Configure Message Envelope

Before Cloud Voice plays back a voicemail, it can read out a short spoken introduction called the message envelope. You control which pieces of that introduction are announced, and you can turn the whole thing off if the person checking the mailbox just wants to hear the message itself.

You configure this in the PBX web portal. PBX (Private Branch Exchange) is the phone system that routes calls and stores voicemail for your account.

Note

Each part of the envelope is an independent on/off setting, so you can announce any combination of the three details, all of them, or none. These settings are per mailbox, so changing one extension or group does not affect the others.

What the envelope announces

The envelope can include any combination of the following:

• The date and time the message arrived.
• The Caller ID of the person who left the message. Caller ID is the phone number, and sometimes the name, of the caller.
• The length of the recording.

The settings for a personal extension mailbox and for a shared group mailbox live in different places, covered below.

Tip

For most users, leaving Play Date and Time and Play Caller ID on is a good default: the person hears when the message came in and who to call back without having to listen to the whole recording first. Turn everything off only when users have asked for the shortest possible playback.

Set the envelope for an extension mailbox

Use this when the mailbox belongs to a single person’s extension.

1. Sign in to the PBX web portal and open Extension and Trunk > Extension, then edit the extension you want to change.
2. Select the Voicemail tab.
3. Turn each envelope detail on or off:
   • Play Date and Time announces when the message was received.
   • Play Caller ID announces the caller’s ID information.
   • Play Message Duration announces how long the recording is.
4. Click Save, then Apply.

Caution

Save only stores the change. It does not take effect until you also click Apply, which pushes the pending configuration to the phone system. If you skip Apply, the envelope will keep playing the old way.

Set the envelope for a group mailbox

Use this for a shared mailbox that several people check, such as a department or team voicemail.

1. Sign in to the PBX web portal and open Call Features > Voicemail > Group Voicemail, then edit the group voicemail you want to change.
2. In the Basic section, turn each envelope detail on or off:
   • Play Date and Time announces when the group message was received.
   • Play Caller ID announces the caller’s ID information.
   • Play Message Duration announces how long the recording is.
3. Click Save, then Apply.

Note

This change applies to everyone who listens to that group mailbox, not to any single person. Remember to click Apply after Save for it to take effect.