#Call Queues

In Call queues, you can view the call queues in your organization in a report table and create, update, or delete your call queues. Refer to the following sections for the details of management methods.

#Create Call Queues

To create a call queue, complete the following steps:

1. On Calling > Call queues page, click Create on the ribbon to go to the Create call queue page.

2. Complete the basic information, including:

   • Name – Enter the name of the call queue.

   • Tenant – Select the tenant for the call queue.

   • Resource account – Add resource accounts to the call queue and assign phone numbers to them. The available resource accounts are loaded based on the tenant you selected.

   • Assign calling ID – Assign resource accounts for agents to make outbound calls using the phone numbers assigned to them.

   • Language – Select the language used to transcribe voicemail messages and pay system prompts to the callers.

3. Configure greetings and music for the call queue, including:

   • Greeting – Select from the following:

     • No greeting

     • Play an audio file – Upload an audio file as the greeting played to the callers.

     • Add a greeting message – Enter a greeting message for the system to read to the callers.

   • Music on hold – Select whether to play the default music or upload an audio file as the music to play to callers when they are on hold.

4. Configure the Call answering, including:

   • Add users and Groups, including distribution groups and Microsoft 365 Group, to answer incoming calls for this call queue.

   • Configure Conference mode – If enabled, call agents who use Skype for Business clients won’t receive calls.

5. Configure Agent selection, including:

   • Routing method – You can select from the following:

     • Attendant routing – When attendant routing is used, the first call in the queue will ring all of the call agents at the same time. The first call agent to pick up the call gets the call.

     • Serial routing – When serial routing is used, incoming calls will ring call agents one by one, starting from the beginning of the call agent list.

     • Round robin – When round robin routing is used, each call agent will get the same number of calls from the queue.

     • Longest idle – When the longest idle routing is used, the next call in the queue will ring the opted-in call agent that has been in the presence state Available the longest.

   • Presence-based routing – Agents who use Skype for Business clients will not receive calls when the longest idle or presence-based routing is enabled. This configuration is not available when Longest idle is selected as the routing method.

   • Call agents can opt out of taking calls – Configure whether call agents in this call queue can opt out of taking calls.

   • Call agent alert time (seconds) – Configure an alert time for the call agent.

6. Configure Call overflow handling to define the maximum of calls available in the queue and the flow after the maximum call reaches, including:

   • Maximum calls in the queue – A call queue can have at most 200 calls configured as the maximum number. If you configure 0 as the maximum number, the configured greeting audio file will not play to callers.

   • When the maximum number of calls is reached – You can select from the following:

     • Disconnect – The call will be disconnected when the number of calls in the queue reaches the maximum number.

     • Redirect this call to – You can select to redirect the call to the following entities:

       • Person in organization – A business voice-enabled person in your organization.

       • Voice app – A call queue or auto attendant.

       • External phone number – An external user.

       • Voicemail (personal) – A person to send the call directly to the user’s voicemail.

       • Voicemail (shared) – A Microsoft 365 Group to send the call to the Group’s voicemail.

7. Configure Call timeout handling – Configure a maximum call time and decide whether to disconnect or redirect the caller when the wait time reaches the end.

   • Maximum wait time – You can configure a maximum of 45 minutes as the wait time.

   • When the call times out – You can select from the following:

     • Disconnect – The call will be disconnected when the maximum wait time is reached.

     • Redirect this call to – You can select to redirect the call to the following entities:

       • Person in organization – A business voice-enabled person in your organization.

       • Voice app – A call queue or auto attendant.

       • External phone number – An external user.

       • Voicemail (personal) – A person to send the call directly to the user’s voicemail.

       • Voicemail (shared) – A Microsoft 365 Group to send the call to the Group’s voicemail.

8. Authorized users – Click Add to add users to the authorized users list. Users added will be able to make changes to this call queue.

9. Click Submit to create the call queue.

#Edit or Delete Call Queues

To edit a call queue, complete the following steps:

1. Select the target call queue.

2. Click Edit on the ribbon.

3. In the Edit call queue panel, edit its information and configurations.

4. Click Save to save your changes.

To delete call queues, complete the following steps:

1. Select the call queues to delete.

2. Click Delete on the ribbon.

3. Click Delete in the confirmation window to delete.

#Manage Call Answering

To manage a call queue’s call answering settings, complete the following steps:

1. Select one or more call queues to manage.

2. Click Manage call answering on the ribbon.

3. In the Manage call answering panel, select to add users and groups to the call answering list.

4. Search and specify the users or groups to add to the call queue.

   *Note: Your previous call answering choices in the call queue will be replaced.

5. Click Save to update the settings.