Creating & Editing Queues

Creating & Editing Queues

The queue editor (Nova PBX → Call Center → Queues → click a queue or Add queue) is split across three tabs: General, Members, and Announcements. The header’s Save changes / Create queue button persists the form; member changes save immediately as you make them.

Tip

Each tab has a stable URL hash (#general, #members, #announcements) — you can bookmark or share a link straight to a tab.

General Tab

Basic information

Field	What it does
Name	Internal label, e.g. “Support Queue”. Required.
Display name	Optional friendly label shown alongside the name.
Ring strategy	How the queue picks the next member to ring — see strategies.
Queue enabled	Toggle the queue on/off without deleting it.
Required skills	Tag-style list for skills-based routing. Type a skill and press Enter; skills from your catalog auto-suggest. Members with matching skills get priority — best paired with the Weighted Random (Skills) strategy.

Queue behavior

Field	What it does
Timeout (seconds)	How long each member’s phone rings before the queue tries the next one. 15–30s is typical.
Max queue length	Cap on simultaneous waiting callers; 0 = unlimited. Above the cap, new callers don’t join.
Wrap-up time (seconds)	Breathing room after a call — the member’s phone won’t ring again until it elapses.
Service level (seconds)	Reporting target for “answered within N seconds.” Doesn’t change call behavior.
Join empty queue	Whether new callers may enter when no members are available: Yes, No, or Strict (also counts paused members as unavailable).
Leave when empty	Whether waiting callers are ejected when the last member logs out/pauses: Yes, No, Strict.
Ring agents already on a call	Off by default — enable only if your phones handle multiple lines and members manage call-waiting.

Members Tab

The extensions that ring for this queue. On a brand-new queue the tab asks you to save first — members attach to a saved queue.

• Add — pick an extension from the dropdown and click Add.
• Remove — click the × on a row.
• Penalty — lower = higher priority. Without required skills, each row shows its stored penalty (p:0). With required skills set, an inline override field appears per member: type a number to pin the member’s penalty, or clear it (reset icon) to fall back to the skill-derived automatic value.
• Paused — a badge marks members currently off rotation.

Member add/remove and penalty changes save immediately (no Save click needed).

Announcements Tab

What callers hear while waiting.

Field	What it does
On-join greeting	Message played to the caller right after they enter the queue, before hold music and before any agent’s phone rings. Agents don’t hear it, and if no greeting is selected, nothing plays. Generate it from a voice (TTS, with quick-pick scripts) or pick a file from your media library; once set, the card offers Replace / Remove. Available after the queue is saved.
Music on hold	The platform default or one of the shared MOH classes. Custom hold music is managed under Nova PBX → Media → Music on Hold.
Announce frequency (seconds)	How often position / hold-time announcements play. 0 = disabled; 30–90 is common.
Announce position	”You are caller number 3 in line” — reassures callers they’re moving.
Announce hold time	Yes / No / Once. Once plays the estimated wait only when the caller joins — less grating than every 30 seconds.
Auto-pause agents	Auto-pause a member who doesn’t answer a queue call: No, Yes (this queue only), or All (every queue they’re in).

After Saving

Queue changes are staged on your PBX configuration — the “unapplied changes” banner appears at the top of Switchboard. Click Apply Changes to push them live to your phone system. Until then, the running queue keeps its previous settings.