time, and about early meetings, even setting an alarm so the employee isn’t late.

Cortana at work, showing the day's schedule pulled from Office 365

We’re continuing to add more and more capabilities to Cortana so she can become even more helpful with your productivity-related tasks, such as emailing, scheduling, and other tasks that are important to help you be successful.

Note

For a quick review of the frequently asked questions about Cortana and Office 365 integration, see the blog post, An early look at Cortana integration with Office 365.

Before you begin

There are a few things to be aware of before you start using Cortana with Office 365 in your organization.

  • Software requirements. O365 integration with Cortana is available in all countries/regions where Cortana is supported for consumers today. This includes the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, China, Japan, India, and Australia. As Cortana comes to more countries, it will also become available to organizations.

  • Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) account. Before your employees can use Cortana in your org, they must be logged in using their Azure AD account through Cortana’s notebook. They must also authorize Cortana to access Office 365 on their behalf.

  • Office 365 Trust Center. Cortana isn't a service covered by the Office 365 Trust Center. Learn more about how Cortana treats your data.

  • Troubleshooting tips. If you run into issues, check out these troubleshooting tips.

Turn on Cortana with Office 365 on employees’ devices

You must tell your employees to turn on Cortana before they’ll be able to use it with Office 365.

To turn on local Cortana with Office 365

  1. Click on the Cortana search box in the taskbar, and then click the Notebook icon.

  2. Click on Connected Services, click Office 365, and then click Connect.

    Cotana at work, showing how to turn on the connected services for Office 365

    The employee can also disconnect by clicking Disconnect from the Office 365 screen.

Turn off Cortana with Office 365

Cortana can only access data in your Office 365 org when it’s turned on. If you don’t want Cortana to access your corporate data, you can turn it off in the Office 365 admin center.

To turn off Cortana with Office 365

  1. Sign in to Office 365 using your Azure AD account.

  2. Go to the Office 365 admin center.

  3. Expand Service Settings, and select Cortana.

  4. Click Cortana to toggle Cortana off.

    All Office 365 functionality related to Cortana is turned off in your organization and your employees are unable to use her at work.