Setting Up Your Voice Mailbox
To take full advantage of the Mail system, you should take a few minutes to set up your mailbox. This will help you and your callers communicate better.
Recording your Personal Verification:
Personal verification records your name and other details such as your title, department, and/or extension number. Your personal verification is used in your greetings and outgoing messages, in name dialing, and remote notification announcements.
- Log into voicemail.
- Press 82 for greetings.
- Press 9 for personal verification.
- Press 5 to record. You might record "(Your Name), (Your Title) and (Your Department)".
- Press # key to stop recording.
- Press 83 to log off or return to messages.
Recording your Personal Greeting:
Your Personal Greeting is very important as it can be the first contact people have with your or your department. Voicemail is only impersonal if you make it that way. Your greeting should let the caller know who they have reached, what your status is (out of the office, in the office, in a meeting, etc.), when the caller can expect to receive a call back, and instructions on what to do if the call is urgent. See sample greetings for suggested formats.
Sample Voicemail Greetings
Another way to make sure that your callers are informed while you are out of the office is to use a Temporary Absence Greeting (TAG). For example, if you are going to be out of town on vacation for a week, you can record a TAG informing callers that you will be unable to return their call until you return from vacation.
Here are a few sample voicemail greetings:
Internal/External:
- You have reached (your name) in the (your department). I am unavailable to take your call right now, please leave a detailed message and I will return your call as soon as possible.
- Hello, this is (your name) in the (your department). I'm in today but unable to take your call now. But if you leave your name, number and a detailed message, I will return your call as soon as possible. If you require personal assistance during regular business hours, please press 0. Thank you.
- Thank you for calling Claflin University. You have reached (your name) in the (your department). I am either away from my desk or on the phone. Please leave your name, number and a brief message and I will get back to you at my earliest convenience.
Temporary Absence Greeting (TAG):
- Hello, this is (your name). I'm away from my desk right now. I can be reached in the 5th floor meeting room, extension XXXX if it is urgent, or leave a message after the tone and I'll call you as soon as possible.
- Hello, this is (your name). I'm out of the office today but will be checking for messages. Please leave your name, number and a detailed message after the tone. I'll return your call as soon as possible.
- This is (your name). I'm out of town today but if you need to call me I can be reached at XXX-XXXX before noon and at XXX-XXXX after 1 p.m., until 4 p.m. If it is not urgent, leave a message and I will call you tomorrow when I return.
- Hello, this is (your name). I'm on vacation for 2 weeks and will be returning on August 27. Please call XXXX in my absence and (their name) will be pleased to help you.
There are three levels of Personal Greetings available for you to use.
Callers from outside the campus hear your External Greeting.
Callers within hear your Internal Greeting.
All callers hear your Temporary Absence Greeting (TAG), if you record one.
Recording External or Internal Greeting
- Log into voicemail.
- Press 82 for greeting.
- Press 1 for external greeting or 2 for internal greeting.
- Press 5 to record.
- Press # to stop recording.
- Press 2 to play the greeting.
- Press 83 to log off or return to messages.
Recording A Temporary Absence Greeting (TAG):
The TAG is used in situations where your normal working routine will be interrupted for a period of time (i.e. vacation, business trips, etc.). The TAG temporarily overrides your existing external and internal greetings while you are away from your office. You control the expiration date and time for the TAG so your normal internal/external greetings are restored on the date and time you select.
- Log In to Voice Mail
- Press 82.
- Press 3 for your temporary greeting.
- Press 5 to record a temporary greeting.
- Press # to stop recording.
- Press 9 to set the expiry date for your temporary greeting. Enter the month, date and time pressing # after each entry.
- Pressing #, #, #, sets "no expiry". NOTE: If you do not set an expiry date, your temporary absence greeting will remain in effect until you delete it. To delete this greeting, Press 76.
- Press 4 to exit.
Changing your Password
- Log into voicemail by dialing 5700.
- When prompted for you mailbox type in your 4 digit extension, then type in your password when prompted.
- Press 84 for password change.
- Enter your new password, followed by #. Your password must be between 4 and 16 digits long.
- Re-enter your new password, followed by #.
- Enter your old password, followed by #.
- When done hang up, press 83 to log off or return to messages.
