Voicemail, Call Forwarding & Follow Me

This article covers everything to do with what happens to a call that isn't answered live: voicemail setup, greetings, listening to and managing messages, and the call-routing features — Call Forward, Do Not Disturb, and Follow Me — that decide where an unanswered (or busy, or offline) call goes before or instead of voicemail.

Overview#

• Voicemail records a message when a call isn't answered and lets the mailbox owner listen to it, get it by email, and manage greetings.
• Call Forward sends calls elsewhere automatically under specific conditions (always, when busy, when unanswered, or when the phone isn't registered).
• Do Not Disturb sends every incoming call straight to voicemail without ringing the extension at all.
• Follow Me rings a list of destinations — in sequence, simultaneously, or a mix — before a call reaches voicemail, so a call can find you on a mobile number, another extension, or several places at once.

Call Forward, Do Not Disturb, and Follow Me are all configured together on one screen, reached from an extension's edit page via the Call Forward button.

The Voicemail tab on an extension

Screenshot needed · voicemail-overview

Enabling Voicemail and Setting a PIN#

1. Go to Extensions, open the extension, and make sure Voicemail is set to Yes (see the Extensions article for this field). Save if you changed it.
2. Go to Voicemail, find the mailbox for that extension, and open its settings (the gear/settings icon, or Voicemail > Settings).
3. Enter a Voicemail ID — normally this matches the extension number.
4. Enter a Voicemail Password — this is the PIN used to log into the mailbox by phone, and also often used for portal access. Choose a numeric PIN that isn't easily guessed.
5. Choose whether to play the Voicemail Tutorial the next time the mailbox is accessed by phone (helpful the first time a new user logs in).
6. Click Save.

Recording or Uploading a Greeting#

Greetings are managed from the mailbox's Greetings screen (open the mailbox, then click Greetings). You can have up to 9 greetings per mailbox and choose which one is active.

To add a computer-generated (text-to-speech) greeting:

1. From the mailbox's Greetings screen, click Add.
2. Give it a Name (for your own reference).
3. Type the Message you want spoken.
4. Choose a Language, Voice, and Model.
5. Click Preview to listen before saving.
6. Click Save to generate the greeting recording.

To upload a pre-recorded greeting file:

1. From the mailbox's Greetings screen, click Upload.
2. Choose a .wav, .mp3, or .ogg file from your computer.
3. It's added to the greetings list once the upload completes.

To make a greeting the active one:

1. Go to the mailbox's Settings screen.
2. Under Greeting, choose the greeting you want active from the list (or None / Default).
3. Optionally set an Alternate Greeting reference, used by certain default greeting setups.
4. Click Save.

You can also play back any greeting from the Greetings list before deciding, and delete greetings you no longer need.

Listening to and Managing Voicemail Messages#

Go to Voicemail > Messages to see every message across your mailbox(es). Unheard messages are shown in bold.

• Play — click the play button on a message to listen to it right in the browser; a progress bar shows playback position.
• Download — downloads the audio file.
• Transcription — if transcription is enabled, click the transcription icon to show the message's text on screen.
• Toggle (mark heard/new) — select one or more messages and click Toggle to flip their read status.
• Resend — select one or more messages and click Resend to re-send the voicemail notification email (useful if the original email notification didn't arrive or needs to go to someone else).
• Delete — select one or more messages and click Delete, then confirm.
• Transcribe — for a message that hasn't been transcribed yet, select it and click Transcribe to request a transcription.

Opening a message's transcription or playing/downloading it automatically marks it as heard.

Voicemail-to-Email#

Each mailbox can email a notification whenever a new voicemail arrives:

1. Go to the mailbox's Settings screen.
2. Enter one or more addresses, comma-separated, in Email (Voicemail Email).
3. Choose how the audio is delivered: as a Link (click to listen) or as an Attachment (the audio file is attached directly) — or leave blank to just get a text notification with no audio.
4. Choose whether to Keep Local Copy — if set to No, the message is removed from the mailbox after the email is sent; if Yes, it stays available in Messages too.
5. If SMS notifications are supported on your system, you can also set a Voicemail SMS To number.
6. Click Save.

Follow Me#

Follow Me rings a list of destinations — other extensions, external numbers, or a mix — before (or instead of) sending the call to voicemail.

1. Open the extension, click Call Forward.
2. Under Follow Me, set it to Yes. A destinations panel appears.
3. Add each destination under Destinations:
   • Destination — the extension or phone number to ring.
   • Delay — how many seconds to wait before this destination starts ringing (0 rings it immediately, alongside anything else with a 0 delay — so you can ring several destinations simultaneously, or stagger them one after another).
   • Timeout — how many seconds this destination rings before moving on.
   • Prompt — if enabled, asks whoever answers at that destination to confirm (press a key) before connecting the call, which helps avoid a mobile voicemail picking up and "answering" the call.
4. Optionally enable Ignore Busy so a busy destination doesn't block the rest of the list from trying.
5. If available, set a Name Prefix and/or Number Prefix — text added to the caller ID shown at each Follow Me destination (handy for recognizing "this is a forwarded call" on your mobile).
6. Click Save.

If no Follow Me destination answers, the call falls through to voicemail (or wherever it's routed next) as usual.

Call Forward & Do Not Disturb#

On the same Call Forward screen as Follow Me, each forwarding type can be turned on independently:

To set any of these up:

1. Open the extension, click Call Forward.
2. Turn the type you want to Yes and enter a Destination (an extension number, external number, or * star code, depending on what you're forwarding to).
3. Click Save.

A few of these interact with each other automatically in the interface: turning on Forward All or Do Not Disturb turns off Follow Me (and vice versa), since they're alternative ways of handling the same incoming call — only one should be "in charge" at a time. Turning on Do Not Disturb also clears Forward All, for the same reason.

Field Reference#

Voicemail Settings#

Greeting Builder (Text-to-Speech)#

Follow Me#

Call Forward & Do Not Disturb#

Tips & Common Issues#

• If voicemail notifications aren't arriving, check the Email field under the mailbox's Settings for typos, and check that Keep Local Copy and attachment settings match what you expect.
• You can have up to 9 greetings per mailbox — delete ones you no longer use to make room for new ones.
• If a Follow Me destination picks up but the caller hears silence or gets dropped, try enabling Prompt — this is often caused by a mobile voicemail system answering before a real person does.
• Only one "automatic" routing method should be active at a time — turning on Do Not Disturb, Forward All, or Follow Me will automatically turn off the others, since they conflict with each other.
• If calls aren't reaching an extension at all, check Do Not Disturb first — it silently sends every call to voicemail with no ringing, which can look like the phone is simply broken.
• A message that doesn't show a transcription icon usually just hasn't been transcribed yet — select it and click Transcribe, if that feature is available on your account.