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

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 will list all existing mailboxes with their number, a description, and the total number of voicemail messages (both new and old). 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 from the Voice Features Shortcut menu.

Enter a Mailbox number (minimum two characters) and enter and confirm a PIN (minimum 4 characters). The Personal Identification Number protects the mailbox from unauthorized access.

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

You will be directed to the Mailbox Settings screen (see next) to finish setting up the mailbox.

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 of 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's main menu. But 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 who you want to 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 the date/time that are noted foriit by the system. Enable any of these three toggles to let the user hear the relevant information before the voicemail message 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 by phone call. You can provide a backup email address for  notifications delivery in addition to the user's existing system email address.

Emails 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 delivering notifications about new voicemails. You can enter multiple addresses by separating them with spaces.
  
  
• Attach file to backup email address: Toggle this on to attache the voicemail as a WAV file to the notifications sent to the backup email addresses. 
  
  
• Delete voicemail after sending: When this is 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 the hassle of having to delete voicemails twice (once on their email and once on the system).
  
  Note that 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 where the call notification will be delivered to. 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 to make a selection 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 its voicemails.

Play a voicemail message with  . Use the mini-menu () to the right of the audio player to Download a WAV file of the voicemail or change its Playback Speed. Voicemail transcriptions can be viewed by selecting .

Check one or several voicemails and select     to move them to the Archive folder. Voicemails in the Archive are kept for 7 days, before getting automatically deleted.

If you switch over to the Archived tab, you can select a message and select   to permanently delete it.

Mailbox Folders

The messages are organized by folders, but presently the Admin Center doesn't support managing mailbox folders. Until the feature is added users can dial *1 from their TeleConsole app or desk phone or to access their mailbox, press 1 to start playing voicemails, and select 8 while a message is playing to move or copy it between folders. 

See more about mailbox folders, access, prompts, and options here.