A phone menu plays a greeting and lets the caller pick where to go by pressing a key: "Press 1 for your advisor, press 2 for client service, press 3 to leave a message." Each key leads to a step of your choosing, like ringing a ring group, forwarding to a number, or going to voicemail.

A phone menu is a step inside a dial plan. You build the plan, put a menu in it, and publish the plan on a phone number. Menus are built in the web app on a computer.

Note: Phone menus are part of advanced call routing, which isn't included in the Text plan. If the step shows an Upgrade badge, you'll need to change plans to use it. See billing and plans.

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Step 1. Open a dial plan

Go to Settings, then Dial plans and open a draft, or click Create Draft. The Simple phone menu template under Try a template? gives you a ready made three option menu to edit.

Step 2. Add the step

Drag Phone menu onto the canvas, or click a + and choose it. The builder adds three options for you, Press 1, Press 2, and Press 3, each ringing your team, plus an invalid press path that goes to voicemail.

Step 3. Record your greeting

Click the step. Under Menu Greeting, click Change audio and record with your microphone, upload an .mp3 up to 5 MB, or pick one from your audio library. The greeting is where you tell callers what each key does, so say the options out loud: "For client service, press 1."

Step 4. Set up each option

Under Menu options, click an option to open the step it leads to and set it up. Click the key label to change which key it uses, and use Add an option for more.

Step 5. Save

Click Save step, then Save in the top bar. Publish the plan on your number when you're ready. See call flow for publishing.

Warning: A new menu comes with a generic stock greeting, and the step counts as ready even before you replace it. Always record your own greeting before you publish. Callers can't know what to press otherwise.

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Anything a dial plan step can do. Click an option and use Replace step to change it. Common choices:

Keys are the digits 0 to 9, so a menu can have up to ten options. Star and pound aren't available. Each key can only be used once per menu.

To remove an option, click the trash icon next to it. This removes the option and everything under it, with no confirmation, so check what's on that branch first.

Tip: Put the most common choice on 1 and keep the menu to three or four options. If you need "press 0 for a person", use key 0 with a Ring users step.

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The Invalid row under your options decides. Out of the box it goes to a voicemail step. Two other choices:

Timeout (seconds) is how long the menu waits for a key press after the greeting. The default is 10 seconds.

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Yes. Turn on Enable Extensions at the top of the phone menu step. While the menu is playing, a caller can enter a 3 digit extension to go straight to that teammate or number, skipping the options. Mention it in your greeting: "If you know your party's extension, you may dial it at any time."

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Usually after a Check schedule step, so callers only get the menu during business hours and go straight to an after hours voicemail otherwise. If you greet callers with a separate Play audio step first, keep it short, since the menu has its own greeting.

To offer the same menu in two places in a plan, use Jump to step instead of building it twice. Then you only have one greeting to keep up to date.

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