Quick Start Guide

After signing up for dialnote, you'll land on the Quick Start page—your personalized guide to getting everything set up. This page tracks your progress and recommends what to do next based on your business needs.

How the Page Is Organized#

The Quick Start page has three main sections, in this order:

Up Next: The top 3 recommended tasks, picked based on your onboarding questionnaire answers. It also shows Bring Your Existing Number and Add Your Business Details cards, so you'll usually see more than 3. The first incomplete task auto-expands so you can jump right in. When you finish a task, a "Next Step" prompt appears briefly to guide you forward.

Explore All Features: Every other task grouped by category (Essentials, AI & Automation, Call Routing, Team, Integrations). Browse these to discover features you might not have tried yet.

Completed: Tasks you've already finished. If you've knocked out 7 or more, the list collapses with a Show N more button.

Your First Three Tasks#

Every new account starts with four essential tasks: Get Your Phone Number, Make Your First Test Call, a mobile app download task, and Import or Add Contacts. Complete these first before moving on to advanced features. Owners claim a number during account setup, so this task is often done already.

1. Get Your Phone Number (~1 min)#

Click Get Phone Number to choose a local or toll-free number for your business. You can pick a state or province, then an area code, or search by area code or word (like 415 or CARE). On a trial, you can only pick a local number. Only owners and admins can add numbers. Once claimed, this number is yours—all calls and texts go through it. See Getting Numbers for details.

2. Make a Test Call (~30 sec)#

After getting your number, test it out. Click Make a Call Now to open the dialer and call any phone (including your personal cell). This helps you experience HD voice quality and confirms everything works. Check out Your First Call for a full walkthrough.

3. Import Your Contacts (~2 min)#

Bring in your existing contacts so dialnote recognizes who's calling. You can upload a CSV file with bulk contacts or add people manually. This turns unknown numbers into named callers and helps you track call history per contact. See Import & Export for CSV formatting details.

Setting Up Your AI Voice Agent#

Once the essentials are done, dialnote recommends setting up an AI agent (~3 min). This virtual receptionist answers calls 24/7—even when you're busy or after hours.

To configure your AI agent:

1. Go to AI Agents in the sidebar
2. Click Create Agent, then Voice Agent
3. Add your business info (name, hours, common questions)
4. Upload documents to your knowledge base (FAQs, pricing, service descriptions)

Two more AI tasks follow: Test Your AI Agent (~2 min) lets you call in and hear how it handles a real conversation, and Review Your First AI Call Summary (~1 min) opens your Inbox to see the auto-generated transcript, summary, and action items. Both tasks complete on their own once any AI-handled call is analyzed.

Configuring Call Routing#

dialnote offers flexible call routing so calls reach the right person at the right time. Four Quick Start tasks cover this:

Business Hours (~2 min): Define when your business is open. A business-hours step in your number's call flow then sends calls down a During hours path or an after-hours path, and each path can ring your team, forward, go to voicemail, or reach your AI agent.

Call Flow / IVR (~5 min): Set up an interactive menu ("Press 1 for sales, 2 for support") to route callers to specific departments or team members. You can also mix in AI agent handling and after-hours rules.

Call Forwarding (~2 min): Forward calls to external numbers like your personal cell when you're away from your desk.

Voicemail Greeting (~2 min): Set up the greeting callers hear when nobody picks up.

Owners and admins also get a Forward Your Existing Line Here task (~1 min). Point your current carrier line at your dialnote number, then confirm it in the number's settings.

Team Collaboration#

If you're working with a team, dialnote makes it easy to collaborate:

• Invite Team Members (~1 min): Add unlimited users at no extra cost. Each person can handle calls independently.
• Set Up a Shared Number (~1 min): Create department numbers where calls ring multiple people at once—great for sales or support teams.

Connecting Integrations#

The last two Quick Start tasks are Connect Your CRM (~3 min) and Connect Your Calendar (~2 min). dialnote works with the tools you already use:

• CRM Integration: Connect HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive to automatically log calls and sync contact data.
• Calendar: Link Calendly or Cal.com for appointment scheduling through your AI agent.

Task Cards and Prerequisites#

Each task card expands to show a short description, a button to start, and a time estimate. Cards also display "Solves:" tags that show which of your pain points the task addresses—so you can see exactly why dialnote recommends it.

Some tasks have prerequisites. For example, you can't test your AI agent until you've created one, and you can't review an AI call summary until you've had an AI-handled call. Most calling and routing tasks stay locked until you have a phone number. Locked tasks show a message explaining what to do first.

Personalized Recommendations#

During account setup, dialnote asks "What should your number do?" Your answer maps to a pain point: missed calls, routing issues, or both. The Quick Start page uses that answer to personalize your experience.

If you told dialnote that missed calls are a problem, the AI agent setup card changes its headline to "Set Up an AI Agent to Catch Your Missed Calls" and explains how the AI answers 24/7. If routing is your pain point, the call flow task highlights how it helps callers reach the right person.

These contextual recommendations apply to tasks in the AI & Automation, Call Routing, and Integrations categories. Essential tasks (get a number, test call, mobile app, import contacts) stay the same for everyone since they're required regardless of your use case.

Progress and Completion#

Your progress shows as a percentage in the header, and the greeting updates as you go:

• Just starting — "Welcome, [name]! Let's get your phone system set up."
• A few tasks done — "Nice start, [name]!"
• 4 or more tasks done — "Great progress, [name]!"
• 70% or more done — "Almost there, [name]!"
• All complete — "Congratulations, [name]!" with a green banner showing your business number and a copy-to-clipboard button

When you finish all tasks, a "Go to Dashboard" button takes you to your Inbox where you can manage calls and conversations going forward.

Invited Team Members#

If you've been invited to a dialnote workspace (rather than creating it yourself), you'll see a shorter set of 6 tasks focused on personal setup:

1. Get your phone number (shown disabled, since only owners and admins can add numbers)
2. Make a test call
3. Get the mobile app
4. Import contacts
5. Test the AI agent
6. Review an AI call summary

Org-level tasks like configuring IVR, setting business hours, and connecting integrations are handled by workspace owners and admins. You'll see a "Your phone system also includes" section listing those features so you know what's available—but setup is managed by your admin.

Sidebar Help#

The sidebar on the Quick Start page gives you quick access to:

• Book a Demo — Schedule a walkthrough with the dialnote team (shows your scheduled date/time once booked)
• Help Docs — Jump to the documentation
• Contact Support — Open the in-app support chat
• Mobile App — Download links for Android and iOS

What's Next#

Once you've completed the Quick Start tasks, explore these areas to get the most out of dialnote:

• Phone System — Manage numbers, recording, and voicemail
• AI Agents — Fine-tune your agent with custom tools and call scoring
• Analytics — Track call reports and team performance
• Messaging — Send and receive SMS from your business number