Dial by name not working from IVR

FreePBX Configuration
1

I have an IVR as my main destination on my phone system. When a caller hits the IVR I would like them to be able to dial an extension by “name” from a directory.

Within the IVR I currently have “enable direct dial” set to the directory I’d like to use. I have “force strict dial timeout” set to “yes” and “3s”. But when I dial the first three letters of a user’s name, it goes to the “invalid destination”.

I have confirmed the directory is working, as I can “dial by name” when I go directly to the directory.

However I would like the “dial by name” function to work directly from the IVR without having to dial to the directory first.

  1. Is this possible?
  2. If so, what am I missing?
2

You need to use the Directory directly. The IVRs don’t support dial by name but Directory’s do. So instead of using the IVR just use the Directory.

3

Thank you for your reply. Is there a way to have “dial by name” and the ability to direct dial a user’s extension from the same menu. When I switch it from IVR to directory I can get the “dial by name” as desired. However then it seems I lose the ability to direct dial an extension.

4

Thank you for your reply. Is there a way to have “dial by name” and the ability to direct dial a user’s extension from the same menu. When I switch it from IVR to directory I can get the “dial by name” as desired. However then it seems I lose the ability to direct dial an extension.

5

Use an IVR option to branch to the Names Directory. On the main IVR, record something like this:

“If you know your party’s extension, dial it now or press 9 to dial by name.”

6

This is what I ended up doing! I wish there was a way to implement “If you know your party’s extension, dial it now or dial the first three letters of the first name of the person you are trying to reach” directly in the IVR. But it seems that is not a possibility.

7

Thanks for your help everyone!