Getting around

The VoxaLink portal is where you run your phone system: your people, your numbers, what happens when someone calls, and a record of every call. This chapter is the orientation. Most pages are built from the same few parts, so once you know them the rest of this guide reads as detail.

If you're new to the portal, start here. If you're after one thing, skip ahead, but read How the pages work when you have two minutes. It explains how saving works everywhere in the portal.

Signing in

Open portal.voxalink.cloud in your browser. The page says Sign in to your workspace.

1. Enter your Work email and Password. These are the details your administrator or service provider set up for you. They aren't the password on your desk phone.
2. Leave Keep me signed in for 30 days ticked on your own computer. Untick it on a shared one.
3. Click Sign in.

Depending on how your account is set up, you're then asked for a 6-digit code. It comes from your authenticator app, which is a phone app that shows a new code every 30 seconds, or by email. If you can't get to your app, click Can't access your app? Email me a code. Leave Trust this browser for 30 days ticked to skip the code on this computer for a month, and untick it on a shared one. The first time you sign in, you may be asked to set up an authenticator app by scanning a QR code.

Forgotten your password? Click Forgot password? above the password box. Enter your email and VoxaLink sends you a link to set a new one.

The sign-in page also has an Extension user? link. That's for staff who only manage their own phone, not the whole workspace. See Admin view and User Mode.

The screen at a glance

Every page shares the same frame: a top bar across the top, the menu down the left, and the page itself in the middle.

The top bar

From left to right:

• The logo. Click it to go back to Home from anywhere.
• Your workspace name. A workspace is your organisation's phone system. Everything you see and change applies to the workspace named here. Click it to open your workspace settings, or to switch workspace if your login looks after more than one.
• The account menu. The round button with your initials on the far right. It shows the email you're signed in with and has Settings, Change password, Help & support, which opens this help site, and Sign out. Sign out whenever you've used a computer that isn't yours.

On a phone or narrow window, the menu on the left is hidden. Tap the three-line button at the left of the top bar to open it, and the cross to close it.

The menu

The menu on the left is the map of the whole portal. Click a section and its pages appear indented underneath. The page you're on is highlighted.

The double-arrow button at the top of the menu shrinks it to icons, which gives wide pages more room. Click it again to bring the labels back. The portal remembers your choice.

At the bottom of the menu, under Workspace, you'll see your workspace's name and address. Quote these when you contact support so we know which system you're on.

Missing a menu item? Some pages appear only when they're switched on for your workspace or allowed for your login. If something in this guide isn't in your menu, it's hidden for you, not gone. Ask your administrator or service provider.

How the pages work

Most of the portal is either a list of things you have several of, or the page for one of those things.

List pages

A list page shows everything of one kind, such as your ring groups or call queues.

• The title is at the top, with a line underneath that explains what these things are.
• The button to create one sits at the top right, such as New ring group or Add a person.
• Each item is a card that sums it up in plain words: who rings, in what order, and where calls end up if nobody answers. Click a card to open it.
• A count of what's there, such as "3 ring groups", sits above the list. Once a list has more than eight items, a search box appears beside the count, and the count changes to something like "2 of 12 ring groups" while you search.
• If there's nothing yet, the page says so and offers the create button.

Busier lists add tools. People has a search box, filters and a choice of tiles or a table.

Working through a page

Pages for one item are laid out around the jobs you do, often as steps. A ring group, for example, starts with an overview and then has Who rings, What callers hear, Special rules and Details and extras. Call journeys take you through steps in order, ending with a check before anything changes for callers.

The everyday settings are on the page. Less common ones are a click away, and every page has a way to reach them:

• Find a setting is a search box. Type part of a setting's name and the page shows where it is. Auto attendants, Call queues and the Advanced settings dialog on a person's page have one.
• Show every setting reveals the rarely used settings in place, on Auto attendants and Call queues.
• All settings on a ring group lists every setting, has its own Find a setting box, and jumps to the step each one lives on.

Saving your changes

Nothing you change is applied until you save. You can open any page and look around without affecting a single call.

As soon as you change something, a bar appears at the bottom of the page:

• Unsaved changes tells you there's something waiting. Some pages count your changes.
• Save changes applies them. The button reads Saving… while it works, and the page confirms once it's saved.
• Discard changes throws your edits away and puts the page back to how it was saved.

On a ring group, the bar also reminds you that calls keep using the saved settings until you save.

If you try to leave a page with unsaved changes, the portal stops you and asks. On a ring group you choose Keep editing or Discard changes. On a person's page you choose Save and exit, Exit without saving or Cancel.

Deleting is separate You never delete something by accident while saving. On the pages for people, auto attendants, ring groups, call queues, service flags, call journeys and voice agents, deleting lives in a Danger zone at the end of the page, with a red button named for the thing, such as Delete ring group or Delete person. For call queues it sits on the Setup view. Each one asks you to confirm first, and most ask you to type the name or number. A delete can't be undone.

Saving versus putting changes live

For most pages, saving is the moment callers notice. People, Auto attendants, Ring groups, Call queues and Service flags all work this way: Save changes applies to the next call.

Two areas let you save a draft first and choose when it reaches callers:

• Call journeys. Save keeps your work as a draft. Your number keeps using the earlier version until you press Put changes live. See Call journeys.
• Voice agents. Save draft keeps your work without changing what callers hear. The first time an agent goes live you press Publish. After that the button reads Update live. See Testing and publishing.

Trying things out

Several pages let you rehearse a call on screen before a real caller tries it. None of these make a real phone call, and none change your settings:

• Try a call lets you play the caller. You pick a time, or press keys on a keypad, and watch where the call goes. It's on Auto attendants and Call journeys.
• Watch a call plays a call through by itself, showing who rings and when. It's on Ring groups and Call queues.
• Preview the day and Preview the week step through a timeline so you can see what callers get at each hour. Call journeys have the day view and Service flags the week.
• Example conversation on a voice agent shows a written sample of how a call might go. There's no audio.

On Auto attendants and Ring groups they follow what's on your screen, including changes you haven't saved yet, so they're a good check before you press Save changes.

Breadcrumbs

Above each page title, a trail such as Call flow Ring groups Reception shows where you are. Click any part of it to step back up. It's the quickest way out of a deep page.

Calm and Full on Home

The Home dashboard has a View switch with Calm and Full. Calm shows the essentials at a glance. Full adds more detail and extra panels. Beside it, Today, 7 days and 30 days change the period. Neither switch changes your data, only how much you see. See Home.

Admin view and User Mode

This guide covers the admin portal, where you manage the whole workspace. Your staff have their own, simpler portal, where each person looks after their own account. They reach it from the Extension user? link on the sign-in page.

On a person's page in People, User Mode opens that person's own web phone view in a new tab, already signed in as them. Use it to see exactly what they see, or to set something up for them. What staff can change for themselves is set for the whole workspace in Admin, under User page control. See Admin.

Next: Home, the dashboard the portal opens on.