Phone System Call Queues allow a team or department of users within an organization to respond to incoming calls.  Sales calls can forwarded by a receptionist or Auto-Attendant to a sales team, where the first available team member can respond to the call.  A Call Queue can be configured with a custom greeting, hold music, and queue limits.


Getting Started


To get started with setting up a Call Queue, the following will be needed:

  • At least one Enterprise E5 license or an Enterprise E3 license with the Phone System add-on assigned to a user.
  • A Domestic Calling Plan or Domestic and International Calling Plan license for users to receive calls from the Queue.
  • A user with Global Administrator or Skype for Business Administrator roles assigned.


Please contact our Support Team to request the Phone System add-on or Calling Plan licenses.  We will soon be adding these licenses to our Control Panel to allow fully self-service orders.

Creating a new Queue


  1. Log into the Office 365 portal (https://portal.office.com) with your Global Administrator or Skype for Business Administrator.

  2. Click on the Admin icon.


  3. Click the Admins centers icon in the left-hand menu and select Teams & Skype.


  4. Click the Legacy portal link in the left-hand menu.


  5. Click Call Routing in the left-hand menu.

  6. Click Call Queues.

  7. Click the Add New button.


  8. Fill out the details for the new Call Queue.
    • Name: Enter a descriptive name for the queue. This can contain up to 64 characters. This name will be displayed in the notification to the agent for the incoming call.
    • Phone Number: Optional Field. A number can be allocated to a queue for direct dialing. This number will need to be acquired from
    • Domain: Select a domain for this queue.
    • Greeting: This is the greeting that will be played to people who call the queue number or who are redirected to the queue.
    • Music on hold: Required. This is the hold music that will play while a caller is waiting for an agent to respond. The default hold music can be selected, or a custom audio file can be uploaded.
    • Call distribution method: Required. This will set whether an incoming call will ring for all available agents at the same time (Attendant) or if it will ring available agent one by one (Serial).
    • Agent Opt out option: This option allows assigned agents to opt out of a queue within their Skype for Business settings.
    • Call Agents: Use this field to select the Office 365 group, distribution list, or security group containing the agents to be assigned to this queue.  Assigned agents must have a Phone System license and Calling Plan to receive queue calls.  Up to 50 agents can be assigned to a queue.
    • Maximum calls in the queue: This option sets the maximum number of calls that can wait in the queue.
    • When the maximum number of calls is reached: This option sets how a call exceeding the maximum number setting will be handled. They can be disconnected, or forwarded to an agent, another queue, or an Auto-Attendant.
    • How long a call can wait in the queue: This option sets the maximum amount of time a call can wait in the queue.
    • When a call times out: This option sets how a call exceeding the maximum time setting will be handled.  They can be disconnected, or forwarded to an agent, another queue, or an Auto-Attendant.

  9. Once all the options of the Call Queue has been set, click the Save button.