Set up Group Voicemail for a Custom Group

When a team is made up of people from different departments rather than a single department or ring group, you can give them a shared mailbox by creating a custom group voicemail. Any message left in the box notifies every member you assign, so nothing slips through the cracks.

Create the group voicemail

1. Sign in to the PBX (Private Branch Exchange, your phone system’s admin console) web portal and go to Call Features > Voicemail > Group Voicemail.

2. Click Add.

3. On the General tab, fill in the basic details described below.

   Setting	What to enter
   Type	Choose Custom.
   Number	A virtual extension number callers dial to reach the group voicemail.
   Name	A label that helps you recognize the mailbox later.
   Mode	How incoming messages are handled (see the two options below).
   Group Voicemail to Email	Optional. Email addresses that should receive a copy of each message.
   Voicemail PIN Authentication	Turn PIN (Personal Identification Number) protection on or off for access to the mailbox.
   Voicemail Access PIN	When PIN authentication is on, the access code members must enter.
   Disallow Voicemail Messages	Optional. Stops callers from recording a message (see below).
   Play Date and Time	Optional. Announces when a message was received before playing it.
   Play Caller ID	Optional. Announces the caller’s ID before playing the message.
   Play Message Duration	Optional. Announces how long a message is before playing it.
   Custom Prompt Language	Optional. Sets the language of the prompts callers hear (see below).

   Mode determines where messages live and who can act on them:

   • Shared by Members: messages stay in the group mailbox and are shared by everyone. Any member can play, save, or delete them.
   • Broadcast to Members: messages are not kept in the group mailbox. Instead, the system copies and forwards each one to every member’s personal mailbox.

   Note

   You can enter up to five addresses in Group Voicemail to Email, separated by semicolons (;).

   When Disallow Voicemail Messages is enabled, the system plays the group voicemail greeting and then ends the call without recording anything.

   Note

   The languages listed under Custom Prompt Language come from your configured system prompts (PBX Settings > Voice Prompt > System Prompt). If the mailbox has a custom greeting, that greeting plays instead and this language setting is ignored.

4. Optional: In the Group Voicemail Greeting section, pick the greeting callers hear before they leave a message.

   Tip

   To build your own greeting, see Record or Upload Voicemail Greetings.

5. In the Members section, move the extensions or extension groups that should receive the group voicemail from the Available box to the Selected box.

   

   Note

   If you set both members and email addresses, the group voicemail is delivered to the selected members and the specified addresses.

6. Open the Voicemail Announcement tab to set up call alerts that ring chosen numbers whenever a new message arrives.

   Caution

   Call alerts work only when Mode is set to Shared by Members. If you built this mailbox in Broadcast to Members mode, the Voicemail Announcement tab will not offer call alerts, so choose the mode carefully in step 3.

7. Click Save, then Apply.