IRT Tech Tip Tuesday: Voice-mail status feature gives callers helpful info

From Information Resources and Technologies

Did you know that you can set your voice-mail to let callers know if you are in a meeting or on vacation, including a return date and time?  This week IRT discusses the voice-mail status feature for your UST phone.

The status feature
If you know you will be in meeting through out the day or you will be out of the office for a period of time you can choose to have your status announced when a person listens to your outgoing voice-mail message. First you will need to make sure the status feature is active (see status confirmation instructions below).  

The following status options are available:

1. Available
2. At lunch *
3. Away from desk
4. Do not disturb
5. Gone home
6. In a meeting *
7. On vacation *
8. Out of the office *
9. Out of town *
10. Working at home

* You are able to set the date, time or both, depending on the status selected.

Activating status confirmation
Status confirmation announces the name and status of the mailbox owner when others leave a message – prior to the greeting being played. If you want your callers to hear your name and status, you will need to make sure that the status confirmation option is active. Note: The default for status confirmation is “active.”

Enter your voice-mail box. (For instructions on how to access your voice-mail box from on campus, see the IRT Web site’s voice-mail instructions.)

To access status confirmation:

1. Press 5 to manage your personal options
2. Press 5 again for administrative options
3. Press 4 to manage playback options
4. Press 5 for status confirmation (there will be two options)

• Press 1 to activate status confirmation – if you want your callers to hear your name and status or
• Press 2 to deactivate status confirmation – if you do not want callers to hear your name and status, they still will hear your personalized greeting

Once you have activated the status confirmation feature you are now ready to select one of the ten status options.

Setting your status
Enter your voice-mail box. (For instructions on how to access your voice-mail box from on campus, see the IRT Web site’s voice-mail instructions.)

Next follow these steps to set your status:

1. Press 5 to manage your personal options
2. Press 1 to change current status
3. Next select the number of the status option that you want to play on your voice-mail message

Note: If you choose “at lunch,” “in a meeting,” “out of office,” and “out of town,” you can set the time and/or date of your return.

If you have selected one of the above four status options, you will be prompted to do the following:

• To set the “until date,” press 1
• To set the “return time,” press 2
• To skip this option, press 3

Helpful Hint: Leave yourself a reminder to update your status once you have returned to the office so your callers know that you are back.

If you have questions about the status feature for voice-mail or about any of the technology on campus, please e-mail the IRT Tech Desk or call (651) 962-6230.