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 a Waiting Queue step, or by turning on Hold callers in a queue on a Ring Team step. Once it exists, you tune it from the Call Queues → Manage tab. If it came from a Ring Team step, saving that call flow again pushes the step's settings back onto the queue and overwrites Manage-tab edits to those fields.
Creating a queue from a call flow#
Open the phone number's settings, find the Call Flow section, and click Configure call flow. If the number already has a flow, the button reads View Complete Flow instead. Both open the builder:
- Add a Waiting Queue node (or open a Ring Team node and turn on Hold callers in a queue).
- If the number has no queues yet, the Waiting Queue node shows two cards, Choose an existing queue and Create a new queue. If it already has active queues, the form opens the Select a Queue list with a Create New Queue button underneath it.
- 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 — saved with the queue, but it doesn't change who rings yet (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#
Every queue stores a ring strategy, and the Manage tab shows it as a badge. You can pick from four:
- Round Robin
- Longest Idle
- Ring All
- Random
Strategies aren't applied yet
Your pick is saved with the queue, but it doesn't change who rings. Callers are handed out first in, first out: whichever assigned agent becomes free claims the caller at the front of the line. When dialnote offers a waiting caller without being prompted, it works down your assigned-agent list in order and tries each one.
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 — plays a message saying you'll call back, hangs up, and logs a callback request
- Hang Up — ends the call
- Overflow Queue — moves the caller into another queue
- AI Agent — hands the caller to one of your AI agents
Forward and Overflow Queue reveal an extra field: a phone number or the target queue ID. AI Agent reveals a required AI Agent picker listing your enabled agents, and you can't save until you choose one. dialnote shows the right field automatically when you pick one of those actions, and switching the action clears whatever was in it.
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. Only one of the first two ever plays: if you set a Hold Music URL, callers hear the audio and the Hold Message is skipped. 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, the offer is rejected for them and the call goes back out to the first free agent on the queue's assigned list, which can be the same person.
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. If a call flow still points to the queue, dialnote refuses the delete and tells you to remove the queue step from the call flow 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 Groups with a queue fallback
- Manage team availability so the right agents get offered calls