Making and answering calls on the web

In this article, you'll learn how to make and answer calls from the CRM in your web browser. Calls go out on your business line, so customers see your company's number and not your cell.

There's nothing to install. While you're signed in, the browser tab is your phone: you can place calls from it, and incoming calls can ring there too.

To open the Dialer:

  1. In the menu, click Conversations.
  2. In the switch at the top of the page, click Dialer. It sits between Conversations and Quick replies.

Making a call from the Dialer

  1. Make sure Call is picked in the switch at the top of the Dialer.
  2. Type or paste the number into the number box, or click it in on the keypad.
  3. Click the green phone button under the keypad.
Dialing a number from the Dialer

The green button stays greyed out until there's a full 10-digit number in the box. To fix a typo, click the delete key to the right of the number. Hold it down to clear the whole number.

Tip: Switch to Text to send a text to the number you've typed instead. The message box shows up at the bottom of the Dialer, and the + button next to it attaches photos, videos or a file. On the free plan there's no +, and the text is handed to your phone's Messages app to send. See How texting works on the free plan.
Note: The first time you call, your browser asks to use your microphone. If you block it, or your computer has no microphone, the CRM says so in a Call didn't go through message instead of dialing. Allow the microphone for reviewmonster.com and try again.

Calling from a client, job, lead, estimate or invoice

You don't have to go to the Dialer every time. Wherever a customer's number shows, you can usually call it from right there:

  • Client page: click the phone icon next to the client's number, under Contact.
  • Job page: click the round phone button beside the job contact's number.
  • Leads list: click the lead's phone number.
  • Estimates and Invoices lists: click the phone number under the client's name. The CRM asks you to confirm, then you click Call.
  • A conversation: click the phone icon at the top of the thread.
On the Leads list, each phone number is a call button
On the Leads list, each phone number is a call button

Each of these goes out the same way as the Dialer: from your business line, through the browser.

Note: If a client has Do Not Disturb turned on for calls, the call won't go through. The CRM tells you why before it dials.
Note: If browser calling isn't set up for your company yet, the phone icons open your computer's own phone app instead. Calls still go out, just not through the CRM.

While you're on a call

Once the call starts, the call page fills the screen. At the top you'll see who you're calling and their number. While it connects it says Calling…, then Ringing…. Once they pick up, a timer runs next to the number.

If the number belongs to one of your clients, a card shows their address, how many jobs they've had, their last job and whether they owe anything. Up to three buttons sit under it:

  • Client opens their client page.
  • Last job opens their most recent job.
  • Text opens a text to them.

Their customer notes show under the card, so you can read and add to them while you talk. If the number isn't one of your clients yet, the card says Not one of your customers yet. You can still text them from there.

Below that is the Schedule job switch. Turn it on and, the moment you hang up, the Scheduler opens for this caller and fills in the job from the call. There's more on that in Scheduling a job from a live call.

At the bottom are the call controls:

  • Mute turns your microphone off and on.
  • Keypad opens number keys, for when you reach a phone menu.
  • End hangs up.

Mute and Keypad wake up once the other person answers.

Hiding the call page

Need to look something up mid-call? Click Hide at the top right of the call page. A green bar stays across the top of every page with the caller's name and the timer. Click the bar (it says Click to return) to bring the call page back, or click the red button at the right end of the bar to end the call.

Answering incoming calls

For a call to ring in your browser, you have to be set up to take calls there.

To check who your number rings:

  1. In the menu, click Phone.
  2. On your number, click Edit.
  3. Click the Ringing & forwarding tab.
Opening a number's ringing settings
Opening a number's ringing settings

You either need to be the team member picked under Calls go to, or be ticked under Also ring these team members with Web app checked. Choosing who your calls ring walks through it.

When a call comes in, a card pops up in the CRM tab. On a wide screen it sits in the bottom right corner. It says Incoming call and shows the caller's name, or their number if the CRM doesn't know them.

  1. Click Answer to pick up. The call page opens, the same as for a call you placed.
  2. Or click Decline to turn it down.

The CRM has to be open in a tab for a call to ring there. If it's closed, the call still rings wherever else it's set to ring for you, like the phone app.

Tip: The ringtone you hear comes from Settings › Notifications, under Sounds. On the Incoming calls row, the Desktop box controls whether this browser makes a sound. With it unchecked, the card still pops up, silently.
The Sounds section, where the Incoming calls row sets your desktop ringtone
The Sounds section, where the Incoming calls row sets your desktop ringtone
Note: You can only be on one call at a time in the browser. If a second call comes in while you're on one, your browser doesn't offer it to you. It keeps ringing anywhere else it's set to ring, and goes to voicemail if nobody picks up.

If you run more than one business from this login and have set another one to ring here, its calls pop up in the same card. The card names which business the call is for. See Running several businesses or locations from one login.