IVR Menus

An IVR menu (auto attendant) answers a call, plays an announcement such as “For sales, press 1. For support, press 2.” and sends the caller wherever the pressed key leads. Menus can lead to other menus, so you can build a menu tree. IVR menus are managed under Dialplan → IVR Menus.

A menu is reached by its internal number, as the destination of a provider’s incoming route, from an IVR key of another menu or from business hours. Changes take effect after you apply them, see Applying changes.

IVR menu list

Click IVR menu above the list to add one. The list shows:

The search field above the list finds IVR menus by number, name or description; how searching and paging work is described in Lists.

The buttons at the end of each row edit, disable/enable and delete the menu. A disabled menu is left out of the configuration; calls that would reach it end. Deleting a menu removes the incoming routes and IVR keys that led to it; other menus and business hours that used it for no key or closed fall back to Hang up.

Create or edit an IVR menu

The edit page has the tabs General, Announcement and Keys; the Keys tab shows the number of options. A saved menu also has the tab Call flow & test. A new menu opens on General, a saved one on Keys. When you save and an entry is invalid, the tab with the error opens and is marked with a red icon. Save (or Create) returns to the list; Save and stay (Create and stay) keeps the page open on the same tab.

General

The tab General holds the name and how the menu is reached.

Announcement

The announcement is played when the call reaches the menu. Callers can press a key while it plays. Choose the Source:

• Uploaded audio: choose a file under Announcement, or drop an audio file (WAV, MP3, OGG or FLAC, up to 16 MB) on the upload area. The file is converted to 8 kHz mono, which is what telephones use, and can be played in the browser. Uploaded announcements are also listed under Services → Media.
• Built-in sound: an Asterisk sound in the prompt language of the system, for example welcome. You can also type the name of another installed sound.

If the system cannot convert other formats, only PCM WAV files are accepted; the error message shows how to convert a file with sox.

With Record by phone you speak the announcement into a phone instead: enter a Name, choose the phone under Ring phone and click Call me. Answer the call, speak after the tone, press # and then 1 to save; the new recording is chosen under Announcement right away. The steps are described under Services → Media.

The Recording script helps you record a matching announcement. Write from options fills it from the key options in their order, in the prompt language of the system, for example “For Sales, press 1. For Support, press 2.”. Edit the text if you like, Copy it, record it with any recording app and upload the file. The script itself is never played.

When a text-to-speech server is set up, Create from text speaks the recording script instead: choose a Voice, check it with Listen and click Create announcement. The announcement is named after the menu and chosen under Uploaded audio right away; save the menu and apply.

Keys

Click Add option for each key the caller may press. Each option has:

• Key: 0–9, * or #. Each key can be used once per menu.
• Label: optional, for example Sales. It is used in the recording script and in the call flow.
• Destination: where the key leads, see Destinations. Besides phones, groups and so on, a key can lead to a voicemail box, Repeat the menu or Hang up.

Drag an option by its handle, or use the arrow buttons, to change the order. The order is the order in which the options should be announced; it is used by Write from options. The x button removes an option.

No or invalid input

The section No or invalid input at the bottom of the tab Keys sets what happens when the caller presses nothing or a key without an option.

With the defaults, a caller who presses nothing hears the announcement three times (once plus two repetitions), waiting 5 seconds after each, and is then hung up.

Callers from outside never get the transfer feature codes in calls that come through a menu, and with direct dialling they reach only public numbers. Internal callers can dial every internal number.

Call flow & test

The tab Call flow & test is only there once the menu is saved.

Call flow

Call flow shows the menu as it was saved, as a tree: each key with its label and destination. Sub-menus are expanded up to three levels, with an Edit link; a key that leads back to a menu already on the path is shown as “back to …”.

Test call

Test call rings a phone and connects it to the menu once it is answered, as if the phone had dialled the menu. Choose the phone under Ring phone and click Call me. Only enabled SIP and IAX phones can be chosen.

The test call uses the menu as it was last applied: apply your changes first.

Build a simple menu

1. Upload or choose an announcement (or create the options first, use Write from options and record the script).
2. Add option 1 → call group Sales, option 2 → call group Support, option 0 → the reception phone.
3. Set When no key is pressed to the reception phone so that callers who do not press a key are still answered.
4. Click Create, apply the changes and use Test call to listen to it.
5. Route your number to the menu with an incoming route.

Destinations

Incoming routes, IVR keys and business hours all choose a destination from the same picker. Which types are available depends on where you choose:

Disabled phones, applications and menus are not reached: a call to them ends. When an object is deleted, routes and keys that led to it are removed, and fixed destinations fall back to Hang up (Repeat the menu for an unknown key).