Scheduled Announcements

Scheduled Announcements let FS PBX play a recording or sound to selected extensions at specific days and times.

They can be used for:

• school bells
• shift-change tones
• safety reminders
• daily announcements
• lunch, break, or closing notices
• any other recurring audio that should play automatically

A scheduled announcement is built around a schedule. The schedule contains the recording, the extensions that should hear it, the days and times when it should play, and any dates when it should be skipped.

Before you start

Make sure you have:

• permission to open Scheduled Announcements
• at least one extension that should receive the announcement
• a recording or sound to play

Enable the scheduled job

Scheduled Announcements will not run automatically until the scheduled job is enabled.

Go to:

Advanced > Default Settings

Find the setting:

Category	Setting Name	Type	Value
scheduled_jobs	scheduled_announcements	boolean	true

Open the setting and make sure:

• the setting is enabled
• the value is set to true

After saving the setting, FS PBX can process scheduled announcements every minute.

Optional scheduled announcement settings

Most systems can use the defaults. These settings are available for timing and redundant-server behavior.

Category	Setting Name	Default	Description
scheduled_jobs	scheduled_announcements_active_fqdn	blank	Optional active-node FQDN override. When blank, FS PBX uses APP_URL.
scheduled_jobs	scheduled_announcements_authoritative_zone	blank	Optional DNS zone override for authoritative DNS lookup discovery.
scheduled_jobs	scheduled_announcements_node_ips	blank	Optional comma-separated public IP override for this server. When blank, FS PBX tries to discover local and external IPs.
scheduled_jobs	scheduled_announcements_dns_timeout_ms	800	DNS active-node guard timeout in milliseconds.
scheduled_jobs	scheduled_announcements_fire_window_seconds	15	Maximum number of seconds after the scheduled time that an announcement may still run.

For a standard single-server install, the most important setting is:

scheduled_jobs > scheduled_announcements = true

Create a schedule

Go to:

Applications > Scheduled Announcements

Click Create.

Schedule tab

The Schedule tab contains the main settings for the announcement.

Enabled

Use Enabled as the master switch for the schedule.

When the schedule is off, none of its announcement times will run.

Name

Enter a name that explains what this schedule is for.

Examples:

• School Bells
• Warehouse Break Reminder
• Daily Closing Announcement
• Morning Safety Message

Time Zone

Choose the time zone used for the announcement times.

This is important when the PBX serves users in more than one time zone. The times in the schedule are interpreted using this selected time zone.

Description

Use the description to explain the purpose of the schedule.

This is optional, but it helps other administrators understand why the schedule exists.

Recording or Sound

Choose the recording or sound that should play for this schedule.

Every announcement time in the schedule plays the same recording.

You can also use the recording controls next to the field to:

• play the selected recording
• download it
• rename it
• delete it
• add a new recording

When adding a new recording, you can upload an audio file or record one from a phone.

To record from a phone:

1. Dial *732 from your phone.
2. Enter any extension number when prompted and press #.
3. Follow the prompts to record your greeting.

After the recording is saved, select it in the schedule.

Extensions

Select the extensions that should hear the announcement.

Search for an extension, add it to the list, and repeat until all target extensions are selected.

Only the selected extensions are called when the announcement plays.

Busy Extensions

This controls what happens if one of the selected extensions is already on a call.

Option	What it does
Skip	Leaves busy extensions alone and plays the announcement only to available extensions.
Force	Sends the announcement to selected extensions even if the phone is already on a call.

Use Skip when you do not want announcements to interrupt active calls.

Use Force when the announcement is more important than the current call state, such as for urgent tones or required notices.

Starts and Ends

Use Starts and Ends if the schedule should only run during a specific date range.

Both fields are optional.

Examples:

• Leave both blank to run indefinitely.
• Set Starts for a schedule that should begin next semester.
• Set Ends for a temporary announcement campaign.

Events

Events are the actual announcement times.

Each event row has:

• Time
• Days

Example:

Time	Days
08:00 AM	Monday through Friday
12:00 PM	Monday through Friday
03:15 PM	Monday through Friday

Each row means:

Play this schedule's recording at this time on these days.

You do not need to enable each event separately. If the row exists and the schedule is enabled, the event can run.

Exclusions tab

Use Exclusions for dates when the schedule should not play.

Each exclusion has:

• Date
• Comment

Examples:

Date	Comment
11/26/2026	Thanksgiving
12/25/2026	Christmas
01/01/2027	New Year's Day

On an excluded date, the entire schedule is skipped for that day.

Exclusions are useful for:

• holidays
• school closures
• maintenance days
• special events
• days when bells or announcements should be silent

Save and test

After entering the schedule details, click Save Schedule.

To test a schedule:

1. Create a short test event a few minutes in the future.
2. Select one or two test extensions.
3. Save the schedule.
4. Wait for the event time.
5. Check the Runs tab to confirm what happened.

Runs tab

The Runs tab shows recent scheduler activity.

Use it to confirm whether an announcement:

• executed successfully
• was skipped because the server was standby
• was skipped because active server status was unknown
• was skipped because all selected extensions were busy
• was missed because it was discovered outside the allowed fire window
• failed because of a playback or FreeSWITCH error

The run log can also show the server that claimed or executed the announcement, the FreeSWITCH command response, and any error text.

Timing behavior

Scheduled Announcements are designed for time-sensitive audio.

If an announcement is scheduled for 10:00 AM, it should play at 10:00 AM. If the system discovers the event too late, FS PBX logs it as missed instead of playing it late.

This helps prevent late bells or announcements from playing after their intended time has passed.

Redundant server behavior

In redundant primary/standby deployments, each server may run the scheduler, but only the active server should execute announcements.

FS PBX checks the configured active-node DNS record before executing. If the server cannot confirm that it is active, the announcement is skipped rather than risking duplicate playback.

This behavior favors:

• no duplicate announcements
• no late announcements
• clear run logs when an announcement is skipped

Troubleshooting

The announcement did not play

Check:

• the schedule is enabled
• the scheduled job is enabled by an administrator
• the event time and selected days are correct
• the schedule time zone is correct
• the current date is not listed in Exclusions
• at least one extension is selected
• the selected recording exists and can be played
• the Runs tab for skipped, missed, or failed entries

The beginning of the recording sounds clipped

Scheduled Announcements add a short silence lead-in before the recording to help phones open their speaker path before audio starts.

If the audio is still clipped, try adding a little silence to the beginning of the recording itself.

Busy phones are being interrupted

Edit the schedule and set Busy Extensions to Skip.

An announcement should interrupt busy phones

Edit the schedule and set Busy Extensions to Force.

Summary

Use Scheduled Announcements when FS PBX should automatically play the same recording to selected extensions at specific days and times.

Create one schedule for each group of announcements that share the same recording and target extensions. Add events for the times it should play, and add exclusions for dates when it should stay silent.