Voicemail.conf Configuration Reference

The voicemail.conf file controls all aspects of Asterisk's voicemail system: mailbox definitions, email delivery, message limits, recording formats, password policies, and timezone-aware playback.

General Settings

[general]
format = wav49|gsm|wav
serveremail = pbx@example.com
attach = yes
maxmsg = 100
maxsecs = 180
minsecs = 3
maxsilence = 10
silencethreshold = 128
maxlogins = 3
skipms = 3000
sendvoicemail = yes
; Email customization
emaildateformat = %A, %B %d, %Y at %r
pagerdateformat = %A, %B %d, %Y at %r
; emailsubject = [PBX]: New message ${VM_MSGNUM} in mailbox ${VM_MAILBOX}
; emailbody = Dear ${VM_NAME}:\n\n\tYou have a new ${VM_DUR} voicemail (number ${VM_MSGNUM})\nfrom ${VM_CALLERID}, on ${VM_DATE}.\n\n\t\t--Asterisk\n

Timezone Messages

[zonemessages]
eastern = America/New_York|'vm-received' Q 'digits/at' IMp
central = America/Chicago|'vm-received' Q 'digits/at' IMp
central24 = America/Chicago|'vm-received' q 'digits/at' H N 'hours'
military = Zulu|'vm-received' q 'digits/at' H N 'hours' 'phonetic/z_p'
european = Europe/Copenhagen|'vm-received' a d b 'digits/at' HM

Mailbox Definitions

[default]
; mailbox => password,name,email,pager_email,options
1001 => 4242,Alice Smith,alice@example.com
1002 => 1234,Bob Jones,bob@example.com,,tz=eastern|attach=yes
1003 => 5678,Carol White,carol@example.com,,tz=central|maxmsg=50

[sales]
2001 => 9999,Sales Team,sales@example.com,,tz=eastern

How it works

1. format: Specifies which audio formats to record voicemail in. wav49 is compressed WAV (GSM in WAV container), gsm is GSM 6.10, wav is uncompressed 16-bit PCM. Multiple formats means the message is stored in all formats simultaneously. The first format listed is used for email attachments.
2. attach: When yes, the voicemail audio file is attached to the notification email. This lets users listen without calling in to check messages.
3. maxsilence: Seconds of silence before the recording automatically stops. Set to 10 to catch long pauses. silencethreshold (0-32767) controls how sensitive silence detection is. lower values are more sensitive.
4. Timezone zones: Each zone definition is timezone|format_string. The format string uses codes like Q ("today", "yesterday", or full date), I (12-hour), M (minutes), p (AM/PM). Assign a user to a zone with tz=eastern in their mailbox options.
5. Email variables: Custom emailsubject and emailbody templates can use: ${VM_NAME} (mailbox owner), ${VM_DUR} (message duration), ${VM_MSGNUM} (message number), ${VM_CALLERID} (caller ID), ${VM_DATE} (timestamp), ${VM_MAILBOX} (mailbox number).
6. Contexts: Mailboxes are organized into contexts ([default], [sales]). The rest of the system references them as mailbox@context (e.g., 1001@default). Different contexts can have different settings.

Tips

• Use - prefix on the password to make it unchangeable: 1001 => -4242,Alice Smith,alice@example.com.
• Set delete = yes in per-mailbox options for users who only want email delivery and don't need to dial in.
• For external notification scripts, use externnotify = /usr/bin/myapp: it's called with arguments context mailbox count when a new message arrives.
• The forcename = yes option prompts new users to record their name on first login. A "new user" is one whose password matches the mailbox number.
• Store voicemail in a database with odbcstorage = asterisk for easier backup, replication, and web interface integration.
• Password validation: set minpassword = 6 to enforce minimum length. Use externpasscheck = /path/to/script for custom password policy (the script prints VALID or INVALID to stdout).
• Voicemail greetings are stored per-mailbox in /var/spool/asterisk/voicemail/<context>/<mailbox>/. Back up this directory.