Who answers, and when.
Give each department a team behind it. Subscribe to the work you cover, set your hours, and let availability follow the people doing the job.
Or try Quill live in your browser →Maria Chen
Weekdays · 9 am–5 pm
Jordan Tate
Weekdays · 9 am–5 pm
Lena Brooks
Weekdays · 5–9 pm
Two subscribers on hours in this example.
Different people. Different hours. One team.
A morning shift, an evening teammate, or someone in another timezone: each person can set the hours for their own subscriptions.
Set the hours you actually work.
Choose days and time windows for each queue. Start with Monday to Friday, 9–5, or keep a department subscription always on. Use your own timezone or the organization’s default.
Work hours · America/Chicago
Department queue: no saved windows means always on.
Cover more than one department.
Subscribe to Maintenance, Billing or any queue your organization creates. Each subscription has its own hours and notification channels.
Make coverage deliberate.
Administrators can assign teammates to queues and manage subscriber settings. Assigned subscriptions stay in place until an administrator removes them.
Give the follow-up an owner.
Set an owner for a queue to receive its loose ends automatically. Leave it shared to notify subscribers about unassigned work.
Explore Loose Ends →The right alerts for each responsibility.
Push, email, text. Your choice.
Pick the channels you need for each subscription. A queue you cover every day can have different settings from one you support occasionally. Try the example switches to see the choices.
Maintenance · subscribed
Choose channels for each subscription. Your work hours determine when queue notifications apply.
Try the switches. No settings are saved or notifications sent.
Know who is there before offering a transfer.
On Pro and Portfolio, Quill Concierge can check a department or named teammate before offering to connect a caller.
“Can I speak to Maria?” has a clear answer.
Named transfers use a separate availability schedule. During Maria’s saved hours, Quill can offer to connect the caller. Outside them, it can offer to take a message.
“Can I speak to Maria?”
A named transfer through Quill
Ask before connecting.
“Maria is available. Would you like me to connect you?”
Named transfers need their own saved availability hours.
Department subscriptions
No saved time windows means always on. Add work hours when you only want to cover specific days and times.
Named direct transfers
No saved time windows means unavailable. Add hours before callers can reach you through Quill by name.
Connect the schedule to the rest of the work.
Choose how each number rings.
Configure a team ring sequence, direct line, phone menu or Quill for each number.
Explore call routing →See the lines right now.
The Lines dock shows ringing lines, active teammates and calls handled by Quill.
Explore the Lines dock →Talk with the team.
Use direct messages, group threads and teammate calls when a quick conversation helps.
Explore team communication →Questions about queues and schedules
A queue is a department or category, such as Maintenance or Billing, with subscribed teammates, notification preferences and availability hours. These department queues do not hold callers in a waiting line. The phone line’s sequential ring order is configured separately in call routing.
Yes. In My Queues, subscribe to the departments you cover and configure the notification channels and hours for each subscription. Administrators can also assign members; an admin-assigned subscription cannot be removed by that member.
Set start and end times for each working day, or use the weekday 9–5 preset. Hours use your selected timezone, falling back to the organization’s timezone when you have not selected your own.
For a department subscription, no saved windows means always on, 24/7. Named Direct Transfer availability is different: no saved windows means unavailable. Set explicit hours for the way you want to be reached.
Yes. Each subscription has separate push, email and text notification preferences. Subscription hours determine when queue notifications apply.
Yes. Quill can check a department or a named teammate and ask the caller whether they want to connect when someone is available. If nobody is available, it can offer to take a message. Quill Concierge is available on Pro and Portfolio.
An administrator can set a queue owner. Loose ends in that queue are assigned to the owner automatically. Without an owner, they remain unassigned and queue subscribers are notified.
Ring order is configured on the phone number. It decides the sequence in which teammates are rung. Queue subscriptions and availability describe department coverage and notification preferences. Explore Call Routing for the per-number settings.