# Customize Your Voicemail Settings

Your voicemail preferences determine how the mailbox is secured, when you are alerted about new messages, what the system announces while a message plays, and which greeting callers hear. You manage all of this from one screen in the Cloud Voice App Desktop Client.

## Open your voicemail preferences

1. Sign in to the Cloud Voice App Desktop Client and open **Preferences > Voicemail**.
2. Switch on **Enable Voicemail**.

## Require a PIN to listen to messages

Use the **Voicemail PIN Authentication** drop-down to decide whether the mailbox is protected. A PIN (Personal Identification Number) is a short numeric code the caller enters before any message can be played.

- **Enabled**: You must enter a PIN before you can play your messages. Set the code in the **Voicemail Access PIN** field.
- **Disabled**: You reach your messages without entering a code.

:::tip
Voicemail can hold sensitive information (callback numbers, account details, personal messages). Setting PIN Authentication to **Enabled** keeps anyone at the device, or dialing in remotely, from listening to messages that are not theirs.
:::

## Set up new voicemail notifications

Use the **New Voicemail Notification** drop-down to choose whether an email is sent when a message arrives:

- **Do Not Send Email Notifications**: Turn email alerts off entirely.
- **Send Email Notifications with Attachment**: Email you about each new message and include the recording as a `.wav` file attachment.
- **Send Email Notifications without Attachment**: Email you about each new message, with no recording attached.

If you turned notifications on, set the two options below to control what happens to messages and where the email goes:

| Setting | What it controls |
|---------|------------------|
| After Notification | What the system does with a message once its notification email has gone out. **Mark as Read** flags the message in your mailbox as read; **Delete Voicemail** removes it from your mailbox; **Do Nothing** leaves it in place as unread. |
| Send to | The destination for notification emails. **User Email** sends them to the address on your account; **Custom Email** sends them to an address you specify in the **Custom Email Address** field. |

:::caution
**Delete Voicemail** erases each message from the mailbox as soon as its notification email is sent, and that removal cannot be undone. If you pair it with **Send Email Notifications without Attachment**, no copy of the recording is kept anywhere. Choose **Delete Voicemail** only when the attached `.wav` file is the record you intend to keep.
:::

## Choose what plays before each message

This step is optional. Turn on any of the following to have the system announce details about a message before it plays the recording:

- **Play Date and Time**: Announces when the message was received. When this is on, use **Time Display Format** to pick a 12-hour or 24-hour clock for the announcement.
- **Play Caller ID**: Announces the caller's ID (the number or name the call came from).
- **Play Message Duration**: Announces how long the message is.

## Choose the greeting callers hear

In the **Voicemail Greeting** section, pick the greeting that plays when a caller reaches your mailbox. The system greeting is used by default. You can [upload or record your own greetings](/pbx/desktop-client-user-guide/upload-or-record-voicemail-greetings/) and set one as your new default.

![Voicemail greeting section with a custom recording chosen as the default greeting](/images/pbx/set-a-new-defaulte-greeting.jpg)

:::note
To play a different greeting depending on your presence status, choose an existing greeting from the drop-down next to each status.
:::

![Presence status rows, each with a drop-down for assigning its own greeting](/images/pbx/assign-greeting-for-presence-status.jpg)

## Save your changes

Click **Save** to apply your voicemail settings.