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IMPORTANT NOTICES

There are several issues to be aware of in the update to version 6.

Switchboard Layouts in 5.X are not maintained in the update. Before you update to version 6, we highly recommend that you review the existing Switchboards in your organization and create a plan for your new Layouts. You may have many people using a similar layout and you could save time by creating and sharing an admin-maintained Layout. Or, you may just want everyone to take a screenshot of their own Switchboard so that they can recreate their new Switchboard Layouts. Either way, creating the new Layouts shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. Contact lists and Rapid Dial Lists are migrated to 6.1, those are not lost in the update.
The Salesforce and SugarCRM panels are no longer available in version 6 Switchboard. For Salesforce.com users, Switchvox extensions can now be used right within the salesforce.com call center. See the setup and user articles for more information.
Switchvox Mobile is deprecated, these apps should be deleted before updating to version 6. Instead, use the Switchvox Softphone App (iOS or Android) with version 6.
Switchvox Notifier is deprecated, and is not compatible with version 6. Any new Windows integration tools will be built against 6, and won't be compatible with 5 or earlier.
Switchvox Firedialer is deprecated. Please use Switchvox Dial for Mozilla Firefox®.
Queue extensions have changed in some subtle but important ways. If you use Queues, be sure to read that section.
For Switchvox Appliance customers:
- Switchvox version 5.11.1 is required before an appliance can be updated to version 6.1.
- The update to the new version is approximately 1.5GB, so we recommend that you download the update, and then apply.
- If you are using Peered Switchvoxes, we highly recommend that you do not update any single Switchvox until you can update all Peered Switchvoxes.
- If you use Switchvox for FAX, you must register a Fax License again, after you update to 6.1 (Tools > Digium Addon Products). There is no cost for this, you just need to re-register.

Changes in the Admin Web Suite

Switchboard Layouts

This new page lets you create Switchboard Layouts. One or more Layouts can be assigned to a phone extension, so that when someone opens his or her Switchboard, it’s immediately useful. Switchboard Layouts can be applied to phone extensions with the Bulk Modify tool.

The Switchboard can include multiple Layouts for one user, so you can create Layouts for functional roles, and different purposes within the same role.

You can put any widget in a layout, but each widget will respect the permissions of the phone-user viewing it. When the widget is displayed on the phone-user’s Switchboard, that user’s permissions must be set correctly to use all of the widget’s features:

Queue widgets will respect the phone-user’s permissions for that queue
Contacts & Tags widget will respect the phone-user’s Extension Permissions (Setup > Extensions > Permissions)

Switchboard Widgets

This page used to be called Switchboard Panels:

The panels for Salesforce and SugarCRM have been removed.
There is a new Salesforce plugin that runs directly in your Salesforce.com browser window. That is documented separately.
The Google Maps tool is managed here.

If you had Custom Switchboard Panels prior to the update, in 6.x and later those URLs must use the HTTPS protocol. In other words, Custom Switchboard Widgets must have a URL that start with “https://”.

If you have a Custom Widget that is empty in the Switchboard, it's likely that the site does not allow its content to be loaded into a frame (which is how the Switchboard custom widget works). For technical information about this, see The X-Frame-Options response header. In this case, you might consider writing and hosting a bit of code that queries the site using Switchvox variables, and returns the content that you want.

Contacts

Tools > Contacts

The Contacts tool has changed considerably, and now lets you affect your phone-users’ Switchboard.
Contacts lets you

Create, modify, and delete an External Contact. An External Contact can be used system-wide by all phone-users, but only the Switchvox admin can modify it. Also, an External Contact can have multiple phone numbers attached to it.
Create, modify, and delete a Tag. A Tag is used to collect Contacts together, and can be used system-wide by all phone-users. Only the Switchvox admin can modify the Tag name, or the Contacts assigned to the Tag.
Assign a Tag to a Switchvox extension. A Contact can have multiple Tags. Important: if you are using Extension Groups, you probably want to use Link to Contact Tag to assign Switchvox extensions to a Tag, instead of Contacts.
Assign a Tag to an External Contact. A Contact can have multiple Tags.
Create and maintain additional phone numbers for a Switchvox phone extension. Additional numbers are managed here, and by the extension-owner (Features > Additional Numbers).

