At a glance
- A call menu answers the phone for you — “for reservations press 1, for the restaurant press 2”. Filantis calls it a call attendant.
- Each menu has its own extension, such as 6001, and your phone number points at it.
- Every key can go somewhere — a person, a department, a voicemail box, another menu, an outside number or a recorded message.
- It can ring a team first, with music on hold and a choice of who rings next.
- It follows your office hours: one destination for working hours, one for closed, one for breaks and one for holidays.
On this page:
1How a call menu works
A call menu is a short script that runs every time it answers. It checks the office clock first: outside working hours the caller goes straight to that time's destination. While you are open it plays your greeting, listens for a key and rings the people you chose — and if nobody takes the call, it sends the caller to your working-hours destination.
2Before you start
A call menu brings together things you set up elsewhere. Have these ready and building the menu takes five minutes:
Your recordings
The greeting and any messages, on Settings → Voice Prompts — upload a WAV or MP3, or type the words and let text-to-speech read them.
Your teams
Departments with people in them, on Office → Departments. See Departments and ring groups.
Your hours
Opening hours, breaks and holidays, on Settings → Office Time. See Office hours and holidays.
Write the options into the greeting. The menu has no separate “menu prompt”: the welcome prompt is what callers hear before they press a key, so it should end with the choices — “For reservations, press 1. For the restaurant, press 2.”
Your plan sets how many call menus you can have: 1 on Small, 5 on Medium, 25 on Large. The Mini size answers calls on extensions and departments without a menu.
3Create the call menu
- Open Phone & Extensions → Call Attendants and click Add Call Attendant.
- Give it a Name your team will recognise — “Main line” or “After-hours”.
- Keep the suggested Extension. Call menus are numbered 600–649 in a 3-digit workspace and 6000–6499 in a 4-digit one.
- Choose the greeting in Play Welcome Prompt.
- Leave Status on Active, fill in the destinations described below, and save.
4Give each key a job
Tick Enable DTMF to turn the menu on. Then, under DTMF Routes, choose what each key does. Keys you leave alone do nothing.
A key can send the caller to:
| Destination | What the caller gets |
|---|---|
| Extension | Rings one person's phones. |
| Department | Rings everyone in the team together. |
| User Voicemail / Department Voicemail | Straight to a mailbox to leave a message. |
| Call Attendant | Another call menu — a second level, such as a Sales menu. |
| External Number | An outside number, such as the manager's mobile. It leaves through your dial routes, so type it the way staff dial out — for example with a 9 first. |
| Play Prompt and End Call | A recorded message — directions, opening times — then goodbye. |
| End Call | Hangs up. |
| Go to next step | Carries on to Ring to Department and the office-hours destinations. |
When the caller presses nothing, or the wrong key
If no input within … seconds (10 unless you change it) and Invalid input destination each offer three choices:
- Go to next step — carry on as if no menu existed. The safest choice: the call still reaches a person or a mailbox.
- Repeat Prompt of previous step — give the caller another chance to press a key.
- Play Prompt & Go to next step — say something first, such as “Sorry, that is not an option”, then carry on.
Keys ring people the way a direct call does. An extension rings all of that person's phones and then follows their own forwarding and voicemail; a department rings its team and then goes to the department's mailbox. Nobody reaches a dead end.
6001
Main line“For sales, press 1”6002
Sales menuRings the Sales team, round robin5Ring a team
Switch on Ring to Department/Team to ring one or more departments before the office-hours destinations. Callers wait in line and hear music until someone picks up.
- Departments — pick one or several. Everyone in them rings.
- Ring Strategy — who rings, and in what order (below).
- Ring Time — how long each phone rings before the next try. 30 seconds unless you change it.
- Max Wait Time — the longest a caller waits in line. 300 seconds (five minutes) unless you change it.
- Music on Hold — what callers hear while they wait.
- When No Answer — Go to next step, or Play Prompt and Go to next step to apologise first.
Everyone at once
Every phone rings together; the first to answer takes the call. Best for a small front desk.
Take turns
One phone at a time, in turn, so calls are shared out across the team.
Freshest first
The person who has waited longest since their last call rings first.
Least busy first
The person who has taken the fewest calls rings first. Fair for sales teams.
6After hours and holidays
Under Destinations, the menu asks where callers go outside working hours, and where they go during them when nobody answered. Filantis reads the office clock as the menu answers:
| Field | Used when | A good choice |
|---|---|---|
| On Holiday | Today is a holiday on Settings → Office Time | Play Prompt and End Call: “We are closed for Diwali…” |
| On Break | Inside today's break | Department Voicemail |
| When Office Closed | Outside today's hours, or a day you do not work | Department Voicemail, or an on-call extension |
| Default (working hours) | The office is open and nobody took the call | Reception's extension |
Each field offers the same destinations as a key. All four are required, so every caller always ends up somewhere.
Outside working hours there is no greeting and no menu — the caller goes straight to that destination. To offer choices at night, set When Office Closed to a second call menu: it plays its own greeting and keys in full, and its own destinations catch whoever is left.
7Point your number at it
A menu does nothing until calls reach it. On Phone & Extensions → Trunks, open your carrier and set a phone number's destination to Call Attendant → your menu — either the Inward Destination for the whole line, or one number on the DID Numbers tab. See Connect your carrier.
Test it before you publish it: dial the menu's extension — 6001 — from any desk phone or the browser dial pad. You hear exactly what a caller will.
8Questions
Can one number have a different menu at night?
Yes. Point When Office Closed at a second call menu with night-time options — it plays in full, even though the office is closed.
How do I change the greeting for a festival or a closure?
Add the day on Settings → Office Time → Holidays, record the message on Voice Prompts, and set On Holiday to Play Prompt and End Call with that message. It plays only on that day.
Can callers dial an extension from the menu?
Each key is a single digit, so give the people callers ask for most their own key — or a key that leads to reception.
Can I switch a menu off without deleting it?
Yes. Edit it and set Status to Inactive. Point your number somewhere else first, or callers will not be answered.
What voice can read my greeting?
Any recording you upload — WAV or MP3, mono, up to 5 minutes — or text-to-speech from the voice services you connect under Service Connect.
A receptionist that never takes a day off
Filantis answers, sorts and routes every call — and the same workspace holds your staff register, your invoices and your front desk.
- Your voiceRecord your own greetings, or have them read out.
- Your hoursHolidays and breaks change the route by themselves.
- Your numbersKeep your carrier and the numbers customers know.
What to do next
Set up the teams your menu rings in Departments and ring groups, then the clock it follows in Office hours and holidays.
Still stuck?
Write to hello@filantis.com with your workspace name and what you were trying to do.