Visual Call Flows
Decide what a caller hears and where the call goes: a greeting, a press-1 menu, a live team, voicemail, an auto-text, or an AI answering the phone.
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What it is
Visual Call Flows is the screen where you build what happens when someone calls your business. You drag steps onto a page and join them with lines: play a greeting, offer a menu, ring a team, take a voicemail, text the caller back, or hand the call to an AI that books the job.
You open it from Settings›Channels›Visual Call Flows. Settings is in the menu that opens when you click your email address at the bottom of the left menu. There is no Visual Call Flows entry in the left menu itself.
1. Your flows
The list of every flow you have built, each showing whether it is Active, how many steps it has, and which phone number or call group it answers for.
2. The builder
The big page with the steps on it. Drag new steps in from the Add Step panel on the left and join them together.
3. Step Settings
Click any step and this panel opens on the right. What the step actually says and does is set here — the wording, the voice, the menu keys, the teams, the timings.
4. Going live
A flow does nothing until it is switched to Active and attached to a phone number, or picked on a call group. Both ways are described below.
When to use it
- Callers should hear a greeting and press a key to reach the right team.
- You want different handling during business hours and after hours.
- Nobody picks up and you want the caller texted back automatically.
- You want an AI to answer, ask what the job is, and book the appointment.
- You want voicemail with a proper greeting, and the right people notified.
- Every call should simply ring the owner's mobile, with voicemail on no answer.
If all you need is for a number to ring your team with no greeting and no menu, a call group on its own is enough — see Call Groups. Use a flow as soon as you need wording, menus, timing rules, voicemail or AI.
Before you start
- Your role needs Visual Flows. An owner or admin turns it on under Settings›People›Team Roles, in the Admin & Settings group, switch Visual Flows. Without it the page cannot be opened.
- You need at least one phone number. Buy or connect one under Settings›Channels›Phone Numbers. The builder will keep warning you until a number is chosen, because a flow with no number can never answer a call.
- Teams, if you plan to use Wait for Office Agent. Create them under Settings›People›Teams. If you leave the team boxes unticked, every office agent sees the waiting call instead.
- A saved AI agent is optional. The Joby Agent step works straight away with wording you type into the step. If you would rather reuse one you already set up, create it under Settings›Connections & AI›Joby AI Hub. Only agents set to answer incoming calls can be picked inside a call flow.
- Business-hours steps run on your company's timezone. The Time Split step is labelled Company timezone and reads it from Settings›Company Settings, so set the hours in your own local time. A wrong timezone sends daytime callers down the night-time path.
Step-by-step
Start a flow from a ready-made template
- Go to Settings›Channels›Visual Call Flows.
- Click Create Flow at the top right (Browse templates next to it opens the same window). The window Choose how calls should be handled appears.
- Narrow the list with the buttons across the top — All options, After hours, Press a number, AI answers, Route calls, Voicemail, Utility — or type in the search box.
- Click the template you want. Choose Start from scratch instead if you would rather build it yourself.
- The builder opens with the steps already in place and your company name and main phone number filled into the wording. Nothing is saved yet, so change whatever you like first.
The Start with AI row on the Visual Call Flows page is a shortcut to the five AI templates: AI Receptionist, AI Qualify + Live Transfer, After-Hours AI Answering, Emergency Dispatch AI and AI Message Taker. Clicking one skips the template window entirely.
Add, join and edit steps
- Drag a step from the Add Step panel on the left onto the page. The panel is grouped into Essentials, Routing, Automation and Finish.
- Join two steps by dragging from one of the small labelled dots along the bottom of a step to the top of the next step. Those labels are the outcomes — for a menu they are the keys plus Invalid and Timeout; for a team queue they are Answered and Timeout.
- Click a step to open Step Settings on the right, and fill it in. Drag the left edge of that panel to make it wider, or double-click the edge to put it back.
- The first step, Incoming Call, is created for you and cannot be removed. To remove any other step, click it and then click Delete Node in the top bar.
- Keep an eye on the Check before saving box in the top left corner of the page. It lists loose ends such as IVR option 2 is not connected or Assign a phone number before activating this flow.
- Fit re-centres everything, and the counter beside it tells you how many steps and connections you have.