Use the checkboxes to:

Delete one or many External Contacts
Tag or untag one or many Contacts

Important: Tags, and the Switchvox extensions they are assigned to, can also be maintained from Extension Groups using the Link to Contact Tag option. If you are using Extension Groups, that is the best way to manage Tags and the Switchvox extensions assigned to them. In that situation, you would use the Contacts tool to manage External Contacts and their Tags.

How Contacts Work in Phone-User Tools

These are the phone-user tools that use Contacts:

Switchboard All Contacts list, which can be filtered by Tag
Switchboard Contacts and Tags widget, which displays Contacts and each of their calls
Digium Phone Contacts app, which can be filtered by Tag
Softphone Contacts tab

Those tools contain all of the phone-user's Contacts, as defined by the user and the Switchvox administrator:

Admin-maintained External Contacts within each Tag the user is subscribed to
Phone-user's own External Contacts (tagged or untagged)
Phone-user's own Tags
Switchvox extensions included in the Internal Directory, which by default is All Extensions. By default, the system group All Extensions is included in the Internal Directory, so phone-users' Contacts tools contain all extensions.

If you are not using the default All Extensions group in the Internal Directory, the phone-user tools contain the Tags and External Contacts as above, but only contain specific Switchvox extensions:

Switchvox extensions within each admin-maintained Tag the user is subscribed to
Switchvox extensions or admin-maintained External Contacts that the phone user is directly subscribed to (if any)
Switchvox extensions and admin-maintained External Contacts in the phone-user's Rapid Dial (Features > Phone Features > Rapid Dial)

About the Internal Directory: If you prefer not to automatically give all phone-users Contacts for all extensions, we suggest you do not use the Internal Directory. Instead, be sure that the Internal Directory contains only one Group, and that Group is empty.

Extension Groups

Extension Groups have a new setting, Link to Contact Tag.

In an Extension Group, select YES to automatically create and maintain a Contact Tag that matches the Group.

With Link to Contact Tag as YES, changes to one are reflected in the other:

Changes to the name of the Group or Tag
Changes to the Switchvox extensions that are included in the Group or Tag

Notes about Groups and Tags:

Groups have a specific order, Tags are alphabetic order
Tags can contain External Contacts, Groups cannot
If you delete a Tag that is maintained with a Group, the Group’s Link to Tag is automatically set to NO.

Contacts and Tags are discussed in more detail in that section. In general, Tags are used to create a collection of contacts, which serves the same purpose as multiple Phonebooks did in 5.X.

IMPORTANT: Setting Link to Contact Tag for your Group only puts those extensions in the Tag. To subscribe your extensions to the Tag, use the extension-management tool, or bulk modify. Then, extensions that are subscribed to the Tag can use that Tag in their Switchboards. In other words, extensions in a Tag aren't automatically subscribed to their own Tags.

Extension Templates

There are several changes in Extension Templates that are also in the Manage SIP Extension and Bulk Modify Extensions tools.

Profile Information Tab

The profile information tab has a new setting: Timezone.

This setting only affects the phone-user’s display in the Switchvox web suite (e.g., Call Logs), and is used by Digium Phones. This does not change Switchvox’s server timezone, which is still used in the Switchvox administration web suite, the administrator's logs and reports, and is always used to store and evaluate time frames.

Phone Settings Tab

The Digium Phones Advanced Options section has a new setting: SIP Transport.

The options are UDP and TCP. Normally, this does not need to be changed unless specifically recommended by a Digium technical support representative.

In 5.X, UDP was automatically used, TCP was not an option.

Contact Tags Tab

This new tab lets you Subscribe and Assign the SIP extension to a Tag:

If you want a person to use the Tag in his or her Switchboard, put that Tag under Subscriptions.
If you want a person to be included in the Tag, put that Tag under Assignments.

An extension in a Tag is not automatically subscribed to the Tag.

Contacts are discussed in more detail in a different section of this document.

Switchboard Layouts Tab

This new tab lets you subscribe the SIP extension to one or more Switchboard Layouts.

Switchboard Layouts are discussed in more detail in a different section of this document.

Queue Extensions

The way that you set up Queue extensions hasn't changed in 6.X, but there are changes in the way that a Queue functions.

