Record or Upload Voicemail Greetings

A personal voicemail greeting tells callers why you can’t pick up and how else to reach you. Cloud Voice gives you two ways to create one: upload a prepared audio file, or record a greeting by having the system call your phone. You can keep up to 10 personal greetings on file and switch between them whenever you like.

Tip

You don’t have to record or upload anything by hand. The AI Text-to-Speech feature turns typed text into a natural-sounding greeting. See AI Text-to-Speech.

Upload a voicemail greeting

If you already have an audio file, or want to produce one in another tool, upload it directly.

Your file must meet these requirements:

• Format: .wav, .mp3, or .gsm, encoded as one of the following:
  • PCM, 8K, 16-bit, 128 kbps
  • A-law (G.711), 8K, 8-bit, 64 kbps
  • u-law (G.711), 8K, 8-bit, 64 kbps
• Size: 8 MB maximum.

Note

These are standard phone-network audio settings. PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) is plain uncompressed audio, and G.711 is the codec (the format used to encode and decode the sound) that phone systems rely on, in its two flavors A-law and u-law. “8K” means an 8 kHz sample rate, “16-bit”/“8-bit” is the audio depth, and “kbps” is kilobits per second. Most audio editors can export to one of these settings.

Caution

The file has to match one of the encodings above and stay at or under 8 MB. A file with the wrong format, sample rate, or bit depth, or one that is too large, is rejected when you try to upload it.

To upload the file:

1. Sign in to the Cloud Voice App and open Preferences > Voicemail.
2. Under Voicemail Greeting, click Greeting Management.
3. In the window that opens, click Upload.
4. Choose the audio file you want to add.

The greeting appears in Greeting Management, where you can review or remove it.

Record a voicemail greeting from your phone

Prefer to speak your greeting? Have the system ring your extension so you can record it live.

1. Sign in to the Cloud Voice App and open Preferences > Voicemail.
2. Under Voicemail Greeting, click Greeting Management.
3. Switch to the Record New Greeting tab.
4. In Audio File Name, type a name that will help you recognize the greeting later.
5. From the Extension drop-down list, pick the extension you want to record from.
6. Click Save. The system then places a call to that extension.
7. Answer the call and record your greeting. When you’re finished, press # or simply hang up.

Tip

When you keep several greetings on file (up to 10), give each one a clear name in step 4, such as “Out of office” or “Holiday hours,” so you can tell them apart later.

Note

The call in step 6 rings the exact extension you selected, so make sure the desk phone or Cloud Voice App for that extension is nearby and ready to answer. The # key in step 7 sends a DTMF tone (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency, the beep a keypad makes) that signals the system you have finished recording.

Your new recording is saved under the Greeting Management tab, ready to review or delete.