In this article, you’ll learn how to configure Business Hours in CloudTalk to define company rules for receiving calls, route calls that come in outside working hours, and set exceptions for holidays and special occasions.
User Level:
Admin
Configuring Business Hours
Company-level settings (global)
Company-level Business Hours apply to all phone numbers by default.
If Business Hours are configured for a specific number in the Numbers section, the company-level rules will no longer apply to that number.
Setup
From the CloudTalk Dashboard:
Navigate to Account > Settings.
Open the Business Hours tab.
Toggle Business Hours on to start defining rules and exceptions.
Save changes when finished.
Number-level settings
You can define separate Business Hours for individual phone numbers. This is useful when a number belongs to a branch in a different country or timezone, or when it requires unique working hours or holidays.
When Business Hours are configured for a specific number, company-level Business Hours no longer apply to that number. The number-level settings always take priority.
Setup
To configure business hours for a specific phone number:
Navigate to the Numbers tab in the Dashboard.
Select the edit (pencil) icon next to the number
Open the Business Hours tab.
Toggle Business Hours on. Add rules and exceptions as needed.
Save changes.
Video Demo
This video features our legacy dashboard and demonstrates how call flow designer is used to configure unique business hours per number.
Business Hour Settings
Holidays
Holidays are organized by country.
For company-level Business Hours, the holiday calendar is based on the Default country code selected in Account > General > Basic settings.
For number-level Business Hours, the holiday calendar is based on the country where the selected number is registered.
Example:
If you have Slovak (SK), Czech (CZ), and U.S. numbers, enabling holidays at the company level will result in each number being treated as out of office during its respective country’s holidays:
SK numbers during Slovak holidays
CZ numbers during Czech holidays
U.S. numbers during U.S. federal holidays
Supported countries
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States (federal holidays only).
Type
The Type setting determines what happens to calls that come in outside of the defined Business Hours.
Available options:
Redirect to number
Callers are redirected to an external phone number.Voicemail
Callers are sent to voicemail to leave a message.Play sound
Callers hear a recorded "please call back later" style message. Once the recording finishes, the call is automatically terminated.Play sound and voicemail
Callers hear a recorded message and are then sent to voicemail.
Depending on the selected option, you may need to specify:
an external phone number
an agent voicemail
a recorded sound file
Important:
When configuring company-level Business Hours with the Redirect to number option, avoid redirecting calls to another number within the same company unless that number has its own Business Hours configured at the number level.
Otherwise, calls may loop between numbers without ever being answered.
Your Business Hours
In this section, you define your regular hours of operation.
You can add multiple rules to cover different days or time ranges.
At least one Business Hours rule is required when Business Hours are enabled.
These rules define when your number is considered available to receive calls.
Exceptions
Exceptions allow you to create one-time rules that override your regular Business Hours on specific dates, such as:
special events
shortened working days
one-off closures
irregular support windows
Important:
Exceptions do not subtract time from your regular Business Hours. Instead, they fully replace your standard Business Hours for the specified dates.
Example:
Let’s say your regular business hours are Monday- Friday, 9:00 - 17:00.
You add an exception for Friday, June 7th, from 10:00 - 12:00.
On June 7th, the only time your number will be available is 10:00 - 12:00. All other times (including your normal 9:00 - 17:00) will be treated as out of office.
This makes exceptions ideal for:
Shortened working days
One-time closures
Irregular support windows
If you need further assistance or have any questions, you can contact our Support team. We are always here to help you!