Microsoft Lumia 540 Tips and Tricks

To access Voice control, Press and Hold the Windows key. You can say things like ‘Call John’, ‘Use Calendar’, ‘Find nearest restaurant’ and so on

If you’re abroad and want to translate text or street signs with your camera, then Window Phone provides this great feature.

Be warned that it does require a data connection, so if you’re roaming then make sure you check how much the costs will be.

First, press the search button at the bottom of your phone (three dots) Then press button that looks like an eye to open the Camera. Next, press Scan Text to take a picture of the text and then press Translate.

If it doesn’t work the first time, then try taking the photo straight on, or from a slightly different angle. Once the phone has recognised the text, select a language to translate to and Windows Phone will translate it for you.

To share a website with a friend, then browse to the website you want to share.

Then Press and Hold on a hyperlink, then select Share. You can then choose how to share the site.

If you have a number of apps open and you want to close some of them, then the best way to do this is to long press the phone’s back button. Then press the X icon next to each app, or simply swipe the app downwards.

If you would like your phone to announce who is calling you, then from the homescreen, scroll to the right and choose Settings. Then Easy of access. Then press Speech for phone accessibility.

Warning: This will remove ALL data on the phone.

To hard reset your phone, go to Start – Applications list – Settings. Then scroll to the bottom and choose About. Then press Reset your phone. Then press Yes.

If you can’t do that, then some alternative methods are as follows:

1) First press and hold the Camera + Volume Down + Power buttons simultaneously.
Then release the Power button when the phone vibrates – but continue to hold down Camera and Volume Down.
Then release the camera button and Volume Down when the Format prompt is displayed on screen.
Then press Windows button twice to confirm.

2) Turn the phone off. Then press and hold the power key until it vibrates. Then release.
Press and hold the Volume Down button. If the exclamation mark is displayed, then let go of the button.
Then input the follow sequence of keys: Volume Up – Volume Down – Power – Volume Down.

If you prefer not to have the ‘Sent from my Windows Phone’ message at the bottom of emails, then here is how to remove it:

Go into Mail and press the 3 dots at the bottom of the screen. Select Settings and change it there

This is useful if you don’t want people to know that emails are being sent from your phone.

To PIN applications to your start menu then scroll across to your Applications list.

Then Press and Hold on an application. Then select Pin to start.

You can then go to your Start screen and Press and Hold to move the App around.

If you do not want to be disturbed for a certain period or between certain hours, then you can enable Quiet Hours.

This allows you to divert calls and/or texts to Cortana which is effectively Microsoft’s personal assistant. Just go to Settings – Quiet Hours.

You can set this to be enabled between two time periods, when you have an event in your calendar which is marked as busy or for a certain period.

You can also setup exceptions, or breakthrough rules, so that certain individuals can still reach you even when Quiet Hours is enabled.

If you would like to turn on text message notifications (delivery reports for SMSs) then go to Settings – Applications – Messaging and change it there