Configure hold audio and queue greetings

What callers hear while they wait — silence, music, or a ring tone — plus any queue announcements or comfort messages, is set once under Global for every queue. A queue uses those global settings until you select it and turn on Override global settings; then it uses its own.

Before you start

• At least one call queue set up, or the details you need to create one.
• (Optional) An audio file ready to upload if you want custom hold music. Custom uploaded audio is only used when Hold Audio is set to Music. MP3 is the typical format.
• (Optional) The text you want callers to hear in queue announcements or comfort messages.

Steps

Set the hold audio

1. Open Settings → Voice.
2. Under Workspace, select Call queues and hold music.
3. Select Global to set the default for every queue, or select a queue and turn on Override global settings.
4. Under Hold Audio, pick a mode:
   Silence — no music. When the queue has no announcements, callers hear one short English “please hold” message as they enter the queue, then nothing.
   Music — Atender’s default hold music, or a custom track you upload.
   Ringing — a continuous ringing tone, as if the call were still trying to connect.
5. If you picked Music, choose between the default track and uploading your own. To upload, click the audio upload field and pick an MP3.
6. Click Save queue experience.

Configure queue announcements

Queue announcements are comfort messages that play while callers wait, such as “Thanks for waiting — we’ll be with you shortly.”

1. On the same queue, find the queue announcements section.
2. If the queue should use its own announcements instead of the global queue experience, turn on Override global settings.
3. Add or edit the announcement text.
4. Set First after — how long a caller waits before the first announcement. After that, one announcement plays every 90 seconds; the interval is fixed.
5. Click Save queue experience.

Global announcements and per-queue announcements behave differently:

• When you save a global text-to-speech announcement, Atender creates editable translations for the IVR languages configured on the tenant. A pre-recorded announcement is not translated.
• Per-queue announcements are not auto-translated. They are spoken exactly as written, so add the announcement in the language and wording callers should hear.

What happens at the end of the wait

Hold audio and announcements cover the wait. What ends the wait is the queue’s Max hold limit. When there is no limit, the caller hears the hold audio for as long as they stay on the line. When there is a limit, the wait ends there and the queue offers a call back or moves the caller to another queue. On a move, the hold audio simply carries on into the next queue. See Set up queue overflow with Max hold.

Verify it worked

Dial your number, walk through the IVR to the queue, and listen:

• The hold mode you picked should play immediately on entering the queue.
• Queue announcements should play at the timing you configured.

When to use what

• Silence — Internal helpdesks where short waits are expected and silence is fine.
• Music — Most consumer support lines. Reduces hang-ups versus silence.
• Ringing — When you want callers to feel like they’re still actively connecting, not parked. Effective for very short waits; uncomfortable for long ones.
• Global queue announcement — When you want the same comfort message across queues, with editable translations for the tenant’s configured IVR languages.
• Per-queue announcement — When a specific queue needs its own wording. Write it exactly as callers should hear it, because it is not auto-translated.

Troubleshooting

• Symptom: Hold music plays at the wrong volume, or sounds distorted. Fix: Telephony compresses audio heavily. Re-export the source MP3 at a lower bitrate (96–128 kbps) and re-upload. Mastered-for-music files often clip in the telephony pipeline.

• Symptom: Queue announcement plays in the wrong language. Fix: Check whether the message is global or per-queue. Global announcements create editable translations for the tenant’s configured IVR languages. Per-queue announcements are not auto-translated and are spoken exactly as written.

See also

• Set up a call queue
• Configure TTS voices
• Configure callback
• Set up queue overflow with Max hold