This article describes the improvements and issues resolved in Switchvox version 6.7 (92161).
See also:
Known Issues,
6.6.0.1,
6.6.0.2,
6.6.0.3,
6.6.0.4,
6.7.1.
This version requires version 6.3.6 (84996). Also, if you have Peered Switchvoxes, 6.7 requires the peers to be updated to 6.7 at the same time for all peering features to work correctly.
Important information for a Switchvox updating from
Overview
Tags are completely removed in 6.7, along with the notion of ‘subscribing’ to contacts. Now, Extension Groups are used instead of Tags.
Switchboard has a new Quick Dial widget that lets you transfer calls without going on hold, and also includes External Contacts.
The maximum number of phones that Switchvox supports is increased from 600 to 1,000 phones. (The maximum number of concurrent calls is unchanged.) This performance increase comes from changes in version 6.7 and in version 6.5 to the way SIP extensions and phone configuration files are managed.
| | Max Phones with 6.7 | Previous |
|---|
| E510 | 150 (unchanged) | 150 |
| E520 | 400 | 300 |
| E530 | 700 | 600 |
| E540 | 1,000 | 600 |
| VMware | 1,000 | 600 |
For more information about running Switchvox on VMware, see the article Can I use Switchvox in a Virtualized Environment?
What’s Different for Administrators?
Tools > External Contacts
Tools > Internal Directory
Tools > Switchboard Layouts
Setup > Extension Groups
Setup > Extensions
Setup > VOIP Providers
Other Changes
What’s Different for Phone-Users?
Alternatives to Tags
Features > My External Contacts
Switchboard
New Quick Dial Widgets
My Calls Visual Changes for Transfer
Contact Cards
Directory
Contacts & Tags Widget is Now Called Call Activity
Queues Wallboard Member-Count Column
Issues Resolved
What’s Different for Administrators?
Tools > External Contacts
This page is now used just to create, modify, or delete External Contacts. You can no longer make collections of External Contacts here, to be used in other areas of Switchvox. But, the Switchboard’s new Quick Dial widget can contain a collection of External Contacts, and Switchboard layouts can have multiple Quick Dial widgets.
Switchvox extensions aren’t listed here anymore. You can no longer create and maintain additional phone numbers for a Switchvox phone extension. (Phone-users’ own additional numbers can still be managed using the Features > Additional Numbers page).
Tools > Internal Directory
This is now its own menu item, but functions the same way it functioned previously. Note: If you have customized the Internal Directory so that it only contains specific Groups (rather than the default All Extensions), be sure that any Groups marked “Admin only NO” are included here in the Internal Directory. For details, see the section Setup > Extension Groups.
Tools > Switchboard Layouts
The new Quick Dial widget ‘Rapid Dial’ option lets admins use the widget in a layout. The extension’s own rapid dial list will be used when that person opens his or her Switchboard.
Setup > Extension Groups
The Link to Contact Tag option has been removed from Extension Groups. However, Groups can now be used where Tags were previously used. The difference is that Groups do not include external contacts, where Tags did.
Groups have a new option: Admin only. This is used to hide a Group from phone-users, so that only admins can use it. If this setting is YES, then the Group is hidden from
- The Digium Phones Contacts app (the list of filters doesn’t include the Group).
- These areas of the Switchboard:
- Settings for Call Activity widget (previously named the Contacts and Tags widget)
- Settings for new Quick Dial Custom List widget
- Directory window’s Filter dropdown
Updating Groups to 6.7
If a Group had Link to Tag YES, then the collection was already available to phone-users as a Tag. Therefore, set the Group to Admin only NO.
If a Group had Link to Tag NO, set the Group to Admin only YES.
If a Tag was not generated from a Group, then create a Group with that Tag name, and put the Tag’s extensions in the new Group. Set the new Group to Admin only NO.
If a Tag was not generated from a Group, but there is already a group with that Tag name, then create a new Group of that name with an integer appended. For example: a Tag called Sales and a Group called Sales, not linked together, creates a Group called Sales_1 with the same extensions as the Sales Tag. Set the new Group to Admin only NO. Set the previously existing Group to Admin only YES.
Setup > Extensions
In SIP Phone extension Assignments, the Contact Tags tab has been removed. That tab was used to put the extension into a Tag, and to subscribe the extension to a Tag.
In SIP Phone extension Permissions:
- Under Digium Phone Apps, Contacts include internal directory is removed, and is always true.
- Under Use PBX Features: Additional Phones is removed.
- Under Use Calling Features: Use InCall Menu YES indicates the phone-user can use the Features > Additional Phones page and the InCall Menu.
The changes above are reflected in Extension Templates, and Bulk-Modify Extensions.
Setup > VOIP Providerss
The setting Treat users as local is removed. That is always true if the host is a Switchvox.
