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Outlook 2007 Features for Exchange Unified Messaging: Play on Phone

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Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2

After a voice mail message arrives, users can choose either to listen to the voice mail message through their computer speakers or headphones or to use the Play on Phone feature. The Play on Phone feature is included with the Outlook features for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Unified Messaging (UM) in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. This topic discusses how a UM-enabled user can use the Play on Phone feature provided by Exchange 2010.

What Is Play on Phone?

The Play on Phone feature lets UM-enabled users play voice messages over a telephone. If a UM-enabled user works in an office cubicle, is using a public computer or a computer that isn't enabled for multimedia, or is listening to a voice message that's confidential, the user might not want to or be able to listen to a voice message through computer speakers. Alternatively, the user can play back the voice mail message using any telephone, including home, office, or mobile telephones.

The Play on Phone feature is available in Outlook 2007 and also in Exchange 2010 Outlook Web App.

When the user clicks the Play on Phone toolbar option in the Outlook 2007 voice mail form, the Play on Phone dialog box appears. The Play on Phone dialog box provides the controls for selecting or inputting the telephone number to use to play a voice message, for starting and ending the call, and for displaying a status message for monitoring the call.

Note

Only one voice message can be played at one time. If the user tries to start a second Play on Phone call while a previous call is still in progress, an error message will appear.

Most Recently Used Telephone Number List

Users can see a list of telephone numbers they used most recently in the Play on Phone dialog box. The telephone number specified on the Voice Mail tab is always displayed as the top entry and is automatically selected for the user as the primary number. Users can use the menu options to select other telephone numbers to dial instead of the telephone number configured as the primary number.

Note

To enable users who are using the Play on Phone feature to dial an external telephone number without using an outside line access code, for example 425-555-0123 instead of 9-425-555-0123, configure in-country/region dialing rules on a UM dial plan that include the following line: group1, 9xxxxxxxxxx, 91xxxxxxxxxx. After you configure the in-country/region dialing rules, add this list to the UM mailbox policy.

Play on Phone Buttons

The Play on Phone dialog box gives users the option to Dial and Hang-up. When the Play on Phone dialog box is first opened, the Dial button is enabled and the Hang-up button is disabled. After a call is placed, the Dial button becomes disabled until the call has ended. The call can be ended either by clicking the Hang-up button or by physically hanging up the telephone. Closing the Play on Phone dialog box using the Close button ends the call if one is in progress.

Subject, Sent, and Status Field

The bottom section of the Play on Phone dialog box displays the subject of the voice message, the date and time sent, and a message that displays the current state of the call. Any errors specific to the Play on Phone operation are displayed to the user in this section of the Play on Phone dialog box.

Phone Number Validation

Play on Phone only performs simple validation on your input into the Play on Phone dialog box. Play on Phone doesn't validate telephone numbers. If a telephone number isn't valid, the Microsoft Exchange Unified Messaging service returns a meaningful error code to the user.

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