Confused By What 'Greeting' Is Used For a Queue That Has "Destination if no answer" = 'Voicemail Box' for Another Extension

[Levi Koenig]

Enterprise License, v 20.0. Hosted by 3CX.

Hey all!

In 'Admin' >> 'Call Handling' I opened up the settings for one of our Queues. In the 'General' tab of the Queue settings, in the 'Destinations' section we have 'Destination if no answer' = 'Voicemail Box' and we have selected a dummy extension that we use specifically to receive voicemails. This dummy extension has a custom greeting uploaded in the 'Voicemail' tab of it's Extension settings in the 'Choose Default Greeting (applies to all statuses)' field.

With the above information I would assume that the voicemail greeting defined in the EXTENSION would be used whenever the Queue diverts to this Extension's voicemail. Thats how it always worked in the past on previous versions of 3CX for us. However, I noticed today in the QUEUE settings when I go to the 'Options' tab that there is a section near the bottom of this tab labelled 'Greeting' and it has a field with the following title; "When calls goes to voicemail, use this custom Voicemail greeting:" and currently selected in this field is 'Play Default'.

MY QUESTIONS:

1. I wasn't aware that Queues could have their own dedicated voicemail. In the past we had always created a 'dummy extension' with a custom voicemail message that Queues would divert voicemails to. How does one set up where a Queue can receive it's own voicemail? Can we send the voicemail as an email attachment just like we can do for extensions? If possible we ideally would only want to send the voicemail attachment to a single email address and NOT all of the users/agents in the Queue (to not diffuse the responsibility of who responds to the voicemail).
2. IF I do continue to have a dummy extension selected as the 'Voicemail Box' for a Queue and that dummy extension has it's own voicemail greeting, what greeting will actually be used before the voicemail is recorded? The greeting in the 'Options' section of the QUEUE or the greeting stored in the extension that receives the voicemail?
3. In relation to question 2 above does it matter if the greeting selected in the 'Options' tab of the QUEUE is 'Play Default' (the default selection) vs another custom greeting? If I uploaded a custom greeting into this field of the QUEUE settings but still diverted voicemails to the dummy extension, would the custom voicemail greeting in the Extension or the Queue be used?

Let me know if I am misunderstanding anything or if any more details are needed. Thanks for your help!

 

[K_SAK]

Hi,

Queues are virtual extensions.

When you choose to send to Voicemail within the queue config it gives you an extra drop down box, where you choose the either a an existing extension or the queue's own voicemail.

If you choose an extension, all is as before - the extensions voicemail greeting and notification email are used.

If you choose the queue's voicemail then its own Voicemail Greeting is played and an email goes to the queue manager(s).

You choose whatever works best in your setup. With Great Flexibility Comes A Bit Of Complexity

 

[Levi Koenig]

Thanks for the response! For those who may be reading this forum in the future the above answer is true after testing. In the 'General' tab of the Queue settings if you select 'Voicemail Box' as a 'Destination if no answer' you can either define a separate extensions extension or you can define the extension number of the Queue itself. If the extension number of the Queue itself is used the 'Greeting' that is defined in the 'Options' tab of the Queue settings will be used. I personally think this functionality could be a little bit better explained in the interface or to have a dedicated option in the 'Destination if no answer' for 'Use this Queues Voicemail' -or something like that.

As for what happens when a voicemail is left if the Queue itself is the defined voicemail destination: an email with the voicemail attachment will be sent out to ALL 'USERS' (agents) of the Queue AND all 'SUPERVISORS' of the Queue. There is no options to better define who receives the voicemail email. Personally I don't like this setup as it diffuses the responsibility of who will actually handle the voicemail. If you send out a separate email to all USERS/AGENTS of the Queue it is going to be challenging to figure out who should actually review and deal with the voicemail. I wish there was separate settings to be able to define a specific email address(s) for voicemails or an option to only notify supervisors. We have always preferred to receive voicemail emails at a single email address so that responsibility is clearly defined and can be assigned.

Thanks again for the response K_SAK