Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP3, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP1
Topic Last Modified: 2006-08-01

Use the Greeting Settings dialog box to configure a customized greeting, informational announcement, or main menu prompt audio file. You can select default greetings or custom greetings, announcements, or main menu prompts that you previously recorded for business hours and non-business hours. For more information about custom greetings, announcements, and main menu prompts, see Managing Custom Audio Prompts.

Although the Unified Messaging system prompts must not be replaced or changed, you will probably want to customize the greetings, informational announcements, and menu prompts that are used with UM dial plans and auto attendants. After the Unified Messaging server role is installed, you can configure the UM dial plans and auto attendants to use these custom audio (*.wav) files. You must perform the following steps before you can enable custom voice prompts for callers:

  1. Record the custom greeting and save it as a .wav file. The Linear PCM (16 bit/sample), 8-kilohertz (kHz) audio codec must be used to encode the .wav file.

  2. Copy the customized greeting to the appropriate folder on a Unified Messaging server by using the Copy-UMCustomPrompt cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell.

  3. Configure the auto attendant to use the customized greeting.

Greetings
  • Use this dialog box to enable or disable a custom welcome greeting. By default, callers will hear a default welcome greeting that says, “Welcome, you are connected to Microsoft Exchange.” Use the following options to specify a customized welcome greeting that is specific to your organization. The recordings must have already been recorded as .wav files. However, you may want to provide an alternative welcome greeting that is specific to your company, such as, “Welcome to Outlook Voice Access for Contoso, Ltd.”

    • Use default greeting   Use this option to enable the default welcome greeting to be played to callers. By default, this option is enabled.

    • Use custom greeting file   Use this option when you want to enable a custom welcome greeting file to be played to callers. Click Browse to locate a custom welcome greeting file that was previously recorded.

Business hours greeting
  • Use this dialog box to enable or disable a custom recording for the greeting that plays for callers during your organization's business hours. You set the open business hour schedule for your organization on the UM auto attendant Times tab.

  • This is the initial greeting that is played when a caller calls the auto attendant during business hours. By default, it is a system prompt that says, "Welcome to the Exchange Auto Attendant." However, you may want to provide a customized business hours greeting that is specific to your company, such as, “Thank you for calling Contoso, Ltd.”

    • Use default greeting   Use this option to enable the default business hours greeting to be played to callers. By default, this option is enabled.

    • Use custom greeting file   Use this option when you want to enable a custom business hours greeting file to be played to callers. Click Browse to locate a custom business hours greeting file that was previously recorded.

Non-Business hours greeting
  • Use this dialog box to enable or disable a custom recording for the non-business hours greeting that plays for callers during your organization's non-business hours. You set the open business hour schedule for your organization on the UM auto attendant Times tab.

  • This is the initial greeting that is played when a caller calls the auto attendant during your organization's non-business hours. There is no default non-business hours greeting because, by default, there are no business or non-business hours configured. However, you may want to provide a customized non-business hours greeting that is specific to your company, such as, "You have reached Contoso, Ltd. after business hours. Our business hours are from 8:00 A.M. until 5:00 P.M., Monday through Friday."

    • Use default greeting   Use this option to enable the default non-business hours greeting to be played to callers when a business hours schedule has been configured on the auto attendant. By default, this option is enabled.

    • Use custom greeting file   Use this option when you want to enable a custom business hours greeting file to be played to callers. Click Browse to locate a custom business hours greeting file that was previously recorded.

Informational announcement
  • Use this dialog box to enable or disable an informational announcement and to select a custom recording that plays immediately after a greeting. An informational announcement may state the company’s working week, for example, “Our business hours are 8:30 A.M. to 5:30 P.M., Monday through Friday, and 8:30 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. on Saturday.” It may also provide information that is required for compliance with company security policies, for example, “By using this system you agree to follow all corporate policies when you are accessing this system.” When it is important that the caller hears the whole informational announcement, it can be marked as uninterruptible.

  • By default, there is no informational announcement configured on UM dial plans or auto attendants. Use the following options to enable an informational announcement and use a custom audio file that is specific to your organization. The recordings must have already been recorded as .wav files.

    • Disable announcement   Use this option to disable an informational announcement. By default, this option is configured.

    • Informational announcement file   Use this option when you want to enable an informational announcement to be played to callers. Click Browse to locate a custom informational announcement file that was previously recorded.

    • Allow informational announcement to be interrupted   Use this option to enable the informational announcement to be interrupted by the caller. This should be enabled if you have long informational announcements. Callers may become frustrated if the informational announcement is long and they cannot interrupt the informational announcement to access the options that are provided by the UM dial plan or auto attendant.

Business hours main menu prompt
  • Use this dialog box to enable or disable a custom business hours main menu prompt. By default, if you have enabled and defined business hours key mappings on the Key Mapping tab on the UM auto attendant, the Unified Messaging Text-to-Speech (TTS) engine will synthesize a business hours main menu prompt. Alternatively, you can create a customized audio file that can be used for the business hours main menu prompt for a speech-enabled auto attendant that would say, for example, "For sales, say 1. For technical support, say 2. For administration, say 3. To reach an operator, press zero."

  • The business hours main menu prompt is the list of options that callers hear during the business hours that have been defined on the Times tab. The recordings must have already been recorded as .wav files.

    • Use default greeting   Use this option to enable the default business hours main menu prompt to be played to callers when a business hours schedule has been configured on the auto attendant. By default, this option is enabled.

    • Use custom greeting file   Use this option when you want to enable a custom business hours main menu prompt file to be played to callers. Click Browse to locate a previously recorded custom business hours greeting file.

Non-Business hours main menu prompt
  • Use this dialog box to enable or disable a custom non-business hours main menu prompt. By default, if you have enabled and defined non-business hours key mappings on the Key Mapping tab on the UM auto attendant, the Unified Messaging TTS engine will synthesize a business hours main menu prompt. Alternatively, you can create a customized audio file that can be used for the non-business hours main menu prompt for a speech-enabled auto attendant that would for say, for example, "To leave a voice message for sales, say 1. To leave a voice message for technical support, say 2. To leave a voice message for administration, say 3. To reach an after hours operator, press zero."

  • The business hours main menu prompt is the list of options callers hear during non-business hours as defined on the Times tab. The recordings must have already been recorded as .wav files.

    • Use default greeting   Use this option to enable the default non-business hours main menu prompt to be played to callers when a non-business hours schedule has been configured on the auto attendant. By default, this option is enabled.

    • Use custom greeting file   Use this option when you want to enable a custom non-business hours main menu prompt file to be played to callers. Click Browse to locate a custom business hours greeting file that was previously recorded.

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