Mailboxes - General Mailbox Properties

Tick this box and enter an access code if you want to be able to dial into IVM and listen to messages by telephone or by internet using your web browser.

For more information about the telephone remote access feature, please see Remote Access by Telephone. For more information about checking mailboxes by internet see Web Access.

Note: Your access code needs to be 4-9 digits long, and you no longer have to have a unique code each mailbox as of version 4.20. If you tick the "Read Time of Message" option, the caller will hear the time that the message was called when they use Remote Access.

These features are normally used with a PBX to dial a number to turn on or off a MWI (Message Waiting Indicator) (see Connecting IVM to a telephone key system or PBX). It can also be used to dial a pager number to set a pager message.

These are not standard outbound calls and are not meant to be placed to an extension. Call strings will be in the format "XXXXX,YYYYY" where XXXXX is the number to dial and after the call is answered IVM will dial YYYYY to set or clear the MWI flag (or to send a numeric page to the pager that was dialed).

When a new message arrives, dial:

This number will be called when there are new messages in the mailbox.

After a message is checked, dial:

This number will be called when a new messages is checked from mailbox. This feature is only applicable when calling in to check messages. It is not intended for when messages are checked from the IVM graphical or web interface.

Example:

PBX MWI Dial-In Number: 999

PBX MWI Format: Extension*1# (turn on), Extension*0# (turn off)

Mailbox Extension: 101

When a new message arrives, dial: 999,101*1#

After a message is checked, dial: 999,101*0#

Send to Email

If this option is selected IVM will automatically send the message, or a notification of receipt of the message, to an email address.

To receive messages by email tick the "Send to Email" box, enter your email address and tick "Send audio file as attachment". If you only want to receive notification of receipt of a message (not the actual message), untick the "Send audio file as attachment" box.

If you are sending messages by email over slow internet connections, you should consider setting the audio compression format to reduce file size. See Settings - Audio for more information about settings the compression codec.

You can send emails to multiple addresses by listing them separated with commas. Additionally variables, normally retuned by a plugin, can also be used (e.g. %emailaddress%).

This option can be used to send email notifications by SMS or a paging service. You need to use an email->SMS gateway (e.g. www.kapow.co.uk). Change the subject and template text using the email settings as required by your email->SMS gateway. Of course, you should not attach audio to an SMS email!

Email (SMTP) settings are the same for all mailboxes, and can be set along with the default message and subject line through "email settings" under the system settings tab. See Email Settings for more information.

Individual mailbox users can view the (SMTP) settings but can only change the subject and message contents of the emails they receive. This can be accessed from the "Email Settings" link in the mailboxes table under the mailboxes tab. Save changes to the Mailbox properties to return to the list of mailboxes to ensure changes to the users email address and attachment settings are saved before going into the email settings to change the email subject or message.

If you have a speech-to-text engine installed (e.g. Dragon Naturally Speaking) IVM can be set to automatically transcribe the messages with the speech recognition technology. To enable this, tick the "use speech recognition" option and select the engine in the pull down list. Emails will then be sent with the transcription. Note that the default Microsoft engine is not good enough and that because almost all messages will be with "untrained" voices even with the best engines available today there will be many errors.

If you have problems with the send to email feature see Troubleshooting Problems for some solutions.

Upload to Internet Webpage using FTP

IVM can automatically create a web page on your web site where you can listen to your messages online.

To use this feature you must have a space on a web server which will be used for the web page. Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) allow their customers to have some space to have their own web site free (usually subject to a maximum number of MB). If you do not know if your ISP offers the service, call your ISP and ask whether they offer that service.

IVM uploads the page (and the recordings) using FTP. To upload a file you need to know the ftp server name (e.g. ftp.yourdomain.com), your user name, your password and the directory into which you want to upload the page (e.g. /home/yourusername/www). If you do not know these, please contact your ISP.

Tick the "Upload to Internet Webpage using FTP" option and enter the ftp details.

The name of your page will be based on your mailbox name. It will be in lower case with all spaces replaced with '_' characters and with the '.html' suffix. For example, if the mailbox is called "Mailbox 1" the webpage to access will be "mailbox_1.html" on your website.

