Create a call answering rule in Exchange Server
Applies to: Exchange Server 2013, Exchange Server 2016
You can use the Shell to create one or more call answering rules for a user. You can also use the New-UMCallAnsweringRule cmdlet in an Exchange Management Shell script to create call answering rules for multiple users.
Call answering rules are applied to incoming calls similar to the way Inbox rules are applied to incoming email messages. By default, when a user is enabled for Unified Messaging (UM), no call answering rules are configured. Even so, incoming calls are answered by the mail system and callers are prompted to leave a voice message.
Note
Users that are UM-enabled can sign in to Outlook Web App to create, manage, and remove call answering rules.
For additional management tasks related to Call Answering Rules, see Forwarding calls procedures.
What do you need to know before you begin?
Estimated time to complete: Less than 1 minute.
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. To see what permissions you need, see the "UM call answering rules" entry in the Unified Messaging permissions topic.
Before you perform this procedure, confirm that a UM dial plan has been created. For detailed steps, see Create a UM dial plan.
Before you perform this procedure, confirm that a UM mailbox policy has been created. For detailed steps, see Create a UM mailbox policy.
Before you perform this procedure, confirm that the user's mailbox has been UM-enabled. For detailed steps, see Enable a user for voice mail.
You can only use the Shell to perform this procedure. To learn how to open the Exchange Management Shell in your on-premises Exchange organization, see Open the Exchange Management Shell.
For information about keyboard shortcuts that may apply to the procedures in this topic, see Keyboard shortcuts for the Exchange admin center in Exchange 2013.
Tip
Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at Exchange Server.
Use the Shell to create a call answering rule
This example creates the call answering rule MyCallAnsweringRule in the mailbox for Tony Smith with the priority of 2.
New-UMCallAnsweringRule -Name MyCallAnsweringRule -Priority 2 -Mailbox tonysmith
This example creates the call answering rule MyCallAnsweringRule in the mailbox for Tony Smith and performs the following actions:
Sets the call answering rule to two caller IDs.
Sets the priority of the call answering rule to 2.
Sets the call answering rule to allow callers to interrupt the greeting.
New-UMCallAnsweringRule -Name MyCallAnsweringRule -CallerIds "1,4255550100,,","1,4255550123,," -Priority 2 -CallersCanInterruptGreeting $true -Mailbox tonysmith
This example creates the call answering rule MyCallAnsweringRule in the mailbox for Tony Smith and performs the following actions:
Sets the priority of the call answering rule to 2.
Creates key mappings for the call answering rule.
If the caller reaches the voice mail for the user and the status of the user is set to Busy, the caller can:
Press the 1 key and be transferred to a receptionist at extension 45678.
Press the 2 key so the Find Me feature will be used for urgent issues, ring extension 23456 first, and then ring extension 45671.
New-UMCallAnsweringRule -Name MyCallAnsweringRule -Priority 2 -Mailbox tonysmith -ScheduleStatus 0x4 -KeyMappings "1,1,Receptionist,,,,,45678,","5,2,Urgent Issues,23456,23,45671,50,,"