Allow Callers to Dial an Extension from Voicemail

When a call goes to voicemail, you can give the caller a way out other than leaving a message. By enabling caller dialing options, you let them press a key during the voicemail prompt and be transferred to another extension instead.

This is handy for staff who split their time across locations or roles: they can record a greeting that points the caller to an alternate extension. It also helps in urgent situations where the person is unavailable and the caller would rather reach an assistant or backup than wait for a callback.

Enable extension dialing from voicemail

1. Sign in to the Cloud Voice management portal and open Call Features > Voicemail.
2. Under Caller Options, tick Allow callers to dial extension.
3. Move the extensions you want to make reachable from the Available list into the Selected list.
4. Click Save, then Apply to push the change live.

Note

Only the extensions you move into the Selected list can be dialed from voicemail. Anything left in Available stays unreachable, so callers cannot punch in an arbitrary extension number. Keep the list limited to the people who genuinely need to be reachable this way.

What callers experience

While listening to voicemail, the caller can press the * key and then dial any of the extensions you added to the Selected list.

Tip

If you use a custom voicemail greeting, update the greeting so it tells callers they can press * to dial an extension. Otherwise they have no way of knowing the option exists.