Cisco Unity Connection lets you record up to six personal greetings and turn on as many of them as you want. Each one covers a different situation, and some override others. Getting this right means callers hear something useful whether you're at lunch, on another line, on vacation, or it's a holiday — without you having to re-record your greeting each time.
The six greetings
| Greeting | When it plays | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | During business hours, and in any situation where no other greeting applies. Cannot be turned off. | Your everyday greeting. |
| Closed | During non-business hours. Overrides the standard greeting at those times. | "Sorry, I am not available to answer your call. Office hours are <your hours>." |
| Alternate | For a specific period you set. Overrides all other greetings while it's on. | "I will be out of the office until August 15th." |
| Busy | When you're already on the phone. Overrides the standard, closed and internal greetings. | "I am currently on another line, please leave a message." |
| Internal | Only to callers inside the district, when you don't answer. Overrides the standard and closed greetings. | "I will be in conference room B until noon today." |
| Holiday | During a holiday. Overrides the standard greeting during non-business hours. | "Happy holiday. I am not available to answer your call. I will be out of the office from the 24th to the 2nd." |
Note: not all phone systems support the busy and internal greetings. If either doesn't seem to be working for you, submit an ETS Request for Help.
How the overrides stack
From strongest to weakest:
- Alternate — beats everything else while it's on.
- Busy — beats standard, closed and internal when your line is in use.
- Internal — beats standard and closed, for internal callers only.
- Closed and Holiday — beat standard during non-business hours.
- Standard — the fallback that always exists.
Recording over your current greeting
Using the keypad
- Call and sign in to voicemail.
- From the Main menu, select Setup Options, then Greetings.
- Your current greeting plays. Follow the prompts to re-record it.
- Press 8 to pause or resume recording. Press # to end the recording.
Using voice commands
- Call and sign in to voicemail.
- When the system asks "What do you want to do," say: "Record my <greeting name> greeting."
- Press # when you're finished.
Turning your alternate greeting on or off
This is the one most people use — for vacation, conferences and extended absences. When you turn it on you can set a date and time for it to switch itself off, or leave it on indefinitely.
Using the keypad
- Call and sign in to voicemail.
- From the Main menu, select Setup Options, then Greetings.
- Press # to skip hearing your current greeting.
- Follow the prompts to turn the alternate greeting on or off.
- If you turned it on, follow the prompts to set when it should turn off, or leave it on indefinitely.
Using voice commands
Say either:
- "Turn on my alternate greeting" — leaves it on indefinitely
- "Turn on alternate greeting until <date> at <time>"
- "Turn off my alternate greeting"
Two tips for the alternate greeting
- Change your recorded name too. Your recorded name plays when colleagues address messages to you and when callers look you up in the directory — neither of which plays your alternate greeting. Adding "out of the office until the 15th" to your recorded name closes that gap.
- Other Unity users don't hear it when they send you a message by phone.
The system may play a reminder that your alternate greeting is on when you sign in by phone.
Changing which greeting is used
When you turn a greeting on, you specify how long it stays available. Unity plays it in the applicable situation until the date and time you set, then turns it off automatically — so you can set your alternate greeting to stop the day you get back from vacation. You can also set a greeting to play indefinitely, which suits the busy and closed greetings.
For each greeting you choose one of two sources:
| Source | What callers hear |
|---|---|
| Re-record this greeting | The greeting you record in your own voice. Note: recording a greeting does not turn it on. |
| System greeting | A prerecorded greeting combined with your recorded name — "Sorry, <your name> is not available." If you have no recorded name, the system reads your display name using text-to-speech. When a greeting is on but not recorded, the system greeting plays. |
Using the keypad
- Call and sign in to voicemail.
- From the Main menu, select Setup Options, then Greetings.
- Your current greeting plays — press # to skip it.
- Follow the prompts to select which greeting to change, then to make the change.
- Press 8 to pause or resume recording, # to end it.
Voice commands
| To do this | Say |
|---|---|
| Play your standard greeting | "Play my greeting" |
| Play a specific greeting | "Play <greeting name> greeting" |
| Record or re-record the standard greeting | "Record my greeting" |
| Record or re-record another greeting | "Record my <greeting name> greeting" |
| Use the system greeting as your standard | "Use my default greeting" |
| Use the system greeting for a specific greeting | "Use default <greeting name> greeting" |
| Play nothing (callers hear only a tone) | "Play nothing for my <greeting name> greeting" |
| Turn a greeting on indefinitely | "Turn on <greeting name> greeting" |
| Turn a greeting on until a date and time | "Turn on <greeting name> greeting until <date> at <time>" |
| Turn a greeting off | "Turn off <greeting name> greeting" |
| Get help | "Greetings Help" |
Tip: if you record a personal greeting and then switch that greeting to use the system greeting, your recording is no longer available by phone. You'll need to record and enable a new personal greeting.
Turning a greeting off does not erase the recording — the system simply stops playing it.
Hearing all your greetings
Keypad: sign in, then Main menu → Setup Options → Greetings → Play All Greetings.
Voice command: say "Play all greetings."
All six greetings play, starting with your current one. Using the voice command, the system also tells you whether each one is turned on or off — a quick way to audit what callers are actually hearing.
Working remotely
If you're working away from campus, update your greeting to set expectations — something like "I am working remotely, so expect a slight delay in response." See Working Remotely with Your District Phone.