16 ♦ Call Handling Basics
Selectively Answering Calls
To select the call you want to answer, you can
• Press a softkey (for example, [Recall], [Dial 0], [External],
[WATS], etc.) to select a call based on the line the call is arriving
on
or
• Select a call from the Incoming Calls display to choose a call
based on specific call details (such as caller name or number).
Answering calls using softkeys
If more than one call is waiting at a particular softkey, then the calls
are answered on a “first-come, first-served” basis.
1. Use the icons ( ) in the Call Waiting area to help you decide
which type of call to answer first. The icon appears above the
softkey associated with the call type (external, recall, etc.). The
number below the icon shows how many calls of that type are
waiting. The icon color also shows how many calls of a particular
type are waiting: yellow for one call, blue for two, and red for
three or more calls.
2. Click the desired softkey.
In the example above, note that one [Recall] call, one internal [Dial
0] call, and two external calls are waiting. You can press
•Answer to connect to the recall; or
•[Dial 0] to answer the internal call; or
•[External] to answer the outside call that first arrived at the
console.

About the Call-Answering Softkeys

The call-answering softkeys are assigned by your communications
department to suit the types of calls your company receives.
Ask your communications department which type of calls it prefers you to
answer first.
The leftmost softkey is reserved for recalls (see Answering Recalls on
page 35), but the other softkeys may be programmed in a variety of ways. For
example, you might have softkeys labelled as follows:
•[Dial 0] and [External] to indicate whether a call is from outside the
system or inside; or
•[WATS] or [TIE] to tell you the type of trunk the call arrived on; or
• The department name (for example, [Sales]) assigned to the trunk.
Use the softkeys to guide you when answering a call.
For instance, when you see that a call is made from outside the system, your
company might want you to answer with a different greeting than you use for
internal calls or recalls. Use the form provided on page 61 to record your
company’s preferred greetings.
You can also use the Incoming Calls display to guide you when answering
incoming calls. See page 17 for more information about answering calls
using the Incoming Calls display.