If you are accessing the page over slow internet connections, you should consider setting the audio compression format to reduce file size. See Settings - Audio for more information about settings the compression codec.

You can apply a security password to the site if required. Speak to a web designer for more information.

Note: You must not have any other wav files in the same directory used by IVM because IVM will delete any unidentified wav files (it will think they are outdated messages).

Send to (Network) Folder

When this option is ticked, IVM copies the message (as a wav file) to any folder. This can be on the local computer or on the network. This option is useful if you want to collect voice mail over your computer network. Create (shared) folders for each voice mailbox. When IVM receives a message it will copy the wav file to that folder. The user can have a link on their desktop to that folder so they can check their messages at any time from their computer.

Forward to Telephone Number

When this option is selected, IVM will automatically dial a phone number after it receives new messages in the mailbox and offer the option to listen to the message.

You can also set the number of times IVM will attempt to forward the message and the wait time between calls.

Enter the number to dial, followed by a comma followed by any DMTF digits to dial after the call is answered. You can use additional commas to add 500ms delay each comma.

If the "AutoAnswer" option is ticked, IVM will automatically detect when the call is answered and play the single message directly. This is useful if it is possible that a phone with an answering machine will answer the call. Even though the menu is not played at any time during the message the menu commands for delete and/or transfer message can be used (see Remote Access by Telephone).

IVM uses ring-tone and silence detection to tell if a call is answered in AutoAnswer mode. The timing settings can be adjusted using the Outbound Autodial Call Settings.

The Forward to Telephone feature can also be used with some pager systems but remember to set number of attempts to 1.

Before IVM can forward messages by telephone at least one line must have "Allow outbound and message forward calls" selected in the telephony line properties.

Use Call Screening

If you tick this box, you will be able to monitor the callers' messages as they are being recorded through your computer speakers.

To use call screening, you must also select the Call Screen Device and volume from Settings - Audio.

Sound beep through speakers when new messages

When the "Sound beep through speakers when new messages" option is selected, IVM will play a short tone every 15 seconds when there are new messages in the mailbox. This is useful to notify you when there are new messages.

Mailbox Message Notifications are used to set MWI (Message Waiting Indicator) flags on standard PBX systems. These are not standard outbound calls and are not meant to be placed to an extension. It is assumed that these calls are always answered. Call strings will be in the format "XXXXX,YYYYY" where XXXXX is the number to dial and after the call is answered IVM will dial YYYYY to set or clear the MWI flag.

When a new message arrives, dial:

This number will be called when there are new messages in the mailbox.

After a message is checked, dial:

Example:

PBX MWI Dial-In Number: 999

PBX MWI Format: Extension*1# (turn on), Extension*0# (turn off)

Mailbox Extension: 101

When a new message arrives, dial: 999,101*1#

After a message is checked, dial: 999,101*0#

IVM will treat any Voice Mail that is shorter than the set minimum length as being too short, and will delete it without any further action.

If someone tries to leave a message longer than maximum message length, they will be sent to the message options when the maximum is reached, giving them the options to listen to their message or record the message.

Use system default

Use the system default. You can change the system default settings from the System Settings tab of the weblet or the Messages tab of the Settings dialog from the IVM application window.

Customized for the Mailbox

Use this value for the minimum or maximum recording time for this Mailbox.

Each mailbox can have a personal greeting that will be played immediately before the message is recorded only if the active command is set to play the personal greeting. When recording to a mailbox you can choose not to play the personal greeting when leaving a message (if, for instance, the OGM already does it's own greeting). The personal greeting for the mailbox will still be able to be modified since more than one OGM could transfer a call to the same mailbox.

Play Greeting

Click on the play button to play the current mailbox greeting. Click on the button again to stop playback.

Change Greeting Audio

Click on the Change Greeting Audio button to record a new greeting, import a wav or mp3 file, synthesize speech (text-to-speech) or restore to the default greeting. Speech synthesis is currently only available from the UI and not from the weblet.

To synthesize speech, you must have a speech engine installed. If a speech engine is not already installed with your version of Windows or if you want to add different voices, you can download one of the text-to-speech engines using the links at www.nch.com.au/speech (The Microsoft engine is free).