Cortana Clipboard
Have you ever wanted to send something from your phone that you copied on your Windows 10 PC? Or copy a block of text from an article on your PC to show someone at work on your phone? How about that latest gameplay clip from the Xbox One? Now, you can - with help from Cortana!
The "Why"
During the Fall 2017 semester, I found myself using my Surface as a digital notebook far more than I ever have in the time I've owned it. Taking notes, conducting research, writing homework...the usual grad student stuff. Oftentimes, I would also use my iPhone for writing emails, conducting research, and using "phone" apps. I often found myself wanted to easily send media between my iPhone and my Surface, which was cumbersome - I had to use Chrome to synch my tabs (Edge Mobile hadn't released at the time), OneDrive to sync files over, and I couldn't find an easy way to just sent some selected text at all! There had to be a better way to do this, so I started sketching!
Workflow
I envision using Cortana Clipboard as a place to keep recently copied links, text, or media so users can copy, paste, and share their clipboard on any device! All stored content is kept in the users OneDrive account and can be accessed through the Cortana App on iOS or Android, and through Cortana on the PC.
Design
Initial Design
I had a very rough idea of what I thought the workflow should be to send anything from the phone to the PC. Using OneNote, I envisioned the user flow to be three simple steps:
1.) Select what you want to send
2.) Send to Cortana
3.) Pick up on your PC and get to work
Initial Sketches and Workflow for using Cortana Clipboard
Prototyping
I used Sketch to prototype what the feature might look like. I drew heavily from the design of the existing Cortana iOS app and Windows 10, since I envision this to be a feature within the Cortana app itself, rather than a standalone app. The Cortana Clipboard feature is meant to be a share function; that is, when a user finds themselves wanting to send a website, text, or any other media, they can simply tap the share button and send whatever they'd like directly to Cortana, as shown in the flow below.
After the user has sent some media to Cortana, they can either just pick up their PC and summon Cortana from the Windows taskbar, or they can review their copied items within the mobile app.
By tapping the new "Clipboard" icon in the Cortana mobile app, the user can now see their copied items, where the items were copied from, and an option to share or open in another app on the mobile device. This list is scrollable and the app features a "Filter" option so user can filter by type of media or device copied from.
Users can also manage their clipboard by simply swiping to delete individual items or by long-pressing on an item to select multiple items on the clipboard, and then tapping the delete button.
Back to the PC
Cortana Clipboard is integrated directly into Cortana on the Windows taskbar, seamlessly integrating the mobile experience into the full desktop experience on the PC.
Mockup of Cortana Clipboard on the Surface Pro 4 running Windows 10
Xbox too!
With Cortana Clipboard, gamers can send their clips directly to Cortana to edit on their PC or mobile devices and send to social media and apps not available directly on the Xbox One, such as Snapchat or Adobe Premiere.
The Current Manage Captures screen with an added "Copy" button for Cortana Clipboard
On the "Manage Captures" page, users can select the "Copy" button to send a recorded video clip or screenshot to Cortana Clipboard and then work or share it later using another device! Including this on a system level would allow for apps other than games to copy and paste between the PC, Mobile, and Living room experiences.
The Xbox One Cortana Clipboard Interface, with Content-Aware buttons
The Cortana Clipboard on Xbox One will be managed through a native Xbox app, similar to the mobile experience, in order to maintain a great user-experience. The app will allow full functionality of the mobile app, where users can delete items, set images as their Xbox Background, open links in Edge, or add content from their capture library.
Conclusion
Thanks for checking out my idea. I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave any comments or feedback in the comments section - as a student of Human-Computer Interaction and Design, I'd love to know what you're thinking!
