How Your Call Flow Works (Overview)

Understand the incoming action, schedules, IVR, ring groups and voicemail. Build the destinations in order and test the complete call route.

Start with the number, then follow its destinations

The Call Flow page controls where calls to a business number go. Open Settings → Phone Numbers, find the correct number and click Call Flow in its Actions column. Confirm the number at the top before making changes.

1. Identify the entry point

In the section named after your number, Select Action for Incoming Calls is the first destination. Creating an IVR, ring group or schedule does not automatically connect it to incoming calls. Select it here, or connect it through a block already in the active flow, and click Save.

Call Flow incoming action

2. Choose the pieces you need

Business Hours: routes calls by matching day and time conditions. Groups have their own destinations and priorities; the alternate destination handles calls that do not match.
Phone Menu (IVR): plays a greeting and lets callers press a key for a destination.
Team Ringing (Ring Groups): rings several destinations, using Delay and Timeout to control when each rings. Set a timeout destination for unanswered calls.
Voicemails: receives a message with the greeting and notification email you configure.
Recordings (Audios): creates or uploads audio used by greetings. An audio file does not, by itself, define a complete route with an unanswered-call destination.

3. Build from the final destination back to the start

Prepare the greetings you need.
Create or identify the voicemail boxes for unanswered and after-hours calls.
Create ring groups and IVR menus, choosing their destinations and fallbacks.
If needed, create Business Hours and connect the open-hours and alternate destinations.
Set the number’s incoming action to the first block and save.

Example: Number → Business Hours → Ring Group during open hours → Voicemail if unanswered. Outside those hours, Business Hours sends the call to the after-hours voicemail. An IVR can sit between Business Hours and the ring group.

4. Test the complete route

Call from an external phone. Test an answered call, an unanswered call and the closed-hours route. For an IVR, test every key, silence and an invalid key on separate calls. Check the actual greeting and destination, not just whether the phone rings.

If callers reach the wrong place

Check the correct location and number, then follow each saved destination from the entry point.
Check Settings → Call Forwarding for that number. Enabled always-forwarding applies regardless of Business Hours or time conditions.
Check that the IVR or schedule points to the intended next block. Avoid routes that send calls back to themselves.
Changing an existing shared destination may affect other routes that use it. Review those routes before changing or removing it.

Related guides

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How Your Call Flow Works (Overview)