Every phone number in dialnote can have its own business hours schedule. When a call comes in, dialnote checks the time and routes it differently depending on whether you're open or closed. That means callers get the right experience — a live team during the day, and voicemail or an AI agent after hours.
Pro tip
Business hours also control which SMS auto-replies go out. You can set up separate messages for during-hours and after-hours, so callers always get a relevant response.
Setting Up Business Hours#
Go to Settings → Phone Numbers, pick a number, and scroll to the Business Hours section. Flip the toggle to turn it on.
You'll need to set two things:
-
Timezone — Pick your local timezone (e.g., America/New_York, America/Los_Angeles, Europe/London). dialnote uses this to figure out what time it is for your business, not the caller's location.
-
Schedule type — Choose from three options:
- Weekdays — Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM. Saturday and Sunday are off.
- Every day — Same hours for all seven days.
- Custom — Set different hours for each day of the week. You can toggle individual days on or off and pick unique start and end times.
Times are stored in minutes from midnight, but you'll pick them from a simple dropdown. So "9:00 AM" and "5:00 PM" — no math required.
Using Business Hours in Call Flows#
The real power comes from the Business Hours Check node in the visual call flow builder. Drop it into your flow, and it splits into two branches:
- During hours — What happens when a call arrives within your schedule. Typically, this rings your team or enters a queue.
- After hours — What happens outside your schedule. Common setups include sending callers to voicemail, playing a custom message, or routing to an AI agent.
Each branch can chain into any other call flow action. For example, your after-hours branch could play an audio message ("We're closed right now"), then forward to voicemail, then send an auto-reply SMS.
Note
If you don't configure an action for one of the branches, dialnote plays a default message and ends the call. Always set up both branches to give callers a good experience.
After-Hours Auto-Replies#
Business hours also control SMS auto-replies. In your phone number settings, you can set up two separate auto-reply lists:
- During-hours auto-replies — Sent when someone texts or you miss a call while you're open.
- After-hours auto-replies — Sent when someone reaches out while you're closed.
This works for both incoming text messages and missed calls. If you miss a call at 9 PM and have an after-hours auto-reply configured, dialnote automatically texts the caller something like "We're closed for the day — we'll call you back tomorrow morning."
dialnote rate-limits auto-replies to prevent spam, so the same number won't get multiple messages in a short window.
Warning
If business hours aren't enabled on a phone number, all auto-replies default to the "during hours" list. Make sure to enable business hours if you want time-based auto-reply behavior.
Common Setups#
Small office (weekday hours): Pick "Weekdays" schedule, set your timezone, and configure the after-hours branch to go to voicemail. Simple and effective.
24/7 AI coverage: Set your business hours to match when your team is available. During hours, ring your team. After hours, route to an AI voice agent that can answer questions, take messages, or book appointments.
Weekend support: Use "Custom" schedule to keep shorter hours on Saturday (say, 10 AM to 2 PM) while staying closed on Sunday. Each day gets its own toggle and time range.