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 Enable business hours to turn it on. Changes here save automatically — there's no save button.
You'll need to set two things:
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Time zone — Pick the zone your business runs on. The dropdown is searchable and groups zones by region (UTC, Americas, Europe & Africa, Asia-Pacific), with names like Eastern Time (New York) or India (IST). dialnote uses this to figure out what time it is for your business, not the caller's location.
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Schedule type — Choose from three options:
- Custom — Set different hours for each day of the week. Each day has its own start and end time. Picking None as the start closes that day, and All day keeps it open for the full day.
- Weekdays — Monday through Friday are open and Saturday and Sunday are closed. Hours start at 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and you can change them with the From and to dropdowns.
- Every day — Same hours for all seven days, set with the same From and to dropdowns.
You pick times from a simple dropdown — "9:00 AM", "5:00 PM", no math required.
Who can edit
Org owners, org admins, and the phone number's owner can change business hours. Shared and view-only members can see the schedule but can't edit it.
Using Business Hours in Call Flows#
The real power comes from the Business Hours node in the visual call flow builder. It has no settings of its own — it reads the schedule and time zone straight from the phone number's Business Hours section. The node has two outputs you wire on the canvas:
- During hours — What happens when a call arrives within your schedule. Typically, this rings your team or enters a call 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.
Connect each output to any other call flow action. For example, your after-hours branch could play an audio message ("We're closed right now"), then drop the caller into voicemail. Like the rest of the builder, the Business Hours node doesn't auto-save — hit Save Flow when you're done.
Enabling the node and the toggle are separate
Adding a Business Hours node to your flow doesn't turn the toggle on, and flipping the toggle doesn't add the node. They're two different steps. If the toggle is off (or no time zone and schedule are set) while a Business Hours node is in your flow, every call follows the During hours branch no matter the time of day.
Connect both branches
If a branch isn't connected to anything, dialnote plays a short spoken message and hangs up ("We are currently closed. Please call back during business hours." after hours). Always wire up both outputs so callers reach voicemail or a person instead of a dead end.
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.
Each list has two toggles: Missed call auto-reply and Incoming message auto-reply. If an AI Message Bot is assigned to the number, the incoming message row is hidden and the bot answers texts instead.
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."
To prevent spam, Max auto-replies per hour limits how many auto-replies one conversation gets (3 by default, 0 means unlimited). You can find these settings in the Auto-Replies section of the same phone number page. Auto-replies are sent as SMS, so the section stays greyed out until SMS is on for the number and A2P 10DLC registration allows sending.
Warning
If business hours aren't enabled on a phone number, the "During business hours" auto-replies become the only active list and send at all times. The after-hours list won't fire until you turn business hours on.
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 start and end time.
What's Next#
- Visual Call Flow Builder — add and wire the Business Hours node
- Call Routing overview — see all the routing actions you can chain
- Ring Groups — ring your team during open hours
- Voicemail — a common after-hours destination
- AI Agents — answer after-hours calls with a voice agent