Group and Directed Call Pickup

Call pickup lets a user answer a call ringing on someone else's phone. There are two modes: group pickup (grab any ringing call in your group) and directed pickup (grab a specific extension's ringing call).

The Snippet

[features]
; *8 - Group Call Pickup (any ringing phone in your pickup group)
exten => *8,1,NoOp(Group Pickup)
 same => n,Pickup(@office)
 same => n,Hangup()

; **XXXX - Directed Call Pickup (specific extension)
; Example: **101 picks up extension 101's ringing call
exten => _**XXXX,1,NoOp(Directed Pickup ${EXTEN:2})
 same => n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@office)
 same => n,Hangup()

PJSIP Prerequisites

For pickup to work, endpoints must be in the same named pickup group:

[endpoint-internal](!)
type = endpoint
context = internal
named_call_group = office
named_pickup_group = office

named_call_group defines which group an endpoint's calls belong to. named_pickup_group defines which groups an endpoint is allowed to pick up from. They're often the same, but you can have asymmetric setups (e.g., a receptionist can pick up from all groups, but their calls can only be picked up by other receptionists).

How It Works

Group pickup (*8): Pickup(@office) scans all channels in the office call group and picks up the first one that's ringing. If multiple phones are ringing, it picks up the one that has been ringing the longest.

Directed pickup (**101): ${EXTEN:2} strips the leading ** prefix, giving just the extension number. Pickup(101@office) then picks up specifically extension 101's ringing call. This is more precise and avoids accidentally grabbing the wrong call.

Multiple Pickup Groups

For larger deployments with departments:

; Sales team endpoints
[sales-endpoint](!)
type = endpoint
named_call_group = sales
named_pickup_group = sales

; Support team endpoints
[support-endpoint](!)
type = endpoint
named_call_group = support
named_pickup_group = support

; Manager can pick up from either group
[manager-endpoint](!)
type = endpoint
named_call_group = management
named_pickup_group = sales,support,management

Combining with BLF

Directed pickup is most useful when combined with BLF buttons. When a user sees a BLF key flashing red (ringing), they can press it to pick up that call. The phone internally dials the directed pickup code for that extension. This requires hints to be configured, see the BLF Hints snippet.