Choosing who your calls ring

In this article, you'll learn how to choose who rings when someone calls one of your business numbers, in what order, and what happens when nobody picks up. Get it right and callers reach a real person fast, while whoever's off for the day isn't bothered.

Every number carries its own ringing settings. There are no call groups to build first. You tick the people a number should ring and set the order right there.

To open a number's call settings on the web:

  1. In the menu, click Phone. You can also open Settings and click Phone numbers under Phone & booking.
  2. Find the number and click Edit. On a phone-sized screen the button reads Call settings.

To open them in the phone app:

  1. Open the menu and tap the gear at the bottom. Only an admin sees it.
  2. Tap Phone numbers, then Call settings under the number.
Note: Your Reviews number never rings anyone. Calls to it get a few seconds of silence, so these settings don't apply to it. The settings window says so when you open it.

How a call moves through your settings

During business hours, a call works through the number's settings in this order:

  1. It rings the people: whoever Calls go to points at, then the team members you ticked.
  2. If nobody answers, it rings your Call forwarding number, if you set one.
  3. If that isn't answered either, it does what If nobody answers says: take a voicemail or hang up.

Anyone switched off under Who's taking calls is skipped. More on that below.

Picking who rings

Open the Ringing & forwarding tab. In the app it's called Ringing.

  1. Under Calls go to, pick one:
  • A team member, then pick the person.
  • An external number, then type the number. The app calls this An outside number.
  • Only the people ticked below, if you only want the list underneath to ring. The app calls this Only the people below.
  1. Under Also ring these team members, tick each person who should ring.
  2. For each person, tick where they answer: Web app, Mobile app or Phone number. If you tick Phone number, type the number they ring on. In the app these are two switches, In the apps and On a phone number.
  3. Click Save.
Choosing who a number rings
Choosing who a number rings
Tip: People only show here once they're on your team. If the list says "No team members yet", add them under Team first.

Setting the ring order

Under Ring order, choose:

  • Everyone at once — whoever answers first gets the call. Everyone rings together for the full ring time.
  • One at a time, in the order listed above. People ring in the order they appear on the page, not the order you ticked them. Then set how many rings each person gets before the call moves on: 2, 3 or 4.

With only one person to ring, they ring for the full ring time either way. The app's choices are Everyone at once and One at a time.

Ring time, forwarding and what happens next

  1. In Call forwarding, type a number to ring if nobody above answers. Leave it blank to skip this step. Texts to this line, pictures included, get passed on to that number too.
  2. In Ring time (seconds), set how long the call rings when everyone rings at once. It's also how long the forwarding number rings.
  3. In Outgoing call timeout (seconds), set how long your own outgoing calls ring before giving up. The app calls this Outgoing timeout (seconds).
  4. Under If nobody answers, pick Take a voicemail or Hang up. With voicemail, callers hear your company's greeting, set under Voicemail greetings on the Phone numbers page.
  5. Click Save.
Warning: Keep the ring time at 20 seconds or less if you're ringing cell phones. Any longer and the phone's own voicemail can pick up before the CRM's does. The page warns you when you go over.

Setting your business hours

Calls only ring during your hours, in your business's time zone. Outside them, callers get your after-hours greeting.

  1. Open the Hours tab.
  2. To ring at any hour, tick Always open — ring at any hour. In the app it's the Always open switch. Untick it and the week starts at Monday to Saturday, 8:00 to 18:00.
  3. Click Add hours on a day and set the start and end times. Add a second range for a split day, like a lunch break. Click Remove to take a range off. A day with no hours shows Closed.
  4. Under After hours, choose what happens when you're closed:
  • Take a voicemail
  • Forward to another number, then type the number. While you're closed, texts to the line go there too.
  • Take a voicemail and text the caller back
  1. If you didn't pick forwarding, you can tick Let after-hours callers press 1 for something urgent. Type an on-call number under it, or leave it blank and pressing 1 rings the line as usual.
  2. Click Save.

The app has the same choices with shorter names: Voicemail, Forward, Voicemail + text back and a Press 1 for urgent switch.

Setting a number's business hours
Tip: For holidays, use the Closed days card on the Phone numbers page. On those days every number answers with the after-hours greeting.

Switching people on and off for the day

The Who's taking calls card on the Phone numbers page covers every number at once. Switch someone off when they're off shift or out on a job, and calls skip them until they're switched back on. You don't touch any number's settings.

  1. On the Phone numbers page, find Who's taking calls.
  2. Untick the person. In the app, flip their switch off. Their line then reads Not taking calls.

Anyone can switch themselves off and on. Only an admin can switch someone else.

The Who's taking calls card
The Who's taking calls card
Note: Closing early or taking a day off? The All calls card at the top of the Phone numbers page sends every call to voicemail, or forwards every call, until you set it back to Ring as normal. It overrides every number's hours and ringing.

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