Cisco IP Phone Voicemail Setup, Greetings, and Message Management

Learn How To:

Set up voicemail from your Cisco IP phone

1. Press the Messages button on your phone. You will be prompted to enter your PIN. If this is the first time you have gone through this process, enter 1234 on the keypad.
2. The system will guide you through the mailbox setup.
   • You will be prompted to record your first and last name.
   • You will be prompted to record a personal greeting (or you may use the default greeting which is supplied by the phone).
   • You will be prompted to enter a new PIN number. This number must be at least 4 digits long.

Retrieve your voicemail messages 

There are four ways to retrieve your voicemail messages. You may retrieve them as follows:

• From your Cisco IP phone
• From your Outlook inbox
• By calling in from off-campus
• By signing in to the Cisco Personal Communications Assistant web interface

There are various ways to tell that you have a new voicemail message. They are as follows:

• The handset indicator light on your Cisco IP phone remains red
• An envelope blinks beside your extension on the phone's LCD screen
• You receive an email with a voicemail file attached
   

Retrieve voicemail messages from your Cisco IP phone

1. Press the Messages button on your Cisco phone.
   • You will be prompted to enter your PIN followed by #.
   • The system will announce the number of new messages you have and any saved messages you have.
   • New messages will begin to play.
      

Voicemail Commands

Use these helpful shortcut keys while playing your messages or after messages have been played.

Retrieving voicemail from your Outlook inbox 

1. Open Outlook and open your Inbox.
   • Messages with Voicemail in the reading pane are from your phone.
   • If the voicemail message is received from another TU number, the subject may appear as just the number.
   • The voicemail recording (in the form of a .wav file) will be attached to the message.
2. Open the message and double-click on the attachment.
3. The wav file will open and begin to play immediately in Windows Media Player or an alternate media audio player set as the default. The following buttons control the Windows player and are located at the bottom of the window:
   • Stop
   • Previous (select and hold to rewind)
   • Pause 
   • Fast Forward (press and hold)
   • Volume Control 

Accessing voicemail via off-campus phone 

1. Dial 410-704-6200 from any location.
2. When prompted, enter your ID followed by #. Your ID is your extension (beginning with 4).
3. When prompted, enter your PIN followed by #. New messages will begin to play.
    

Access voicemail via the Cisco Personal Communications Assistant 

Note: This must be done from your office computer in-person, over Remote Desktop, from Virtual Workspace or using the VPN.

1. Open www.towson.edu/voicemail in your preferred browser. We recommend Microsoft Internet Explorer for full functionality. However, this tool will work on most browsers that support Flash.
2. Enter your Username (NetID) and Password in the corresponding fields and then select the Login button.
3. Select the Web Inbox option.
4. On the Web Inbox page, select the Play button corresponding to the message you wish to hear.

Forward all your calls to voicemail

1. On your Cisco IP phone, select the CFwdALL softkey.
   ​​​​​​
2. Select the Messages button on your handset. There are two indicators that you have forwarded all your calls to voicemail:​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
   • Forwarded to Voicemail appears at the bottom of the phone's display.
   • The image of a telephone with a right-pointing arrow displays in the top right corner of the LCD screen.
3. To cancel, select the CFwdAll softkey again on your handset. 

Record alternative greetings via your Cisco phone

Set up an alternative voicemail greeting to be used when the standard greeting is not appropriate, such as when your phone is busy, you're on vacation or the university is closed for a holiday. There are five alternative greetings you may set up in addition to the standard greeting. Read on to learn how.

1. Pick up your handset or press the SPEAKER button for hands-free operation.
2. Press the Messages (envelope) button.
3. Enter your PIN followed by #, when prompted.
4. Press 8 for Set-up options.
5. Press 4 to Change a Greeting.
6. Press 3 to Edit other Greetings.
7. Depending on which greeting you wish to record, press the corresponding number on the keypad from Column 4 in the table below.

8. After making your greeting selection, press 1 to record the greeting.
9. Begin recording at the tone. Refer to the commands below for help after recording the greeting:
   • press # when you have finished recording
   • press 1 to re-record
   • press 2 to use the system greeting
   • press 3 to turn on the alternate greeting
   • press * to exit
10. Press * again to exit, or you may just hang up. 

Erasing Old Deleted Messages

Occasionally, you may receive an email stating that your voice mailbox has exceeded the quota warning threshold.  When you receive a copy of a voicemail message in your email box and you delete it, your voicemail box still saves a copy of that deleted message. As a result, it can cause your voicemail box to become full. Below are instructions to permanently erase those old deleted messages and free up space in your voicemail box

1.    Press the “Messages” button on your phone.
2.    Enter your PIN to access your voice mail.
3.    Press “3” to listen to old messages.
4.    Press “2” to access deleted messages.
5.    Press “2” to Erase old messages.
6.    Press “1” to confirm deletion.
7.    Press “2” for all deleted messages
8.    Press “*” to exit
9.    Hang up