Other Changes
Sub-admin permissions have changed. The Extensions > Additional Phones permission is removed. The Manage Phones tool (new in 6.6) requires Write permission for Phones > Digium Phones. Within the Manage Phones tool, the Create button requires Write permission for Extensions > Manage.
Digium Addon Products page now lets the admin turn on Faxing without registering a license.
What’s Different for Phone-Users?
Alternatives to Tags
In 6.7, there are several alternatives to Tags for creating collections of contacts.
- Your Switchvox administrator can make a system-level Group available to you for use in various areas. Groups contain Switchvox extensions (not External Contacts).
- Switchboard Call Activity widget lets you create a collection of Switchvox phone extensions so that you can see each call those people are on. You can use system-level Groups, or individual phone extensions. You can have as many of these widgets as you want. Your Switchvox administrator must give you permission for the call activity tools.
- Switchboard Quick Dial widget lets you create a collection of external contacts and extensions (system-level Groups or individual extensions of any type) so that you can quickly dial and transfer on those contacts. You can have as many of these widgets as you want.
- Rapid Dial List (you have one list) lets you collect external contacts and extensions and put them in a specific order. This list can be used on phones and in the Switchboard’s Directory and new Quick Dial widget.
Features > My External Contacts
My Contacts is now My External Contacts. Switchvox extensions aren’t listed here anymore.
You can no longer put additional phone numbers on contacts you can’t edit (admin-created external contacts, or Switchvox extensions). Any phone numbers you have added to contacts are removed from those contacts and re-created as personal external contacts. You were the only person who ever saw those numbers, and in 6.7 that’s still true. The difference is that those numbers are now your own separate external contacts, no longer attached to the other contact.
Switchboard
New Quick Dial Widgets
Watch a video of the Quick Dial widget.
A new pair of Quick Dial widgets is available:
- The Rapid Dial widget displays your Rapid Dial list, in the exact order as that list
- The Custom widget lets you include extensions and external contacts, plus extension Groups.
Custom List lets you set a sort order for the whole list: first, last, or number.
For both widgets, the items have these actions available:
And the items that are Switchvox phone-type extensions also offer:
- Dial VM
- Transfer VM
- Phone-state (on a call, idle) and jabber-status (available, away)
The Transfer and Transfer VM actions work like this:
- If you press the Transfer button on a call in the My Calls widget, the call goes on hold and the transfer actions in the Quick Dial widget will transfer that specific call to that contact.
- If you are on an active call, the Quick Dial widget actions Transfer and Transfer VM immediately transfer the person you are talking to. You do not need to press Transfer in the My Calls widget, and the call doesn’t go on hold.
My Calls Visual Changes for Transfer
In the My Calls widget, pressing Transfer on a call now causes that call’s banner to look different. The purpose is to help you understand that this is the call that will be transferred to a contact, when you press Complete or Transfer VM on a contact.
Contact Cards
These contact-detail cards no longer include a Tags section.
Directory
The Directory’s dropdown menu is no longer separated into sections. Now it is a list of filters to narrow the items listed in the Directory. Just as in 6.6, the 6.7 Directory always displays contacts sorted by first name, even if the filter is Rapid Dial List.
This is renamed Call Activity. The Settings let you include Groups, instead of Tags. (Your Switchvox administrator maintains the Groups.) Otherwise, the widget is the same as before. If you used a Tag in this widget prior to 6.6, after the update all of the contacts in that Tag are still in your widget. They may be there as part of a Group, or as individual contacts.
Queues Wallboard Member-Count Column
The Wallboard includes a column that indicates the number of members who are logged in vs the total number of members (e.g., ⅗). Prior to 6.7, that box was yellow with a white border if all of the queue members were not logged in. In 6.7, that box is always the ‘normal’ state of the other boxes: black with grey border.
Issues Resolved
- The Park softkey on Digium Phones is now functional where specific scenarios caused it to be grey or non-functional.
- Digium Phone idle images can now be deleted from a custom extension template.
- SIP Phone connection status no longer shows Registered where a softphone was assigned but now there is no phone registered to the extension.
- Modifying an extension group no longer removes the group from extension templates that included the group.
- The log for Queue-Member Log-Ins is now correctly updated to show unpause when the member logs out.
- The Set Password recovery URL now correctly tries to use Switchvox’s hostname as defined in IP Configuration (if there is no hostname the IP address is used).
- Monthly scheduled reports can now be correctly modified to daily or weekly.
- Additional External phones can now successfully pick up a parked call in a parking lot.
- Digium Phones correctly offer a Park softkey where certain circumstances made it unavailable.
- The search function in Digium Phone assignments now correctly allows searching for a MAC address in the unassigned phones list.
- Additional Phones can now be added as additional line appearances
- P-Asserted-ID Caller ID is now included when using API methods switchvox_users_call or switchvox_call
- Timeframes may now be created when using European Language/Locale
- Proxy Host values of greater than 32 characters are now configurable
- Agent Status BLF appearance now functions after extension re-assignment
