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D.54.3. Defining Voicemail Contexts and Mailboxes

Now that the system-wide settings and voicemail zones have been set, you can define your voicemail contexts and individual mailboxes.

Voicemail contexts are used to separate out different groups of voicemail users. For example, if you are using Asterisk to host voicemail for more than one company, you should place each company's mailboxes in different voicemail contexts, to keep them separate. You might also use voicemail contexts to create per-department dial-by-name directories.

To define a new voicemail context, simply put the context name inside of square brackets, like this:

    [default]

Inside a voicemail context, each mailbox definition takes the following syntax:

    mailbox=password,name[,email[,pager_email[,options]]]

The mailbox argument is the mailbox number.

The password argument is the numeric code the mailbox owner must enter to access his voicemail. If the password is preceded by a minus sign (-), the password may not be changed by the mailbox owner.

[Tip] Tip

If the password is set to d, then this line is assumed to provide an alternate name that can be used for this mailbox in the dial-by-name directory. In the following example, people can reach extension 123 by searching for either Robert or Bob, along with a popular misspelling of his last name:

    123 => 4444,Robert Schauerhamer
    123 => d,Bob Schauerhamer
    123 => d,Robert Showerhammer

The email and pager_email arguments are email addresses where voicemail notifications will be sent. These may be left blank if you don't want to send voicemail notifications via email. The message sent to the pager_email address is usually shorter and suitable for sending to a cell phone (via an email to SMS gateway) or to an alpha-numeric pager.

The options argument is a pipe-separated list of voicemail options that may be specified for the mailbox. (These options may also be set globally by placing them in the [general] section.) Valid voicemail options include:

tz

Sets the voicemail zone from the [zonemessages] section above. This option is irrelevant if envelope is set to no.

attach

Attaches the voicemail to the notification email (but not to the pager email). May be set to either yes or no.

attachfmt

Specifies the format of the voicemail message that should be attached to the message sent to the notification email. Ordinarily, Asterisk uses the first format specified in the format parameter above, but this may also be changed on a per-mailbox basis. This option may only be set on a per-mailbox basis.

This option is often used if Windows users want wav49 attachments, but Linux users want their attachments in gsm format.

saycid

Says the Caller ID information before the message.

cidinternalcontexts

Sets the internal context for name playback instead of extension digits when saying the Caller ID information.

sayduration

Turns on/off the duration information before the message. Defaults to on.

saydurationm

Specifies the minimum duration to say when sayduration is on. Default is 2 minutes.

dialout

Specifies the context to dial out from (by choosing option 4 from the advanced menu). If not specified, dialing out from the voicemail system will not be permitted.

sendvoicemail

Specifies the context to send voicemail from (by choosing option 5 from the advanced menu). If not specified, sending messages from within the voicemail system will not be permitted.

searchcontexts

By default, Asterisk only searches the default context if no context is specified. To have Asterisk search all contexts, set this option to yes.

callback

Specifies the context to call back from. If not specified, calling the sender back from within the voicemail system will not be permitted.

review

Allows senders to review/rerecord their messages before saving them. Defaults to off.

operator

Allows senders to hit 0 before, after, or while leaving a voicemail message to reach an operator. Defaults to off.

envelope

Turns on/off envelope playback before message playback. Defaults to on. This does not affect option 3,3 from the advanced options menu.

delete

Deletes voicemails from the server after notification is sent. This option may be set only on a per-mailbox basis; it is intended for use with users who wish to receive their voicemail messages only by email.

volgain

If your voicemail attachments to email are too quiet, you can set this option to increase the gain on the message before it is attached to the email notification.

[Note] Note

This option only works if the sox

forcename

Forces new users to record their names. A new user is determined by the password being the same as the mailbox number. Defaults to no.

forcegreetings

Forces new users to record greetings. A new user is determined by the password being the same as the mailbox number. Defaults to no.

hidefromdir

Hides the mailbox from the dial-by-name directory. Defaults to no.

tempgreetwarn

Warns the user that their temporary greeting is still enabled.

You can specify multiple options by separating them with the pipe character, as shown in the definitions for mailboxes 102 and 103 below.

Here are some sample mailbox definitions:

    [default]
    ; regular mailbox with email notification
    101 => 4242,Example Mailbox,somebody@asteriskdocs.org

    ; more advanced mailbox with email and pager notification and a couple of
    ; special options
    102 => 9855,Another User,another@asteriskdocs.org,pager@asteriskdocs.org,attach=no|tz=central

    ; a mailbox with no email notification and lots of extra options
    103 => 6522,John Q. Public,,,tz=central|attach=yes|saycid=yes|dialout=fromvm|callback=fromvm|review=yes
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