You can:
Set your regular weekly schedule (Recurring Status)
Change your availability right away or schedule it for later
Add notes and advanced settings for live receptionists
Save Status Templates for quick updates you use often
Recurring Status (Your Default Availability Schedule)
Your Recurring Status is your regular work schedule — when you’re typically available each week. Abby follows this by default unless you make a temporary change.
By default, new contacts mirror your company’s business hours, but you can set your own schedule anytime.
You can:
Set start and end times for each day
Choose how often it repeats (daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly)
Let it run indefinitely or choose an end date
Examples:
Available 8 AM–5 PM, Monday–Friday
Unavailable 12–1 PM each day for lunch
Once customized, your recurring status no longer mirrors company hours and follows your personal setup instead.
Change or Schedule Your Availability
Need to step away or plan time off? You can change your availability instantly or schedule it for later. Abby automatically resumes your normal schedule once that time ends.
Use the Toggle
If you’re heading into a meeting or taking a quick break, use the toggle at the top of your portal to mark yourself Unavailable. When you’re back, switch it to Available again — Abby takes care of the rest.
Edit Availability
When changing or scheduling your availability, you can:
Choose to be Available or Unavailable
Decide when the change starts (Now or Later)
Set when it ends (After a duration or At a specific time)
Examples:
Change your availability to Unavailable for 1 hour while in a meeting. Abby switches you back automatically.
Schedule your availability to Unavailable tomorrow from 8 AM–5 PM for a day off. Abby resumes your normal schedule afterward.
Add Advanced Settings (Optional)
When changing or scheduling your availability, you can open Advanced Settings to help your live receptionists handle calls appropriately during that time.
In Advanced Settings, you can:
Choose which callers should still be transferred (for example, VIP clients).
Add short notes explaining why you’re unavailable.
Include instructions like “Transfer urgent calls to Sarah” or “Reschedule appointments if I’m out.”
Note: Advanced Settings apply only to live receptionists. Abby’s AI receptionist doesn’t reference these details.
Status Templates
Status Templates let you save preset availability settings for quick updates you use often.
Examples:
In Court – Unavailable with note: “Please let callers know I’ll return calls after 2 PM.”
On-Site Visit – Unavailable with note: “Transfer to Sarah for urgent matters.”
Templates keep your notes consistent and make it easy to update your status in seconds.
How Abby Prioritizes Your Availability
When multiple availability settings overlap, Abby follows this order:
Changed or Scheduled Availability (including those starting now or later) overrides everything until it expires.
Recurring Schedule applies when no temporary changes are active.
Templates simply create new availability changes using saved presets.
This ensures short-term or planned changes always take priority over your baseline schedule.
Where to Manage Availability
Top of the Portal: Quickly change or schedule your availability using the toggle or scheduling options.
My Profile: Manage your recurring schedule, templates, and notes.
Contacts Tab: Admins can manage availability for others under Contacts → Edit → Call Handling.
Common Scenarios
Out for Lunch
Toggle your Current Status to Unavailable before you leave for lunch. When you return, simply toggle your status back to Available.
Out of Office All Day Tomorrow
Create a Scheduled Status setting you as Unavailable for tomorrow from 8 AM to 5 PM.
Regular Weekly Schedule
Set a Recurring Status marking you Available, Weekly from 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday–Friday.
Have a lunch break?
Add another recurring schedule, setting you as unavailable daily from 12–1 PM for lunch if you’d like.
Company Holiday
Closing your business hours doesn’t automatically change contact availability. If your contacts have recurring schedules marked Available that day, they’ll still show as Available. Add a Scheduled Status setting each contact as Unavailable for holidays to prevent transfers.
Tips for Managing Status
Use notes to let live receptionists know what’s happening (“On Vacation, urgent matters will be addressed within 48 hours”).
Double-check your expires at time when setting short statuses.
Set Scheduled Statuses for holidays or planned time off so you don’t have to remember later.
Save Templates for quick updates you use often.
Troubleshooting
Abby tried to transfer me even though I was Unavailable.
Make sure you changed your Current Status, not just added an Upcoming one. Also check that your status hasn’t expired.
The business is closed but I’m still showing Available.
Company hours and personal statuses are separate. You’ll need to update your contact status or recurring schedule.
I can’t see my Upcoming Status.
Check that the start date hasn’t already passed. Upcoming statuses only appear for future times.
Summary
Your Call Status is how Abby knows when to connect calls to you and when to hold calls. Keep your recurring schedule accurate, use Current and Scheduled statuses for exceptions, and rely on templates to save time. When you stay up to date, Abby can route every call exactly the way you want.