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Most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The following questions are the ones most frequently asked after migration to Unified Messaging:

What number do I call to get my voice messages?

I pressed the Message button on my phone, but it says I have no messages. How can I get my messages?

I deleted a message in e-mail, and now I can't play it on my phone.

I deleted a message on my phone, and now I can't find it in my e-mail inbox.

Text preview (speech to text conversion) is garbling my messages. How can I turn it off?

I want a quick text preview of my messages. How can I turn that on?

I want someone to be able to check my voice mail without seeing my e-mail. How can I set that up?

I want someone to be able to check my e-mail, but not my voice mail. How can I set that up?

I don't want to say commands out loud to process my messages on the phone. Can I turn that off?

How can I transfer a live caller directly to someone's voice mail?

What number do I call to get my messages? 

Dial 258-6747, or 8-MSGS to access your voice mail.

I press the Messages button on my phone, but it says I have no messages. How can I get my messages?

On some phones, the Messages button will continue to dial the old number until all migrations to UM are complete. This is expected to happen by June, 2012. At that time, the Messages button will work correctly. Until then, you must dial the number 8-MSGS (8-6747) to access your messages in UM.

I deleted a message in e-mail, and now I can't play it on my phone!
I deleted a message on my phone, and now I can't find it in my e-mail!

When you delete a message, either on your phone or in your e-mail, it is moved to the Deleted folder in your e-mail, where it is no longer accessible from your phone.

Unless you have set your e-mail options to empty the Deleted folder when you end your Outlook session, the message will remain in your Deleted folder until you empty that folder, and you can access messages in your Deleted folder in Outlook.

Text preview is garbling my messages. How can I turn it off?
I want a quick preview of my messages. How can I turn on text previews?

  1. In OWA (webmail), click the Options drop-down and select See All Options.... Then select  Phone from the left menu.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the window.
  3. To turn off/on text preview in messages you receive, uncheck/check Include preview text with voice messages I receive.
  4. To turn off/on text preview in messages you send uncheck/check Include preview text with voice messages I send through Outlook Voice Access.
  5. Click the Save button (green checkmark) at the bottom right of the screen.

I missed a call. Why does it not dial the number when I click on it?

A missed call notification is sent when a caller hangs up after your greeting begins to play, but before leaving a message. The notification includes the caller's phone number. If that number is in your Outlook contacts, you can click on the number to send an email to the email address associated with the number. In no case will clicking on the number dial the number.

If you don't want to receive notifications of missed calls, you can change your Notifications setting in OWA (webmail).

  1. In OWA (webmail), click the Options drop-down and select See All Options.... Then select  Phone from the left menu.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the window.
  3. To turn off notifications of missed calls, uncheck Send an e-mail message to my Inbox when I miss a call.
  4. Click the Save button (green checkmark) at the bottom right of the screen.

I want someone to be able to check my voice mail, but not my e-mail. How can I do that?

You can set up an Inbox rule in Outlook to forward voice messages to another email account (for example, an assistant).  If you are forwarding your main number, you can make the changes through your primary email account or OWA. If you want to set a rule for a secondary number, you will need to access OWA using your secondary user name and password.

By default, the forwarded message will also remain in your inbox. If you want to delete the message from your inbox, you can add that action to the rule.

  1. In OWA, click the Options drop-down arrow at the top right, just under your name, and select Create an Inbox rule....
  2. Click the New... button. In the New Inbox Rule dialog box,
    1. Click the More Options... link,at the bottom of the dialog box.
    2. Under When the message arrives, and:,  click the drop-down arrow and select It's, and then of the type.... Select Voice Mail , and click OK .
    3. Under Do the following, click the drop-down arrow and select select Forward, redirect, or send, and then select one of the following:
      • To forward the voice mail and leave a copy in your inbox, select Redirect the message to.... When the Address Book opens, select the person (or account) from the contacts list and click the To -> link, or type the contact's email address directly in the To -> field and click OK.
      • To forward the voice mail without leaving a copy in your Inbox, select Forward the message to..... When the Address Book opens, select the person (or account) from the contacts list and click the To -> link, or type the contact's email address directly in the To -> field and click OK.
    4. If you need to set exceptions, select the desired exception.
    5. Click Save to save the inbox rule.

I want someone to be able to check my e-mail, but not see my voice messages. How can I set that up?

You can direct your voice messages to a different folder, and process your voice messages from that folder.

  1. Create an Inbox rule to move your voice messages to a special folder:
    1. Click the New... button.
    2. Under When the message arrives, and:, click the drop-down arrow and select It's, and then of the type.... Select Voice Mail , and click OK.
      Tip! If this option does not appear in the drop-down list, click the More Options... link, and then try again.
    3. Under Do the following, click the drop-down arrow and select Move, copy, or delete, and then Move the message to folder....
    4. If you don't have an appropriate folder, click on your name and then click the New Folder button.
    5. Type the name of the new folder, and click OK.
    6. Click Save to save the inbox rule.
  2. Set your Phone options to read that folder when you call in for your voice mail:
    1. In OWA (webmail), click the Options drop-down arrow at the top right of your screen, and select See All Options.... Then select  Phone from the left menu.
    2. Scroll down to the Outlook Voice Access section, on the left.
    3. Click the Inbox link next to Read this folder, and select the folder you are moving voice mail messages to.
    4. Click OK.
    5. Click Save to save the changed setting.

I don't want to use voice commands to process messages on my phone. How can I switch to the touchtone keypad interface?

To switch to the keypad (touchtone) interface permanently (or until you change it back to the voice command interface)

  1. Call 8-MSGS (or 2586747).
  2. Say "Personal Options" and press 4.

Note: This does not turn off the voice prompts, only the speech recognition that allows you to speak your commands.

To switch back to the Voice User Interface

  1. Call 8-MSGS (or 258-6747).
  2. Press 6 for Personal Options, and then press 4.

How can I transfer a live caller directly to someone's voice mail?

Use the transfer feature on your telephone to transfer a live caller directly to voice mail:

  1. Press the Transfer key (or keys) on your telephone.
  2. Enter the voice mail call-in number, 8-MSGS (258-6747).
  3. When you hear the recording, press *## and enter the 5-digit extension (as in 8-9999).
  4. Press the Transfer key again to connect the caller to the voice mailbox.

Note: This will not work on Avaya VoIP phones.