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Phonebooks

Phonebooks let you push a directory to your desk phones. Your users see it on the phone under Contacts / Directory and can scroll or search it to place a call — with nothing typed into each phone by hand.

A phonebook can contain:

  • Internal extensions — everyone in your account, pulled in automatically.
  • Contacts — people you add yourself (customers, vendors, off-system numbers).
  • Both — extensions plus your own contacts in one list.

Create a phonebook​

  1. Open Applications → Phonebooks.
  2. Click Create.
  3. Give it a Name (for example, Company Directory).
  4. Choose what goes in it (see below).
  5. Click Save.

Choose what's in the directory​

On the phonebook screen, under “What's in this directory?”:

  • Internal extensions — turn this on to include every enabled extension in your account (name + extension number). Turn it off if this phonebook should only contain the contacts you add.
  • Contacts — click + Add contact, enter a First name, Last name, and Phone number, then Add. Repeat for each person. Use the pencil to edit or the trash icon to remove.

This gives you three simple options:

You want…Internal extensionsContacts
A staff directoryOn—
An external / customer listOffAdd contacts
Everything in one listOnAdd contacts
Contacts belong to the phonebook you're editing

Adding a contact here does not change any other phonebook. Each phonebook keeps its own list.

Click Save when you're done.

Send a phonebook to your phones​

There are two ways to get a phonebook onto phones.

Option A — Make it the account default (easiest)​

  1. Edit the phonebook.
  2. Turn on Account default.
  3. Save.

Every phone set to “Use account default” (the standard setting) will download it. This is the simplest way to give your whole account one directory.

Option B — Assign specific phonebooks to a phone​

  1. Edit the device on the Devices page.
  2. Open the Phonebook tab.
  3. Choose Custom for this device.
  4. Pick one or more phonebooks.
  5. Save.

Use this when a particular phone needs a different directory than the account default.

Preview what the phone will get​

  • On the phonebook screen, click Preview directory to see the combined, sorted list.
  • On the Devices page, click the preview (magnifying glass) icon on a device to see the exact files that phone downloads — including its directory.

The directory is sorted alphabetically by last name, matching how the phone displays it.

How different phones handle multiple phonebooks​

Phone brands differ, and the device Phonebook tab shows a reminder for the selected phone:

  • Grandstream phones download one directory. If you assign several phonebooks, they are merged into a single combined list on the phone.
  • Yealink phones show each phonebook as its own directory (up to the phone's limit).

Either way, the phonebooks you assign are what the phone receives.

When changes show up on the phone​

Phones don't pull the directory the instant you save — they download it on a schedule or when they reboot.

tip

To see a change right away, reboot the phone. Otherwise it updates on the phone's next scheduled download.

Good to know​

  • A contact needs a phone number. Contacts without a number are skipped.
  • Extensions hidden from the directory are left out. If an extension is set not to appear in the directory, it won't be included even when Internal extensions is on.
  • Duplicates are removed. If the same name and number appear twice (for example, across merged phonebooks), the phone shows it once.
  • Enable vs. disable. Turn a phonebook off (Enabled = Off) to stop serving it without deleting it.