Queue Wrap Up is respected by all queues. A person in Wrap Up mode will not receive calls from any queue, even a queue where Receive Calls While on a Call is YES. In previous versions, only the queue for which you were in wrap up, would respect the wrap up time.
Queues with an In Order ringing strategy always go in order, even when multiple callers are waiting.
Queues with a "Least Recently Answered" ringing strategy function based on the last time a member answered a call from this queue (since Switchvox has been running). This strategy tries to send calls to all appropriate queue members, in strategy order, as opposed to continually trying to send the next call to the one member with the least recently answered call.
Queues with a "Fewest Answered Calls" ringing strategy function based on call activity after 12:01am each morning. This strategy tries to send calls to all appropriate queue members, in strategy order, as opposed to continually trying to send the next call to the one member with the fewest answered calls.
Queue members who are Paused are always considered Logged In, for the purposes of queue call routing.
Switchboard queue widgets display all of the queue members (there is no longer a 30-member limit).
Missed calls are always calculated the same way for auto-logout, queue logs, and queue reports:
- A call is missed if Acknowledge Call is YES, and the member does not acknowledge the call.
- A call is missed if the queue sends a caller to a member whose Status is Do Not Disturb.
- A call is missed if the queue sends a caller to a member who is logged in but his or her phone is not registered (the phone is not communicating with Switchvox).
- A call is not missed if it's abandoned at any time, even while ringing a member(s).
- A call is not missed by any member if one member answers it in a Ringall queue.
- A queue member's missed calls from a specific queue only count against that queue's "Auto Log Off After Missed Calls" number (specified in Queue Member Settings). Missed calls in other queues are not counted.

Changes for Phone-Users

My Account

Your Profile Information can include a Timezone setting.

This timezone is used for the web suite display (e.g., Call Logs), and by your Digium Phone.

My Contacts

The My Contacts tool lets you

See the Contacts and Tags the Switchvox administrator has given you.
Create and maintain External Contacts for personal use.
Create and maintain additional phone numbers for a Switchvox phone extension. (All phone extensions are shown with any additional numbers that are maintained by the Switchvox administrator or the extension-owner.)
Create a new Tag and apply it to Switchvox extensions and External Contacts to create personal collections.

It's possible to subscribe (or unsubscribe) to an admin-maintained Tag, and it's also possible to subscribe directly to a Switchvox extension or an admin-maintained External Contact. But in general, it's best to let your Switchvox administrator manage this for you and your whole organization.

The content that you create here (External Contacts, Tags, or additional numbers for other phone extensions) cannot be seen by other phone-users.

Migration From 5.X

In 6.x, Phonebooks aren’t used anymore. But all of the information in your Phonebooks are migrated to Contacts, so you do not lose any data.

Each user-created Phonebook (not the Default Phonebook) becomes a personal Tag.
Each Switchvox extension in any Phonebook is
- Subscribed to
- Tagged as appropriate to match user-created Phonebooks
Each External Contact within each Phonebook is
- Re-created as a new External Contact, which can be modified
- Tagged as appropriate to match user-created Phonebooks

The different types of Phonebook entries, Normal and Extended, aren’t used anymore. In the 6.x Switchboard, Extended Permission activities are all available in the new Contacts & Tags widget.

Rapid Dial Favorites

This new tab lets you assign contacts to your Digium Phone Rapid Dial Keys and your Switchvox Softphone Favorites tab.

Items in this list can include

Switchvox extensions
External Contacts (your own, or admin-maintained)
Status Indicators (Queue-Agent Login, or Parking Space)

Migration From 5.X

The 5.X Phonebook assigned to Rapid Dial becomes the new Rapid Dial list. (The newly created Rapid Dial list is not related to a Tag.)

Most 6.x Rapid Dial items reference a switchvox extension, or an External Contact managed in My Contacts (or managed by the administrator)
Rapid Dial status indicators can be managed in this tool, the same way they were in a Phonebook.

Digium Phone Apps

In the Contacts app, an existing contact can no longer be added to another Phonebook (Phonebooks no longer exist in 6.x).

The Contacts app lets you filter contacts by Tag, or show all contacts in the Internal Directory or your Rapid Dial. To manage the Tags themselves and the contacts they include, use My Contacts in the web suite, or ask your Switchvox administrator.

Call Log entries can be saved as an External Contact. To include that new External Contact in a Tag, use My Contacts in the web suite.

