How to Set Up Voicemail for Company and Users in Sparkforge

Sparkforge plays one of two voicemail greetings on missed calls: a per-user greeting if the inbound number is assigned to a staff member, or the company greeting if it isn't. The trick to making either one actually play is the call timeout — it has to fire before your forwarding number's native voicemail picks up.

Where to upload voicemail files

Per-user voicemail

Sub-Account → Settings → My Staff → Edit User → Call & Voicemail Settings → upload mp3 or wav.

This greeting plays when the contact calls a number assigned to that user, or when the contact itself is assigned to that user, and the user doesn't pick up.

Company voicemail

Sub-Account → Settings → Business Profile → Call & Voicemail Settings → upload mp3 or wav.

This plays when the called number isn't assigned to any user and the contact isn't assigned to anyone either.

How the call flow works

When a contact dials your business number, Sparkforge rings the configured forwarding number for the duration of the call timeout. If no one picks up before the timeout, the contact hears the uploaded voicemail instead of the forwarding number's native voicemail.

Call timeout settings (and why they matter)

Default ring time is 60 seconds. Most cell phones and Google Voice lines answer with their own voicemail before then, which means your uploaded greeting never plays. Set a shorter timeout in one of three places:

1. User-level: Settings → My Staff → Edit User → Call & Voicemail Settings.
2. Number-level: Settings → Phone Numbers → pencil icon on the specific number.
3. Company-level: Settings → Phone Numbers → Company defaults.

Sparkforge checks them in that order: user-level first, then number-level, then company-level.

Important behavior notes

• If a timeout is set but no voicemail file is uploaded, the default plays: "We are unable to take your call right now. Please leave a message after the beep."
• Timeout and voicemail file aren't paired — the system uses whichever timeout fires first and whichever voicemail file it can find next in the chain.
• Maximum effective timeout is around 20 seconds. Beyond that, your forwarding number's native voicemail wins.

Troubleshooting: company voicemail not playing

1. Confirm the number is assigned to a user and the user has an mp3 uploaded.
2. Confirm there's a forwarding number set — Sparkforge needs somewhere to ring before it can drop the call to voicemail.
3. Set the inbound call timeout to 1 second and test. If your greeting plays, increase the timeout in 5-second steps until you hit the limit.
4. If the forwarding number is on Do Not Disturb or has its native voicemail set to answer immediately, Sparkforge can't intercept it. Turn off the announce feature in Google Voice or change the native voicemail behavior.
5. If the mp3 is high-bitrate, convert it at online-audio-converter.com to ECONOMY 64 kbps mp3 and re-upload.

Listening to recorded voicemails

Open Reporting → Call Reporting and expand the call row, or click the contact name to open Conversations and play the audio inline.