Mailboxes (Admin Center Voice Features)

• Usage and Existing Mailboxes 
• Adding a New Mailbox
• Mailbox Settings ---
  
  • Mailbox Info
  • Voicemail Settings 
  • Voicemail Notifications
  • Voicemail Greetings ---
    – Types of Voicemail Greeting
    – Changing or Adding a Voicemail Greeting
• Managing and Listening to Voicemail Messages ---
  
  • Mailbox Folders
  • Sharing Voicemails 

Usage and Existing Mailboxes

The Mailboxes screen lets you create and manage (voice) mailboxes and voicemails for users.  Access it from Admin Center Menu>Voice Features>Mailboxes.  

The screen lists all existing mailboxes with their number, a description of their function (optional), and the total number of voicemail messages in all folders. If the list is empty you would want to add a new mailbox. 

You can delete mailboxes by checking them and clicking   , but be aware that this cannot be undone.

Select  on the top-right to download a CSV file of existing mailboxes showing a Mailbox ID, a Mailbox number, a Description, a User ID (0 if a user has not been assigned to the mailbox), and a Transcribe field (True or False) indicating if voicemails transcriptions are available (transcriptions can be enabled from the Mailbox Info settings.)

Select   to search for a specific mailbox(es) by name, type, or description. You can also search by any ID from the CSV file.

Adding a New Mailbox

To create a new mailbox select ADD MAILBOX from the Mailboxes screen or the Voice Features Shortcut menu.

Enter a Mailbox number (minimum two digits) and enter and confirm a PIN (Personal Identification Number minimum of four digits) to protect the mailbox from unauthorized access.

It is a common practice to assign the same number as the user's internal line to the mailbox number. But you can use any number, especially if the user requires several mailboxes.

You will be directed to the Mailbox Settings screen (see next) to finish the configuration.

Mailbox Settings

Selecting or creating a mailbox shows its settings screen with four expandable categories. When making changes you need to SAVE each category separately.

You can also access the Messages tab to listen to and manage your voicemail messages.

The arrow buttons let you select the next or previous mailbox without having to go back to the mailbox list.

Mailbox Info

• Description: A description of the owner of the mailbox or its function.
  
  
• Owner: Select the user to assign the mailbox to. This will allow the user to use the mailbox from his TeleConsole account or a physical phone.
  
  You can only assign a mailbox to a signal user, but you can select No Owner to make a shared mailbox. This is further explained here.
  
  
• Transcribe voicemail: Once enabled, transcriptions for each voicemail will show in the TeleConsole (currently only the desktop versions are supported) and under the Messages tab of the mailbox.
  
  Transcriptions are also included in voicemail notification emails.

Voicemail Settings

• Play message order: Select how to play the user's voicemail messages – Newest first or Oldest first.
  
  
• If caller presses 0 during greeting, route call to destination: This is commonly set to "Hang up call" or IVR/Auto Attendant so callers who don't wish to leave a message can end their call or return to the phone system IVR menu. However, you can also select other system destinations and features. Make sure to include a prompt with the mailbox greeting to notify callers about the function of the 0 key.
  
  
• Copy new to other mailbox: Check any user you want to automatically receive new voicemails from the mailbox. Basically, this allows you to share voicemails with several users.
  
  
• Change mailbox pin/Confirm pin: The Personal Identification Number protects the user's mailbox from unauthorized access. You create one when adding a new mailbox. Here you can change it and confirm the new number.
  
  Leave these fields empty if you don't want to change the PIN.
  
  
• Voicemail envelope toggles: A voicemail envelope is its caller ID, duration, and date/time noted by the system. Enable any of the three toggles to let the user hear the relevant information before the voicemail is played – Play caller ID before playing message, Play call duration before playing message, and Play date time before playing message.

Voicemail Notifications

You can notify users about new voicemails by email or a phone call. You can provide a backup email address for notifications delivery in addition to the user's existing email address.

Email notifications will include a transcription if the option is enabled for the mailbox (transcriptions can be enabled in the Mailbox Info settings.)

• Notify for: Enable the voicemail notifications by selecting Voicemail. Disable notifications by selecting None. This lets you disable the feature temporarily without having to delete any of the other parameters.
  
  
• Send email to owner of new voicemails: Select Mailbox owner to just email the mailbox owner about new voicemails. Select Mailbox owner, and attach voicemail to also attach the voicemail as a WAV file to the email notification so the owner can download and play it without having to access the TeleConsole or his phone. Select No to disable email notifications.
  
  
• Email: Enter a backup email address for delivery of notifications about new voicemails. You can enter multiple addresses by separating them with spaces.
  
