What is call flow?

Call flow is what happens between a client dialing your number and someone picking up. Every phone number in CurrentClient has its own, so your main line can play a menu while your direct line just rings you.

Watch this quick walkthrough first:

How does a number handle incoming calls?

Open Settings, then Inboxes, click the number, go to the Calls tab, and look at Inbound Call Handling. There are three modes, and the active one shows under Currently active.

Mode	What it does	Best for
Ring Order	Rings your team all at once, randomly, or one at a time, then goes to voicemail	A shared line with no menu
Call Forwarding	Sends the call to another phone number, such as your cell	One person who lives on their cell
Dial Plan	Runs a plan you build: greetings, menus, schedules, ring groups, and more	Anything with more than one step

Ring Order and Call Forwarding are set up right on that tab. See call forwarding for the forwarding options. The rest of this guide is about dial plans.

Note: A dial plan takes over completely. While one is active, the number's ring order and its own voicemail greetings aren't used. The plan decides everything, including which greeting callers hear. See voicemail.

What is a dial plan?

A dial plan is a flow chart of steps. The call starts at the top and follows the arrows: play a greeting, check whether you're open, offer a menu, ring a group, and so on until someone answers or the caller reaches voicemail.

Here's a deeper look at building one:

Dial plans are built in the web app on a computer. The steps you can use:

Step	What it does
Ring users	Rings a teammate or a ring group for a set number of seconds
Voicemail	Plays a greeting and takes a message
Play audio	Plays a recording, or reads out text you type
Phone menu	"Press 1 for..." choices. See phone menus
Check schedule	Sends the call one way during your hours and another way outside them
Contact branching	Sends existing contacts one way and unknown callers another
Area code branching	Routes by the caller's area code
Dynamic tag ringing	Routes the caller straight to their own advisor. See extensions
Forward to number	Sends the call to an outside phone number
Forward to inbox	Hands the call to another of your numbers and its plan
Jump to step	Reuses a menu or voicemail step already in the plan instead of duplicating it

Note: Phone menus and schedules are part of advanced call routing, which isn't included in the Text plan. They show an Upgrade badge if your plan doesn't include them. See billing and plans.

How do I build a dial plan?

Step 1. Create a draft

Go to Settings, then Dial plans and click Create Draft. A new plan opens with a sensible default: ring your whole team, then voicemail.

Step 2. Start from a template if you like

With nothing selected, the right hand panel offers Try a template? with starting points like "Ring then voicemail", "Greet, ring then voicemail", "Forward all calls", "Simple phone menu", and two that check whether the caller is a contact first. Picking one replaces what's on the canvas.

Step 3. Name it

Click Untitled (Add name) at the top and give it a name your team will recognize.

Step 4. Add and arrange steps

Drag a step from the panel onto the canvas, or click the + on an arrow or under a step to insert one there. Click any step to set it up. Each step form has Cancel and Save step.

Step 5. Watch the badges

A step that still needs something shows Needs work on its form and a warning triangle on the canvas. If a step can't be reached from the start, the top bar says how many steps are unreachable.

Step 6. Save

Click Save in the top bar. You'll see "Saved". Saving a draft doesn't change any live number.

Tip: Every plan should end in voicemail. When you add a branching step like a phone menu or a schedule check, the builder adds a Ring users step and a Voicemail step under it for you, so callers always have somewhere to land.

How do I put a dial plan live on a number?

Publishing happens from the phone number, not from the Dial plans page.

Step 1. Open the number

Go to Settings, then Inboxes, click the number, and open the Calls tab.

Step 2. Choose Dial Plan

Under Inbound Call Handling, click Dial Plan. You'll see the active plan, if any, and a Draft Dial Plans list below it.

Step 3. Publish

Click Publish next to the plan you want. It goes live right away, with no confirmation step, and the panel shows the plan name with "is active" next to it.

Warning: Nothing stops you publishing a plan that still has Needs work steps or unreachable steps. Check the badges, save, and then make a test call from another phone before you walk away.

A few things worth knowing:

One plan can be live on several numbers. The Dial plans page shows each plan as Active on 2 inboxes or Not published.
Unpublish takes the number back to Ring Order, not to whatever mode it used before.
Editing a live plan changes it for callers as soon as you save. To test changes safely, click Duplicate on the Dial plans page, edit the copy, then publish the copy when it's ready.
Deleting a plan that's live on a number isn't blocked. Unpublish or switch numbers to another plan first.
On the mobile app you can publish or unpublish a plan on a number from the number's settings, but plans are built and edited on the web.

How do I set up business hours for a plan?

The Check schedule step sends calls one way during your hours (In schedule) and another way outside them (Outside schedule), for example ring the team when you're open and go straight to voicemail when you're closed. It needs a schedule to check.

Step 1. Create a schedule

Go to Settings, then Schedules and click Add Schedule.

Step 2. Name it and pick a time zone

Enter a Schedule Name like "Business Hours" and choose your Timezone.

Step 3. Set your hours

Under Weekly Schedule, use Add Hours on each day you're open and enter the start and end times. Add time block lets you split a day, for example to close over lunch. Days without hours count as closed. Common Hours fills in a preset like Monday to Friday, 8 to 5.

Step 4. Use it in the plan

Add a Check schedule step to your dial plan and choose the schedule under Select Schedule.

Schedules are weekly. There's no holiday calendar, so for a day off, edit the schedule that morning or keep a second "Closed" schedule and swap it in.

What's a good first plan?

For most firms this covers it:

Play audio with a short welcome, so callers know they've reached the right place.
Check schedule against your business hours.
In schedule: Ring users with your ring group for 20 to 30 seconds, then Voicemail.
Outside schedule: Voicemail with an after hours greeting.

Add a phone menu once you have more than one team or want callers to reach people by extension.

Best practices

Test every path. Call in from another phone and try each menu key, both sides of the schedule, and a no answer, so you hear what clients hear.
Record real greetings. A new voicemail or phone menu step starts with stock audio. Replace it with your own voice before publishing.
Keep the menu short. Three or four choices is plenty. Anything more and callers hang up.
Train your team. Make sure everyone knows which steps ring them and what happens when they don't pick up.