We've had a number of customer requests for this over the years. Our solution for Windows-based PBX is to:
a) use first names at the beginning of Last Name field for Users/Extensions (sometimes putting entire name in the Last Name field and leaving First Name blank, depending on how the customer wants names displayed in their directory). Then
b) replace the UserName.wav recording with an edited version. This audio file contains the following words:
"the first three letters of the last name of the person you are trying to contact"
We used Audacity to do this:
- find the file on your PBX. In Windows, this is located in the folder contained in C:\ProgramData\3CX\Instance1\Data\Ivr\Prompts\Sets\, which may be C:\ProgramData\3CX\Instance1\Data\Ivr\Prompts\Sets\8210986B-9412-497f-AD77-3A554F4A9BDB. We've found the Everything search tool from Voidtools to be very helpful to locate this quickly.
- open this in Audacity
- position the cursor at 1.747 sec (end of the first "of")
- while holding Shift key, move cursor to right, to 2.372 sec (if you go too far, choose Select > None from top menus and try again); this captures the words "the last" and should show the selection in lighter color
- press Delete key
- position the cursor at 0.224 and use the same Shift / Right Arrow process as above to select audio through 0.849 sec (the words "the first")
- position the cursor at 1.747 sec again
- select Edit > Paste (or Ctrl-V)
- replay the edited file to make sure it sounds right (these time points are for the American English version of system prompts released with v16 but are likely to be the same for v18. UK English is likely to be slightly different)
- select File > Export > Export as WAV. Make sure the file name is the same (UserName.wav), the File Type is WAV (Microsoft), and Encoding is Signed 16-bit PCM. You may want to rename the original file or save the exported file elsewhere.
- In Windows, open a Command window As Administrator, then from here open Windows Explorer (enter explorer.exe at the prompt)
- navigate to the C:\ProgramData subdirectory where you found the UserName.wav file, then locate the file and rename it, e.g. UserName.wav.old.
- Copy the newly-edited and exported file from where you saved it, and Paste into this directory
- restart 3CX Services (3CX PhoneSystem 01 AudioProvider, 3CX PhoneSystem 01 Call Flow Server, 3CX PhoneSystem 01 IVR Server, and 3CX PhoneSystem 01 Queue Manager Server)
- make test calls to the IVR containing the Call by Name option to verify.
We've attached the edited US English UserName.wav file to make it easier for US Partners; hopefully the rest of the guide will help others do their own edits!
a) use first names at the beginning of Last Name field for Users/Extensions (sometimes putting entire name in the Last Name field and leaving First Name blank, depending on how the customer wants names displayed in their directory). Then
b) replace the UserName.wav recording with an edited version. This audio file contains the following words:
"the first three letters of the last name of the person you are trying to contact"
We used Audacity to do this:
- find the file on your PBX. In Windows, this is located in the folder contained in C:\ProgramData\3CX\Instance1\Data\Ivr\Prompts\Sets\, which may be C:\ProgramData\3CX\Instance1\Data\Ivr\Prompts\Sets\8210986B-9412-497f-AD77-3A554F4A9BDB. We've found the Everything search tool from Voidtools to be very helpful to locate this quickly.
- open this in Audacity
- position the cursor at 1.747 sec (end of the first "of")
- while holding Shift key, move cursor to right, to 2.372 sec (if you go too far, choose Select > None from top menus and try again); this captures the words "the last" and should show the selection in lighter color
- press Delete key
- position the cursor at 0.224 and use the same Shift / Right Arrow process as above to select audio through 0.849 sec (the words "the first")
- position the cursor at 1.747 sec again
- select Edit > Paste (or Ctrl-V)
- replay the edited file to make sure it sounds right (these time points are for the American English version of system prompts released with v16 but are likely to be the same for v18. UK English is likely to be slightly different)
- select File > Export > Export as WAV. Make sure the file name is the same (UserName.wav), the File Type is WAV (Microsoft), and Encoding is Signed 16-bit PCM. You may want to rename the original file or save the exported file elsewhere.
- In Windows, open a Command window As Administrator, then from here open Windows Explorer (enter explorer.exe at the prompt)
- navigate to the C:\ProgramData subdirectory where you found the UserName.wav file, then locate the file and rename it, e.g. UserName.wav.old.
- Copy the newly-edited and exported file from where you saved it, and Paste into this directory
- restart 3CX Services (3CX PhoneSystem 01 AudioProvider, 3CX PhoneSystem 01 Call Flow Server, 3CX PhoneSystem 01 IVR Server, and 3CX PhoneSystem 01 Queue Manager Server)
- make test calls to the IVR containing the Call by Name option to verify.
We've attached the edited US English UserName.wav file to make it easier for US Partners; hopefully the rest of the guide will help others do their own edits!
