The 3CX Assistant is a useful tool that allows a user to better manage calls, and to collaborate with other users within the same group of Extensions.

3CX Assistant also includes some advanced functionality that can significantly improve a user’s experience and productivity with 3CX PhoneSystem.

Built-In Incoming Calls Notification

3CX Assistant can display a popup when an incoming call is detected. Since most soft phones, including 3CX Phone, will display their own notification for inbound calls, this feature can prove particularly useful when the user is handling a desk phone, rather than a soft phone.

To enable this feature, go to the “File->Preferences” menu, then go to the “Options” tab, and enable the “Notify on my incoming calls” option.

This will cause a popup to display, showing the number of the caller, and the name when available.

Custom Incoming Calls Notification

If we want to achieve integration with some Enterprise Application, we can get the 3CX Assistant to notify an external application of incoming calls. Some code development will be necessary to achieve this integration, but a simple example with a DOS Batch script will effectively demonstrate how to achieve this.

First, we should create a file “C:\notify.bat” with the following contents:

@echo off
echo Incoming Call Notification – Caller: %1%
pause

Next, we need to configure this feature inside 3CX Assistant. Go to “File->Preferences”, and in the “Options” tab:

• Enable the “Notify external program on my incoming calls” feature
• Set the “External program path to executable” field to “c:\notify.bat”
• Set the “Parameters” field to “%callid%”

This will cause the 3CX Assistant to launch the specified program (in this case “c:\notify.bat”) specifying the CallerID as a parameter (defined as “%callid%” in the “Parameters” field).

Using this example as a base, one can simply and easily develop a small application that passes information about incoming calls to any application that has API access of some sort.

MS Outlook – Incoming Calls Contact Integration

3CX Assistant allows simple integration with Microsoft Outlook for incoming calls. To enable this feature:

• Start up Microsoft Outlook
• Switch to 3CX Assistant
• Go to “File->Preferences”

• Select the “Enable CRM integration” option and click the “OK” button
• Go to “File->CRM Settings”

• In the “CRM Settings” tab, select “Manually close screen pop-up”

• In the “CRM Plugins” tab, expand all the nodes in the left-hand pane, and highlight the “Microsoft Outlook” option
• Select the “Enable Microsoft Outlook Plug-in” option
• Select the “Store Call Information in Microsoft Outlook” option – this will generate entries in the Outlook Journal to track inbound calls.
• Click the   “Refresh” button to update the list of Contacts folders available
• Select the Contacts folders to use when looking up Contacts, and adjust the priority using the “Up” and “Down” buttons
• Click the “OK” button

Making an inbound call will trigger a pop-up window to be displayed. If the caller’s number is not recognized, the pop-up window will display the Caller Number, and prompt you to create a new contact record by clicking the “Create a new contact record” link.

If the caller’s number is recognized, the pop-up window will display the contact card of the caller, and clicking the “Open the contact record” link will allow you to view the Contact’s details.

The Journal will be updated with the details of the inbound call, and the “Activity” tab will show the calls received from the Contact.

MS Outlook – Outgoing Calls Contact Integration

3CX Assistant allows simple integration with Microsoft Outlook for outgoing calls. To use this feature:

• Using Microsoft Outlook, identify the contact you want to call.

• Right-click on the contact, and select the “Call Contact…” option

• Enable the “Create new Journal Entry when starting new call” option if you want to record the task
• Click on the “Dialing Options” button

• Ensure that the “Connect using line” field is set to “3CX TAPI Service Provider” (you only need to set this once) and click the “OK” button
• Click on the “Start Call” button. This will open up a new Journal Entry window for you to record any relevant information about the call, and also start the call by dialling up your extension, and then connecting you to the dialled number.