Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Get Alexa to automatically order print cartridges when you’re running low
Amazon’s Echo devices have some excellent features on board. They aren’t just capable of giving you control of your smart home devices, but they are also useful for ordering products using just your voice.
That’s not all of course, Alexa will tell you the weather, play music, help kids with their homework and you can set up something called Smart Reorders that will see items like printer cartridges reordered automatically when the ink or toner on your printer runs low.
Smart Reorders work with certain manufacturers and products, like Canon, Epsom and HP, with Alexa also able to print for you. Here’s how to set up Smart Reorders and get things like printer cartridges delivered before you need to print that all important document.
What you’ll need
- The Alexa app
- Your smartphone or tablet
- A compatible product
The short version
- Open the Alexa app.
- Tap on the ‘More‘ tab.
- Tap on ‘Skills & Games‘.
- Search for the company you want to set up Smart Reorders for.
- Follow the instructions to add the device to your Alexa account.
- Head to the ‘Devices‘ tab in the Alexa app.
- Find your device and head into the Settings.
- Tap on ‘Supplies‘.
- Open ‘Smart Reorders‘.
- Choose your preferences.
Smart Reorders is a feature offered by Alexa that will automatically re-order items you might need regularly like printer cartridges when they start running low. It’s a feature that’s only available with certain manufacturers and certain devices, and the process might be slightly different depending on the device.
You may also want to follow the steps below for different devices to set up multiple Smart Reorders. We have used our Canon printer as an example to give you the basic steps for setting up Smart Reorders below, but you might find that other manufacturers and devices have slightly different steps, depending on what you are setting up.
Time needed: 5 minutes
- Open Skills & Games in the Alexa app
The first thing you need to do is enable the Skill of the manufacturer you want to set up Smart Reorders for. Open the Alexa app, tap on the ‘More’ tab and then tap on ‘Skills & Games’. From here, you need to search for the manufacturer of your printer, for example.
- Enable the skill and sign into your account
Within ‘Skills & Games’, search for the company name of your device. So in our case, we searched for ‘Canon’ and selected ‘Canon Inkjet Printer’ from the options. We then tapped on ‘Enable to Use’ and signed in with our Canon ID. If you don’t have one, then you can create one from this page. You will also need to make sure your Canon printer is registered as Alexa will ask for the Printer Registration ID. There are steps you can follow in the Alexa app pop up to get this done.
- Find your device in the Alexa app
Once you’ve enabled the skill of the manufacturer and followed the instructions, you’ll then need to find your device in the Alexa app. In this case, we are looking for our printer. Tap on the ‘Devices’ tab in the Alexa app. If it’s a printer, tap on the ‘Device Type’ drop down and select ‘Other’ and then ‘Apply’. Your printer should appear in the list here. If you don’t see it, go back to the Canon Inkjet Printer skill and tap ‘Launch’. You should then select the Echo device from the list that you want to use. You’ll also need to make sure the printer is on the same Wi-Fi network as your Echo device.
- Head to Supplies
Tap on your printer and select Supplies at the top. From here, you should see Smart Reorders and you can then select ‘When supplies are low, Alexa will”. You should also see your current ink levels.
- Choose your preferences
We have selected our preferences as ‘Reorder automatically’, but you can choose for Alexa to ‘Send a notification’ instead, or ‘Do not reorder or send a notification’. You’ll also want to pick the threshold for how much ink should be remaining before Alexa notifies you or orders new cartridges automatically – this is a percentage. Be sure to hit ‘Done’ at the bottom of the screen.
- Setup Smart Reordering
The last thing you’ll need to do is follow the instructions to set up re-order details, including which cartridges Alexa should reorder, where they should be delivered and how you want to pay. Tap on ‘Set up Smart Reorders’ to finish the process.
That’s it! When your printer’s cartridges reach the threshold you have set, Alexa will automatically re-order new ones. You have 24 hours to cancel the order if you have decided you don’t need them, or you don’t want them at the moment. Every time your cartridges run low, Alexa will re-order new ones.
FAQs
All smart reorders are placed at a 10% discount for printer cartridges and toner.
No, there are no subscription fees. You’ll only pay for the ink or toner – no extra fees.
Only select brands are compatible with Smart Reordering. These include HP, Brother, Epsom and Canon. You printer also needs to be compatible however, so look out for the ‘Works with Alexa’ badge on your printer’s packaging.