Put the flow live on a phone number
- In the builder top bar, give the flow a clear name in the Flow box.
- Open the Phone number picker next to it (it reads Select phone... until you choose) and pick the number this flow should answer.
- Switch the toggle to Active.
- Click Save Flow.
Or run the flow from a call group
- Go to Settings›Channels›Call Groups.
- Click the pencil on the group you want, which opens Edit Call Group.
- In the Visual Flow (New) dropdown, pick your flow. Only flows already switched to Active appear in that list.
- Save the group. Calls arriving on that group's numbers now follow the flow.
Copy a flow before making big changes
- On the Visual Call Flows page, click the copy button on the flow's row.
- A flow called (Copy) appears, switched off. Edit and test that one, then point the number or call group at it when you are happy.
How to check it worked
- The flow row looks right. Back on Visual Call Flows the row shows a green Active badge and the name of the call group or phone number it answers for. If it still says Not assigned in amber, nothing will reach it.
- The warning box is empty. Reopen the flow — if Check before saving has gone, every menu key, timeout branch and the phone number are all set.
- Call the number yourself. Walk through every key, and also stay silent and press a key that is not on the menu, so you see where those callers end up.
- The call is logged against the flow. Open Calls in the left menu. The Call Flow column shows your flow's name, and the Type filter lets you pick Joby Agent, Dial, Queue or Voicemail to see which kind of step handled it.
- Waiting calls reach your team. With a Wait for Office Agent step, the call appears in the Queue tab of the phone panel for office agents on the chosen teams, with an Answer button and a running Waiting timer.
- Voicemail arrives. The recording appears on the Calls page, and the people in the roles you ticked under Notify roles get the notification.
Common mistakes
The flow never runs
Almost always one of two things: the toggle is still on Inactive, or no phone number is chosen and no call group points at it. The row on the flow list tells you which.
Callers hit a dead end
Every menu has an Invalid and a Timeout dot as well as the number keys. If those two are left unjoined, callers who press the wrong key or say nothing go nowhere. Join them to voicemail or a team.
After-hours goes to the wrong place
Time Split works in your company's timezone (set in Company Settings), and any hour or day not covered by one of your ranges leaves through the Default dot. Join Default to something sensible, usually voicemail.
Nobody sees the waiting call
Wait for Office Agent only rings the teams you tick under Assign to Teams. Tick a team nobody is in and the call waits, then leaves by the Timeout dot. Leave every box unticked to reach all office agents.
The saved AI agent is ignored
A call flow answers incoming calls, so an agent set up for outbound calling will not run. The step warns you with Outbound agent selected and falls back to the wording typed into the step. Pick an incoming-call agent instead.
Editing the live flow at 9am
One wrong setting can misroute every call. Copy the flow, change the copy, test it, then switch over — and make big changes when the phones are quiet.
More detail (5)
The Visual Call Flows page
Each row on the list is one flow. Reading from left to right you get:
- The flow name.
- An Active or Inactive badge. Click the badge to switch it over — you do not need to open the flow.
- How many steps it has, and when it was last changed.
- The call group or phone number it answers for. When more than one call group uses the same flow you get a small +1 you can click to see them all. When nothing points at it you get Not assigned in amber.
- Coloured chips naming the first few steps, so you can see what it does at a glance.
- Edit, a copy button, and a delete button. The flow named Main Inbound Flow has no delete button, because it is your fallback.
Steps you can add
These are the steps in the Add Step panel, in the order they appear there.
Essentials
IVR Menu
The press-1, press-2 menu. Type the wording, pick a voice, then add as many options as you need — each one is a Key and a Label. Every key becomes its own outgoing dot, plus Invalid and Timeout.
Wait for Office Agent
Marked Recommended. Holds the caller while your office agents are offered the call in their phone panel. Set Assign to Teams, a Timeout, and optionally Enable Hold Music. Leaves by Answered or Timeout.
Play Message
Speaks a short message and moves on — your greeting, or a notice about a holiday. Type the words, choose a voice, and use Insert Variable to drop in details such as your company name.
Voicemail
Plays a greeting and records the caller. Set Max Length (seconds) and tick who to tell under Notify roles — Admin and Office Agent by default.
