Shared phone directory

I have FreePBX set up with currently 2 IP (Yealink) phones and a third one on the way. I’m now looking for a way to share contact info so I don’t have to enter and maintain that data on all three phones. Can this be done from FreePBX or should I create an XML file and point each phone to that file? In case of the XML, can someone point me to an example file?

Currently testing these 2 files:

Example 1:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<YealinkIPPhoneBook>
    <DirectoryEntry>
        <Name>Name</Name>
        <Telephone>XXXXXXXXXX</Telephone>
        <Telephone>XXXXXXXXXX</Telephone>
        <Telephone>XXXXXXXXXX</Telephone>
        <Telephone>XXXXXXXXXX</Telephone>
    </DirectoryEntry>
</YealinkIPPhoneBook>

Example 2:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<YealinkIPPhoneBook>
    <Title>Yealink</Title>
    <Menu Name="Family">
        <Unit Name="Name" default_photo="" Phone1="XXXXXXXXXX" Phone2="XXXXXXXXXX" Phone3="XXXXXXXXXX"/>
    </Menu>
    <Menu Name="Business">
        <Unit Name="Name" default_photo="" Phone1="XXXXXXXXXX" Phone2="XXXXXXXXXX" Phone3="XXXXXXXXXX"/>
    </Menu>
</YealinkIPPhoneBook>

The first has the advantage to be able to add infinite numbers for 1 contact group, the second allows you to create contact groups which in my case can be very handy because I’m using my PBX for business as well as private. The downside is that is seems to be limited to 3 numbers per contact.

Where I went wrong in my first tests was placing the file on an external server using a domain name as a pointer (e.g. https://www.domain.com/phonebook.xml). Apparently my phones couldn’t connect to that file. When I placed the file on my PBX in the web gui directory, it worked like a charm.

I set one of the “Programmable Keys” to “XML Group” to immediately show the phone book without having to search the entire menu. I now hope to find a way to update the phone book automatically without having to do this via the menu everytime I add/remove/edit an entry. This is a luxury problem since the phone book probably won’t change all that much, but eh, you’re either IT of you’re not :slight_smile:

Hope this helps someone in the future.

I can’t remember if it is the default setting or not but there is a setting somewhere that enables or increases how often it will recheck the link you gave it for an updated file. So every time you need to add a contact as long as the file has the same name then it will auto update.

Yes it seems the file is updated every some time. I have not searched for that feature, but late last night I added an entry and this morning it turned up in the list without having to manually update the file.

I have just added another entry so I can test this. If the update is once per hour (or even once per day), that would be fine with me.

Phonebook got its update, so I think every 6 or 8 hours.

Built a script which uses the built-in phonebook feature which allows me to use FreePBX’s GUI to maintain the entries while automatically updating the phones: Phonebook store location

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