Calling features

Office hours, after-hours routing and holidays

Office hours send calls one way while you are open and another way after you close: the desk during the day, voicemail or a cell phone at night, a different destination on Christmas Day. You set the hours once and point a number at them.

Time-of-day and holiday routing is part of Pro. See Setting up your phone menu (IVR).

Setting your hours

1. Open Admin, then Main, then Office Hours. Click Add, give the entry a name (your business name is fine) and click Create.
2. Pick your Timezone.
3. There is a block for Weekday, one for Saturday and one for Sunday. In each, set the Open time and Close time, then where calls go: the Open destination while you are open and the Close destination after you close. A destination can be a person, a department, a queue or your phone menu. Tick Voicemail only under a destination to skip the ringing and send the caller straight to that person's voicemail.
4. Closed all day on Saturday or Sunday? Give both destinations for that day the same after-hours place. Then the time of day makes no difference.
5. Click Save Changes.

Holidays and half days

Under Exceptions, add a label (Christmas Day), the date, the start and end time it covers (for a whole day, 00:00 to 23:59) and where calls go during it. Click Add exception, one per holiday, then Save Changes. An exception wins over the normal hours for the time you give it.

Pointing a number at your hours

Hours do nothing on their own. Open Numbers, open the number, and under Route to pick your office hours entry: it is listed with time condition after its name. Click Save routing, then Apply Now in the purple bar. See My changes aren't live yet (Apply Now).

Call the number after closing time and listen.

Changing them later

Open the entry under Office Hours, change what you need, Save Changes, then Apply Now. Your numbers keep pointing at the entry, so there is nothing else to touch.

Article SL-507