Routing
Time Split
Sends calls different ways depending on the time of day. Add named ranges such as Business Hours 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM; each range gets its own dot, and anything not covered leaves by Default. Overnight ranges like 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM are fine. Each range also has day buttons, so you can run one range Monday to Friday and another at the weekend — an overnight range follows the day it starts on. Times are your company's timezone (set in Company Settings).
Forward Call
Rings one phone number you type in — a mobile, an answering service, a partner company. Set how long to ring, and optionally which of your numbers to show as the caller ID. Leaves by Answered or No answer.
Callback Lookup
Checks whether this caller is already waiting on a callback and, if so, puts them straight through to the person handling it. Leaves by Answered, No answer or Not found — join Not found to your normal path.
Automation
Joby Agent
An AI that talks to the caller, works out what they need and can book the job. It leaves by four dots: Done, Live (the caller asked for a person), No book and Error. Join all four.
Send SMS
Texts someone mid-call. Send To can be the caller's number, the appointment's number, or a number you type in. Pick which of your numbers it comes From, and use Insert Variable in the message.
Finish
End Call
Hangs up tidily, with an optional goodbye message first.
Block Number
Adds the caller to your blocked list so they cannot get through again. You can give a reason for your own records and a short message played to the caller. Handy behind a menu option for nuisance callers.
Settings worth knowing about
- Recorded audio instead of a computer voice. The IVR Menu and Voicemail steps both have an Audio Source choice. Switch it from Text-to-Speech to the audio option and you can record a greeting in the browser, upload an audio file, or paste a link to one. Files must be under 10MB.
- Hear it before you save. The speaker button next to the voice picker plays your wording back in the chosen voice.
- Tell the office agent what the caller pressed. On any menu option, turn on Announce to office agent before connect and type a short line. Only the office agent hears it, just before the caller is connected.
- Hold music. On Wait for Office Agent, switch on Enable Hold Music and either paste a link or upload a file. Left off, the caller hears normal ringing.
- What the AI does after the call. Under Post-Call Actions on the Joby Agent step you can leave Send Call Summary Notification and Auto-Create Appointment from Call ticked, so the conversation turns into a written summary and a booked appointment on its own.
- Reuse an AI setup. Pick a saved agent in the Saved AI Agent dropdown and the step takes its wording, voice, speed and length from that agent, so you only maintain it in one place. Leave it on Custom (configure below) to write everything into the step itself.
- How long the AI can stay on the line. Max Duration (seconds) defaults to 600, which is ten minutes.
The ready-made templates
Every one of these opens fully built and fully editable — nothing is locked. If one is close to what you want, start there rather than from a blank page.
- Business Hours + After-Hours Voicemail — live team during the day, voicemail at night.
- IVR — Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Support — the classic menu.
- AI Receptionist — AI answers, qualifies and books jobs around the clock.
- AI Qualify + Live Transfer — AI screens first, transfers only when someone is available.
- After-Hours AI Answering — cover for when the office is closed.
- Emergency Dispatch AI — puts urgent callers first.
- AI Message Taker — never transfers; takes a clean callback message.
- Missed Call Auto-Text — texts the caller back when nobody picks up.
- Emergency Line After Hours — daytime queue, night-time emergency option.
- Callback Lookup First — connects callers who are already owed a callback.
- Simple Forward to Cell — rings your mobile, voicemail on no answer.
What a typical flow looks like
Incoming Call -> Time Split. The Business Hours dot goes to Wait for Office Agent, and its Timeout dot goes to Voicemail. The Default dot goes straight to a second Voicemail for the night.
Who can do what
- Building and editing flows needs the Visual Flows permission, set per role under Settings›People›Team Roles.
- Attaching a flow to a call group also needs Call Groups, and choosing phone numbers needs Phone Numbers — both in the same Admin & Settings group.
- Answering the calls needs nothing extra. Any office agent on a chosen team sees waiting calls in the Queue tab of their phone panel.
Tip
Keep menus to three or four options and put the busiest one first. Long menus make callers hang up. If you find yourself needing six options, a Joby Agent step usually handles it better than a longer menu.