InCall Menu

The InCall Menu lets you immediately transfer an active call to any of your other converged phones. Use your phone's keypad to press ** then the rapid transfer key number. To find the key number for each of your Converged Phones, check your list of converged phones.

You can also use the menu for other tasks. Press **# to put your call on hold so you can follow the prompts to

press **#1 to transfer the call to another Switchvox extension
press **#2 to send the call to your voicemail
press **#3 to record the call

Your call is put on hold during these other tasks, so that you can navigate the Menu and complete the transfer or recording.

Switchboard

The Switchboard in 6.x is visually different than 5.X, and has some new and changed features:

Layouts let you design collections of ‘widgets’ in windows, so that you can set up the right set of tools for different purposes. Your Switchvox administrator may have given you some System Layouts that your organization shares, or you can create your own. To create a Switchboard Layout, click the icon of a monitor, in the top-right of Switchboard.
Notifications can give you audio alerts, and visual alerts in your browser and/or on your desktop, when something happens. For example, you miss a call, have a voicemail message, or have an incoming call, text chat, or video chat. You might also get notifications about queues, if you have the correct permissions.
A Voicemail widget lets you find and listen to voicemail.
A new Dial-box lets you dial any phone number (rather than dialing from a Contact Card). This is handy if you want to call a number that is not already in your Switchvox contacts.
The My Calls widget functions more like the Digium Phone and the Switchvox Softphone, with a set of action-buttons for incoming and active calls.
The Contacts window shows all of your contacts, including Status, and gives Filter and Search tools.
A Contact Card is available by clicking most any place that you see a Contact (an extension name). That provides all the details about that person (or other type of extension), and offers easy access to actions like Dial and Transfer.
The Contacts and Tags widget shows a list of calls for each contact (this used to be Extended Entries in Phonebooks). With permission, you can see and do all of the following activities related to someone else’s calls:
- see each of a contact’s calls with the caller ID of the other party
- pickup an incoming call
- monitor, whisper, or barge into an active call
- record an active call
The Queue Member Activity widget (which was the Members / Callers section of the Queue Panel) shows all of the calls for the members of a queue, not just their calls that came from the queue. (In 5.X, you had to look for their calls in the Phonebook and the Queue Panel.) This requires permission from the Switchvox administrator.

Issues Resolved

Callers are now correctly forwarded to another extension if they are attempting to leave voicemail on a full mailbox.
Music on Hold is now heard by queue callers who arrived in the queue via an assisted transfer.
Call Logs can now be searched by caller ID number with a 3-digit caller ID number (3-32 digit numbers are allowed).
Intercom/Paging extension setting 'Play beep/sound first' now correctly instructs the phone to play the sound-file (or not).
Event triggers are now correctly listing call information the same way for outgoing calls created via the API.
Polycom VVX line keys now show busy status (BLF) for more than 8 contacts.
Enable Line Keys for Rapid Dial option on Digium Phones now works correctly.
Switchboard queue widgets now correctly display members who are on multiple calls.
Switchboard queue widgets now correctly display ringing and answered calls where agent extensions have Ringall or Cascade call rules and/or Converged Phones.
Forwarding a voicemail message using the voicemail access extension (899 by default) no longer gives an erroneous error message.
Updated gnutls to address CVE-2014-3466, http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2014-3466.
Calls sent to an external number via an IVR action now correctly show the caller ID name and number in logs.
Peered Switchvoxes now manage 3rd party SSL certificates more efficiently.
Backup process no longer leaves unnecessary files on disk.

NOTE: This article describes version 6.1 (78178). Previous version is 5.11.1, later version is 6.1.1.

Title Updating to Switchvox 6.1

URL Name Updating-to-Switchvox-6

Article Details

Affected Version(s) 6.1; 6.0

Updating to Switchvox 6.1

Related video and articles

Contents

IMPORTANT NOTICES

Changes in the Admin Web Suite

Switchboard Layouts

Switchboard Widgets

Contacts

How Contacts Work in Phone-User Tools

Extension Groups

Extension Templates

Profile Information Tab

Phone Settings Tab

Contact Tags Tab

Switchboard Layouts Tab

Queue Extensions

Changes for Phone-Users

My Account

My Contacts

Migration From 5.X

Rapid Dial Favorites

Migration From 5.X

Digium Phone Apps

InCall Menu

Switchboard

Issues Resolved