  
• Attach file to backup email address: Toggle this on to attach the voicemail as a WAV file to the notifications sent to the backup email addresses. 
  
  
• Delete voicemail after sending: When enabled, a voicemail will be automatically deleted from the system after being delivered to the user by email. This helps avoid duplicate voicemails and saves users from having to delete voicemails twice.
  
  Email notifications come with a link to delete the voicemail from the system so users don't necessarily have to access the TeleConsole or their phone to delete a voicemail.
  
  
  
• Notify by receiving a call: Enter the phone number to which the call notification will be delivered. Leave this field empty to disable call notifications.
  
  
• When call is answered forward to: Select how the user accesses his mailbox when receiving a voicemail notification by a phone call:
  
  
  • Voicemail, specific mailbox, without PIN: This will let the user directly access the relevant voicemail and mailbox without having to enter the mailbox PIN.
    
    
  • Voicemail, specific mailbox, with PIN: This will let the user directly access the relevant voicemail and mailbox but require him to enter the mailbox PIN.
    
    
  • Voicemail, ask for mailbox and PIN: This will require the user to enter both his mailbox number and its PIN before he can access and hear the voicemail.
    
    
• Caller ID on the call: Select an available caller ID to be shown for the notification call or select Withheld to hide the caller ID.
  
  

Voicemail Greetings

A caller who reaches a user's mailbox can hear one of several possible greetings, depending on the call scenario:

• Voicemail default greeting has a priority and is played if no other greeting has been recorded. However, if the default greeting has not been configured, the system will play the Audio name greeting followed by saying "is unavailable".
  
  
• Voicemail greeting if the phone is on DND is played when your desk phone (or the TeleConsole app) is in Do Not Disturb mode.
  
  
• Temporary greeting is played in any other situation where you are unreachable, like when you are already on another call or logged out of all your queues.

Changing or Adding a Voicemail Greeting

You can select to Change any existing greeting or Add Sound if the greeting is empty. This will open the sound editing window with its two tabs:

• Under the Audio tab you can Upload or Record a new file for the greeting. Select Save Sound to keep the file and assign it to the greeting.
  
  You can also select an Existing Sound from already recorded or uploaded files (this is only available for Music on Hold).
  
  
• Don't have a file to upload or prefer not to use your own voice for a greeting? No problem.
  
  Under the Text to Speech tab you can enter text and have it generated as an audio file with a voice, pitch, and accent of your choice. You can even select different languages and the text will be automatically generated in the selected language.
  
  Select Generate and Preview to listen to the greeting and if you are satisfied select Save Sound to keep it.

 You may need to refresh your browser to see the new greeting you added or changed.

You can select to Remove any existing greeting. As mentioned above, the Default Greeting or the Audio Name has priority if the other greetings are empty.

Managing and Listening to Voicemail Messages

Select a mailbox and switch to the Messages tab to view and play voicemails. 

Messages are listed under From/Name (caller's phone number and name) and Time columns. Messages can be sorted by clicking a column title (like the Time column in the sample figure) once for ascending order () and clicking again for descending order (). Once sorted, the system will also display the results chronologically if applicable.

Play messages with  and use  to Download a WAV file of the voicemail or change its Playback Speed. Voicemail transcriptions can be viewed by selecting .

Mailbox Folders 

Voicemails can organized and prioritized in folders that appear as clickable tabs for easy access and viewing. The available folders are Inbox, Urgent, Old, Work, Family, Friends, and five Customer folders. Folders cannot be renamed.

Voicemails are initially placed in the Inbox folder. Check a voicemail and select to copy ( ) or move () it to a folder. Coping keeps a duplicate of the voicemail in the original folder while moving doesn't.

 You do not need to create or delete folders. The system automatically creates folders when you move or copy messages over and removes folders when they are emptied. 

You can click to move voicemails to the Archive folder where they are temporarily kept and are recorverable for 24 hours, before being automatically deleted. In the Archived folder, you can check voicemails and click  to delete them immediately.

Sharing Voicemails

When copying or moving a message, you can also select one or more users to share the message with. The user(s) will get a copy of the message in the folder you specify. 

If you do not select any user the message is only moved or copied to folders in your own mailbox.

Folders and Voice Prompts

Voicemail folders can be also managed using voice prompts by dialing *1 from the TeleConsole app or your desk phone to access your mailbox. Press 1 to start playing the first voicemail and select 8 to move or copy it between folders. You can also press 2 in the mailbox main menu to enter other folders. Voice prompts are further discussed here.