Call queues keep callers in line when your team is busy. Instead of sending people straight to voicemail, dialnote holds them with music and announcements until an agent is free. Every queue belongs to one phone number, and you create it from that number's call flow — not from a standalone "create queue" button.
Where queues come from
There's no "New Queue" button in Settings. A queue is born inside a phone number's call flow — either as an Enter Queue step, or as the "If nobody answers" fallback on a Ring Users step. Once it exists, you tune it from the Call Queues → Manage tab.
Creating a queue from a call flow#
Open the phone number's settings, find the Call Flow section, and click Configure call flow. In the builder:
- Add an Enter Queue node (or open a Ring Users node and turn on If nobody answers).
- On the Enter Queue node you get two choices: Choose an existing queue or Create a new queue.
- Pick Create a new queue and fill in the quick form:
- Queue Name — shows up in the builder and in analytics. Keep it clear, like "Sales" or "Support - Tier 1".
- Assigned Agents — at least one team member. These are the people who'll be offered queued calls.
- Ring Strategy — how dialnote spreads calls across agents (see below).
- Hold Music — a text-to-speech message or an HTTPS link to an audio file.
- Click Create Queue, then Save Flow to keep the change. The builder doesn't auto-save.
A queue made this way starts with sensible defaults: a 5-minute (300s) max wait and a voicemail timeout. You can change everything else later in the Manage tab.
Queues need agents
A queue with no agents can't route calls anywhere. The form blocks you from creating one until you've added at least one team member.
Ring strategies#
The ring strategy decides who rings when a caller reaches the front of the line:
- Round Robin — rotates through agents one by one, spreading the load evenly
- Longest Idle — rings the agent who's been free the longest
- Ring All — rings every available agent at once; first to answer gets the call
- Random — picks an agent at random each time
Which strategy should you pick?
Round Robin works for most teams. If your agents carry uneven workloads, Longest Idle keeps things fair. Use Ring All when speed beats balance — like a small sales team racing to grab leads.
Only routable agents get offered a call. People who are Available (or auto-marked Away by the system) are in the rotation; anyone on a call (On Call) or set to Do Not Disturb is skipped. See team availability for how those statuses work.
Tuning a queue (Manage tab)#
Go to Call Queues in the sidebar and open the Manage tab. This tab is for owners and admins only. It lists every queue with its owning phone number, agent count, and active state. You can edit or delete a queue here, but not create one — that still happens in the call flow.
Click the pencil icon to open the editor. It's grouped into sections:
Basic Info — Name (required, up to 100 characters) and an optional description.
Agent Assignment — Add or remove agents. The Groups field is visible but disabled.
Groups are coming soon
Group-based assignment shows in the editor but isn't live yet. For now, assign agents one by one.
Ring Strategy — Switch between Round Robin, Longest Idle, Ring All, and Random.
Timeout — Set the Max Wait Time in seconds (default 300) and the Timeout Action for when nobody picks up:
- Voicemail — sends the caller to voicemail
- Forward — routes the call to a phone number you enter
- Callback — offers the caller a callback instead of waiting
- Hang Up — ends the call
- Overflow Queue — moves the caller into another queue
Forward and Overflow Queue reveal an extra field — a phone number or the target queue ID. dialnote shows it automatically when you pick one of those actions.
Hold Experience — A Hold Music URL (publicly reachable HTTPS audio), a Hold Message read aloud by text-to-speech, plus Announce Position ("you are caller number 3") and Announce Wait Time toggles. Pair the two announcements for the clearest experience.
Callback — A toggle to offer callbacks instead of holding. It's disabled for now.
Callback is coming soon
The callback toggle is in place but greyed out — it needs the auto-dequeue engine that's still in development.
Accept / Reject — Turn this on and agents see an offer they can accept or decline instead of being auto-connected. When enabled, set an Accept Timeout between 10 and 120 seconds (default 30). If the agent doesn't respond in time, dialnote moves to the next agent based on your ring strategy.
Active Status — Toggle the queue on or off. Inactive queues stay in your list but won't route calls.
Click Update to save, or Cancel to back out.
Deleting a queue#
In the Manage tab, click the trash icon next to a queue and confirm. Deleting removes the configuration — make sure no live call flow still points to it first. The external-link icon next to each queue jumps straight to its phone number's call flow so you can check.
What's next#
- Watch queues live and read the metrics in the Monitor tab and analytics reports
- Build the call flow that feeds your queue
- Set up Ring Users groups with a queue fallback
- Manage team availability so the right agents get offered calls